Imagine it’s your job to establish the rules that govern society—but you don’t have any idea who you will be in this society.

You don’t know, for instance, the color of your skin or what your religion is. You don’t know if you’re a conservative or a liberal, rich or poor, male or female, straight or gay. Packers fan or Bears fan.

Free from all of your labels and positions, you find you cannot simply protect your own interests because you don’t know what they are. You couldn’t maximize privilege for the few, or for the “ones who are like you,” because you have no idea what spot you occupy on the social continuum.

If you are designing the most just society possible (from behind this imagined veil of self- ignorance), you’d want to maximize protection and equity for the most disadvantaged persons because you might find yourself in their company. Of course, you’d be interested in preserving the freedoms and rights of all so that, no matter where you land, you’re going to be okay. Sounds a little bit like a world governed by a “love your neighbor as you do yourself” kind of principle, doesn’t it?

This is a simplification of John Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance model for arriving at social justice.

It’s an interesting concept.

Implementing it in the real world where, generally, people are much more interested in protecting their “thought tribe” or “economic tribe,” is quite another story.

Can we move away from the instinct to want to establish special rules to benefit our ethnic, economic, political, or religious groups … or is this self-centered model doomed to define our culture until we self-destruct?

The news these days from Ukraine, Gaza, and most of the world, sadly, doesn’t leave me feeling hopeful.