Is equality a desirable goal?

[egb_hibs]

I think this guy has a fair point, that no, it isn't necessarily. However, despite his points about fairness, I think he overlooks a key problem that screws us; namely that the more able are not, to a sufficient degree, inculcated - never mind innately possessed - with a sense of obligation to the less advantaged.

It would be nice if we could have meritocracy married to a port of noblesse oblige. What I mean is that the idea of vested privilege having a sense of obligation to the proles - which, let's face it, is at root a mechanism for maintaining that privilege, though I still think it was taken very seriously by many - has not really transferred to those who have actually earned their privilege; i'm not talking individuals, but generally. It's queer, almost counter intuitive problem, but there we are; we solve one problem, we create another.

The left should recognise that equality is undesirable | Julian Glover | Comment is free | The Guardian

If anyone wants to read more rigorous takes on what this leads to, than a newspaper column, I recommend the writings of Thomas Sowell, who, IMHO, accurately identifies that a problem on the left is it tries to import a notion of cosmic justice into the human realm; it tries to correct or ameliorate things that are not within our gift to fix.

This is an opposite problem to the one Marx (and I think against a lot of evidence) diagnosed; that the promise of an afterlife was a narcotic that dampened ardour for sorting out problems in the here and now. We now seem to have the opposite problem; an attempt to fix things that only a divine hand could possibly fix, and which outside of the scope a divine plan - ie in atheist universe - are not just futile but profoundly irrational.

 

[Brainwrong]

I think the article is pish. I'd like a complete-as-possible meritocracy, in fact I think the opportunity is there for most.

How do you make our society more equal or fair? I think the logistics are complicated when you think of areas of abject poverty but the big hitters like the massive corporations practicing tax avoidance as a rule are obvious solutions in a monetary sense i.e. how to fund the logistics (if you can actually figure out what the logistics are).

Our politicians are constantly making cuts when what they should be doing is penailsing the skullduggery of the banks & corps. But, how would you get these companies to accept that? You could probably only do that if the whole world stood firm on tax avoidance bawbaggery. And, that's not going to happen. Money talks.

Everyone should be able to go to school, all schools should be good, the money's there if we change the view that peronal income tax is the only source of revenue for a government.

How can you prevent nepotism and backhanders etc.? I don't think we're ready for that yet, I think we're too immature. We're obsessed by wealth and extracating ourselves from the ratrace. A simpler life is the idealistic answer.

I know it's simplified, I'm not a politician. It just looks glaringly obvious to me.

I await to be shot down in flames.

 

[Green Sleeves]

I think this guy has a fair point, that no, it isn't necessarily. However, despite his points about fairness, I think he overlooks a key problem that screws us; namely that the more able are not, to a sufficient degree, inculcated - never mind innately possessed - with a sense of obligation to the less advantaged.

It would be nice if we could have meritocracy married to a port of noblesse oblige. What I mean is that the idea of vested privilege having a sense of obligation to the proles - which, let's face it, is at root a mechanism for maintaining that privilege, though I still think it was taken very seriously by many - has not really transferred to those who have actually earned their privilege; i'm not talking individuals, but generally. It's queer, almost counter intuitive problem, but there we are; we solve one problem, we create another.

The left should recognise that equality is undesirable | Julian Glover | Comment is free | The Guardian

If anyone wants to read more rigorous takes on what this leads to, than a newspaper column, I recommend the writings of Thomas Sowell, who, IMHO, accurately identifies that a problem on the left is it tries to import a notion of cosmic justice into the human realm; it tries to correct or ameliorate things that are not within our gift to fix.

This is an opposite problem to the one Marx (and I think against a lot of evidence) diagnosed; that the promise of an afterlife was a narcotic that dampened ardour for sorting out problems in the here and now. We now seem to have the opposite problem; an attempt to fix things that only a divine hand could possibly fix, and which outside of the scope a divine plan - ie in atheist universe - are not just futile but profoundly irrational.

Typical Guardian pish. Thomas Paine and Robert Burns were light years ahead of this slaver.

 

[egb_hibs]

Typical Guardian pish. Thomas Paine and Robert Burns were light years ahead of this slaver.

Was Thomas Paine not what would be considered today a small statin, free marketin, right wingin libertarian?

Honest question. This is my impression but I don't know much about the felly.

 

[snoots]

I don't understand how, other than on an extremely small scale, equality across a society can ever be achieved or even attempted.

 

[Doc Shrink]

I don't understand how, other than on an extremely small scale, equality across a society can ever be achieved or even attempted.

I have always strived for equality.

But mainly for me and with those who I thought were better.