Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Equality sucks

I have come to believe that there was never a more misguided sentence in American history than Jefferson's* "all men are created equal". They're not. And then, of course, what does equal mean?

Young Alex Kurtagić, one of the several Angry Young Men that I read,  has taken that bull by the horns:
Equality as an Evil: The Moral Scourge of Modernity 
Equality: The Way To A Meaningless Life
Equality: A Justification of Privilege, Oppression and Inhumanity.


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*He, obviously, this propertied slave-holder did not believe it was literally true. I can only assume that what he was really attacking was inherited monarchy. It has become the Fundamentalist Scripture Quote of America. People who laugh at other kinds of certitudes mouth this line as if it were as obvious --and unquestionable-- as sunrise.

And we now know, of course, that "sunrise" is actually "earth-spin". Backstory is always crucial.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"And we now know, of course, that "sunrise" is actually "earth-spin"."

Yabbut, nobody ever says, "Wouldn't it be romantic to go out on the beach early in the morning and watch the earth spin?"

--Nathan

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