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the proper application of techniques into the state's functioning. They are not made based on a true sense of social or moral justice. In America, unfortunately, it is perhaps only as a facade that we speak of human rights and social justice. Indeed, perhaps naively, I still try to hold on to the possibility of pressing for justice and human rights in our society. I believe that, in a realistic approach to understanding the trajectory of our society, we are inevitably on the path to a technologically totalitarian state. This does not mean a dictatorially dominated state ruled with an iron fist. What I mean by a technologically totalitarian state is that the rule of "technique" has infiltrated every area of our lives. It is a true limit on personal freedom and liberty. Does this mean that we are inevitably going to lose all personal freedom? As an optimistic person, hopefully grounded in reality, I sure hope and believe not. What I am not sure of, is how we go about reversing this trend, or at least how do we continue to live with a real sense of personal liberty and social justice. It may indeed be highly unlikely that we could effectively reverse this trend, but perhaps we can live authentically free despite it.

Currently, instead of justice, our legal system tends toward order and security many times at the expense of justice. In a mass society, order, organization, and efficiency are more valued than individual rights or justice for the oppressed. This is accepted very subtly. An honest approach to our own beliefs and ideals may reveal that we may indeed favor social order and efficiency over justice. There is a fine line between the two at times, and also there is some overlapping, but we must be careful not to confuse these ideas. Justice should still be valued; and personal liberty striven for, but we cannot be naive in believing that we can easily reverse this direction in history. On the other hand, we cannot simply concede to what may seem overwhelmingly impossible odds. Although I differ with the existentialism of Sartre and Camus in that I believe in God and that life is not completely absurd, I do admire their raging against impossible odds and feel that at times it is in this situation in modern society that we find ourselves. There is eternal hope, but we are against extremely daunting opposition. May we continue in our realistic understanding of our trajectory, while maintaining a desire to see liberty and justice an ever-present true motive in our society's existence and development.

Learn more about this author, Reed Daigle.
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