Today is to bash me.
“Opinions are like assholes in that everyone has one. But they are not assholes in that every once in awhile they need to be taken out in the yard and beaten up a sledge hammer”
- Tim Minchim
Tim Minchim is a man who lost both his feet in an accident and then went on to become a mountain climber, so I believe this quote is a great way to start. It’s almost 9 am right now and I need this to go up before 9:30 as I have a breakfast meeting at 10.
This leaves me with very little to explore so today’s article might not be as thoughtful as you would want it to be. But we will try to stay there.
Owing to the lack of time, I guess it would be best if I put out one of my most vulnerable opinions out there for all of you to beat up, go on, offload your insecurities and frustrations into rude or condescending comments. It’s all cool. I’m here to be beaten up.
I don’t believe in gender equality. I don’t believe all men are born equal. I don’t believe all women are born equal. And I don’t believe they should be equal in the eyes of the government either.
I believe equality is a farce that a privileged class puts up in order to nullify the benefits it reaps from a hierarchical structure. And why not? Think about it, equality in a prevalent class structure benefits not only those who are at the top of it but also those who wage a constant war against it in return of an opinion share from people.
It’s a win win for everyone. If you’re rich, privileged, and reaping the benefits of it, saying that the society has equality makes all that you do seem more difficult to do than it actually is. Your efforts are viewed at a pedestal higher than everyone else since we are all equal and somehow what you do is getting you more than everyone else. You must be the awesome kind of special.
On the other hand of the spectrum are those who voice the unempowered. They make a profession out of the call for equality. They gather funds, hold rallies, and make all the noise that they could to make sure that the rift is just evident enough for them to gather your brain share but not actionable enough for anyone to bridge it.
If there ever was equality, the privileged sure stand to lose, but at the same time, the jobs of a lot of those who aren’t, are also threatened. Hence it remains in the best interest of everyone to promote the idea of equality and maintain a marginally hegemonic society.
But accounting for inequality in policy decisions brings us face to face with another problem. The problem of an idealistic meritocracy failing in the face of it all. The worst hellhole that a system ever wants to walk into is a failure of its meritocracy. The inability of the human race to tell smart people from the needy ones has been a primary reason behind a lot of wars and genocides.
This however, does not mean that I am devoid of any sense of justice whatsoever. I do posses a sense of what is fair and what isn’t. And in that gooey idea of justice that I have, the only sense of equality that I can think of is an equality of opportunity.
And I believe that there hardly has been an equality more threatening to an establishment than the equality of opportunity. That’s what the internet did. It gave everyone the absolute algorithmic, non-emotional liberty to achieve whatever they would want to, at least within its own sphere of applications.
The idea of equal opportunity, however threatening, is also very liberating. Knowing that you possess just as much opportunity to do something as the next guy is what truly makes you believe in the ideals of entrepreneurship. And it feels so liberating because of a simple reason. It’s the natural order of things.
It’s difficult to wrap this up and it’s already 0934 hrs but it should be enough food for thought to help you to poke me. Hit the keyboard.
