Injustice In The Panchatantra And 1001 Night

Injustice is defined as a lack or absence of justice and fairness. It has existed in our societies for as long as mankind has been conscious of their actions. What drives humanity to be unfair, cruel, and spiteful to their fellow human beings? Humans have been cruel to humans since the dawn of time, and it continues and will continue into the modern day world. Injustice has been in works as old as the The Panchatantra and 1001 Nights. As an example of injustice in the modern world, in August of 2017, US President Donald Trump signed a directive that reinstates a ban on transgender citizens serving in the US military “in any capacity”. This law, as of yet, does not force currently serving transgender military personnel out, it just prohibits any more from enlisting. The cause of this ban was the concern about costs of gender-confirming surgeries for the military, and “cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs

In The Panchatantra, the lion Numbskull states that; “But if an animal doesn’t come to me everyday as I sit here, I promise I will eat you all.”(Ryder, 223) Because he is stronger than the other denizens of the jungle, Numbskull has a moral duty to protect them and take caution with them. Instead he disregards all morality and treats the jungle creatures with cruelty, and forces them to sacrifice themselves to him. His actions are synonymous with the actions of a dictator. In the story of The Fisherman and the Jinnee, the Jinnee was unjust because of his desire to kill the Fisherman despite being saved by the Jinnee. When the Jinnee says “I will kill the man who sets me free, allowing him only to choose choose the manner of his death.” (Dawood, 89) The fair way to handle the aforementioned situation would be to thank the fisherman, or to reward him. Because the Jinnee refused to do any of those things, and instead opted on murder, he can be categorized as an unjust