Lets first start with the definition of Equality, the Merriam-Webster definition is as follows:
the quality or state of being equal : the quality or state of having the same rights, social status, etc.
First there are a lot of different views, to some it’s gender equality, to some it’s race equality, to some it’s financial equality, and the list goes on and on. But what I see most of the time is people saying they want equality while at the same time saying they should be treated as special, these people can talk the talk but they can’t walk the walk.
I’m going to give some examples of what I’m talking about but I am by means saying these represent the majority of the groups I use as examples.
- The African Americans who demanded equal rights in Ferguson Missouri & Baltimore Maryland, then rioted and looted and claimed racism when they were arrested.
- Women who demand equal pay, then say they shouldn’t have to do the same work as their male counter parts because of their gender.
- The low or no income who demand that the government pay them because their poor (thereby draining the system and leaving less for those who really need help), but refuse to help themselves and find work.
These are just basic ideas and by no means are meant to represent the groups as a whole. What I’m trying to show is the hypocrisy of the extremes here. Are there inequalities in each of these groups? Yes, of course there are, but what people need to understand is equality means taking the good AND the bad of equality. That seems to be the biggest thing most people can’t seem to understand, they think equality means I get everything I want without any of the stuff I don’t want, and that’s not equality that’s favoritism towards one group over another. When you show favoritism towards one group over another under the guise of “equality” all you are really doing is hurting the group you say that you want to be equal to.
Now some people think the only way to get true equality and that’s by mixing all the races until there is only one race made up of all the different races on this planet, then run a socialist global government to make everyone equal and then everything will be equal and fair. First of all that’s crazy, and would never work. But second the diversity on this planet is what makes us unique, what we really need to do is understand that we are all in this together and if we want to survive we’re going to have to stop acting like children and work out our differences, make compromises that we make not always like, and work together.
Do I think that writing this blog post is going to be and earth shattering moment for anyone, no of course not. But I do hope that it at least makes you think. This is a tough issue and there are a lot of biases out there that have to be overcome if we are to ever get even close to true equality, but maybe if we start a calm adult conversion about it, then maybe we can make this world better for the coming generations so they will not have to deal with it and will look back at us and wonder why we didn’t get our act together and work things out sooner.
Let’s face it, if we go around hating each other forever instead of coming together and and doing the hard work to find middle ground, then we’re doomed and we don’t deserve equality.