EXPOSING THE MYTH OF EQUALITY
"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal..."
Declaration of Independence. 1776.
Everyone knows that no two humans are exactly alike in any respect. Humans differ from one another from the moment of conception. They display immense diversity of talents, aptitudes, physical characteristics, mental capacity, emotional intelligence and drive or grit. How is it that the champion of the French Revolution (1789-1799), Jean Jacques Rousseau, could teach that all humans were designed to be equal in every way? And how is it that today, the siren call still goes out from our institutions of higher education that we are "one" and should be considered equals, and that one of the primary roles of government is to insure equality, even if by force if necessary? Is it not self evident that no one here on Steemit is equal? So how is it that humans can be equal as Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence?
There are only three ways we are equal. They are:
We can be treated as equals before the law.
We all have the same inalienable rights and ideally can have those rights protected equally.
We are equals in the sight of God. Or for those who may not believe in a Supreme Deity, we can say we are equal in essence, in spirit, in our beingness as part of the Oneness of the Cosmos.
Let's take a Steemit look at these points. (A "Steemit look" means an abbreviated essay, a shortened read for all of us whose eyes are fatigued from reading so much, and must read more before the day is done.)
I approach this essay from the perspective of one who lives in the United States where equal rights are ideally protected by law. Some of these rights include: The right to try and fail, to pursue happiness and prosperity, to vote, work, marry, build a business, join Steemit, move to another location, seek a good education, speak or write publicly, enjoy equally before the courts and the police, to be taxed fairly, and so forth.
Of course we all know that there is disparity in how we are treated. We are humans after all trying to implement a vision of fair and equitable treatment, but we fail in attaining perfection of this vision don't we? And yet it is a glorious vision, one that has come closer to reality here in the U.S. than perhaps any other country in any other time. Sure, I could debate this last statement until the end of time but in my opinion we've come a long way baby, but admittedly we have a ways to go.
The real debate here is that some modern "Progressives" believe there should be "social justice" and "economic justice". In other words they believe there should be no class structure, no special privilege for some in regards to status, power, presence, and opportunity. "Economic justice" simply means leveling of income, or at the very least all should have a basic income insuring ones ability to live well and in good circumstances. There should be no poor, no disadvantaged, no homeless, no hungry, no disparity in health care, etc.
Now these sound good don't they? I promise I could make very powerful arguments for social and economic justice, however, nature won't allow it. Last century over 100 million souls were dispatched to their creator in violent communist revolutions in Russia, China, Cuba, Cambodia, and in numerous other smaller nations in an attempt to bring about a socialist workers paradise. Did it work? No it failed utterly and disastrously.
When I say nature won't allow it this is what I mean: LeBron James is a better basketball player than I. Elon Musk is vastly more adept at putting together business visions than I. President Trump has leonine hair while I have none. I have a great sense of humor and you don't. (Kidding, just kidding). Johny Depp makes a better pirate than I and Einstein was brilliant and I am... well, not so much. You see, try as we might nature will not allow a disgusting, hideously unjust HOMOGENIZED SAMENESS. And thank God for that! Can you imagine how boring it would be for all of us to be clad in the dull green uniform of Mao? How pathetic would it be if there were no Olympics, no Academy Awards, no Super Bowl, no "America Has Talent", no Medals of Honor, or men and women who create incredible breakthroughs in science and technology? And what if the greatest teacher of them all was not allowed to exist? That teacher being failure?
While I'm on a role let's take a look at "White Privilege". Hang on... reaching for my barf bag. Are some more privileged than others? No shit Sherlock. Is Obama more privileged than I? Are the Whales on Steemit more privileged than I? Am I more privileged than some young man in Nigeria? Yes, absolutely is the answer to each of these and millions of more examples. Is this fair? HELL NO! Thank God it's not fair. Maybe this is why "Progressives" are so pissed off. Life is not fair. So they want to use force/government to make it fair.
Let me share with you the formula to create privilege, and I am not counting the formula that includes dishonesty, or violence to create privilege. I am referring to what you and I can do honestly by our own wits and effort, regardless of color, race or gender. The formula: Have a high moral standard. Work hard. Learn and study (preferably not from the bull shit slinging professors at University). Learn to manage money and investments wisely. Find mentors. Pattern your life after successful people you respect. Avoid addictions. Eat well. Exercise. And most importantly be fucking RESPONSIBLE for yourself and stop being the perpetual VICTIM. Cripes, is this not basic human knowledge? And yet, so many are fooled into believing the lie of Equality of things, and achievement.
Do I turn a blind eye to reality? No, I know there are some terribly challenging circumstances that people are born into and must endure. Every race, every religion, every gender has suffered abuse and slavery, and religious persecution and brutality, and pogroms and genocide.
Kobe Bryant. Champion of Black Privilege. Hero of those with No Hair. Every persons vision of perfect teeth. And who knows how much money is in his bank account. Damn if this is not fair then what is? Thank God life is not fair.
Our greatest teachers are challenges, adversity, illness, divorce and bankruptcy, and failure.
Alright! I just heard the Steemit Alarm Clock go off. Times up. You all come on back now. Blessings I love you.
Mistermercury
Equal rights do not mean equal outcome. I really worry over the safe space generation when they are the majority.
I think much of this can be blamed on the narrative toxic masculinity and the drive to separate men from being role models. The attack on male only spaces has become fierce, now the boys can't even have the boy scouts. This nonsense needs to stop, but I fear it is already to late.
Yeah, I heard about this guy. Maybe it is a genetic memory that he has of old times when families did in fact include several generations in one dwelling. I'm betting if you were to go into his living space you'd find an elaborate command center of computers, sound systems and gaming devices that he is reluctant to disassemble for a move.
If you were to compound his dependence upon the etherial world with virtual reality (assuming it will be much better in the near future) then, the parents would probably have to send in the equivalent of a Internet Swat Team to dislodge him.
Yes, and the poor Boy Scouts. I was a Scoutmaster for 7 years when my boys were of the age, and groan at what they have done to appease the tide of politically correct behaviorists.
I am going to guess it is more not wanting to contribute and the desire to be lazy as we are seeing so much of now. In the interview he admits to not having a job, and at the beginning of the 5 times he was asked to move out he was told he could stay if he would just go get a job. He has been trained into the mindset that others owe us to take care of us.
In the old times the dynamics were much different, and I guarantee you the 30 year old men were not living at home playing while expecting others to take care of them. I have never seen so many men with no drive, and directly tie it to the attack on the male identity. It isn't politically correct to say this, but it was and has been men who build societies, maintain them and safeguard them. At some point when there are enough men like him we will be overrun by other societies where the men were encouraged to be men.
I see this a lot in the extreme fringes of the Mgtow movement. They are angry and feel society has not only abandoned them (because they are men), but wants to enslave them. They prefer to do as little as they have to in order to survive, each day hoping it all crashes down. And their numbers grow daily.
I have to tell you the truth, I started watching the vid of the 30 yr. old son and was so disgusted I could not finish. Your explanation of the collapse of the traditional role of men is much clearer now. And I agree. I've raised my 5 kids (three girls and 2 boys) and they all are very responsible proactive adults. I also had part in raising 4 foster sons. These boys really struggled to get a grip on reality and become responsible for their own lives. One did well, another is essentially a wild dog out on the streets, another at age 28 has finally grown up ...well, he is in the process, while the 4th, at age 24 is still in Never-Never land but attempting to get a life. I'll sound like an old geezer here but by 24 I was married, with our first child, working full time and going to school.
When I tell my adult foster sons about how it was for me they look like deer in the headlights. To them it is almost horrifying to consider such a thing.
Oh, and what is the Mgtow movement" ? The best I could come up with, considering the discussion, is Men going to Women movement!
Hey, sorry it took so long to get back with you on your question. It deserves a lot of care, as it is attacked because the system and gynocracy it pushes is against this. It is an acronym for Men Going Their Own Way. I am not one, but I incorporate many of the truths they speak of and admire many of the men as leaders who have come out of what is called the rage phase. Here is a link to a thread on their sub on Reddit. There can be a lot of toxicity on this sub by those who are in the rage phase, as well as by incels but this thread really covers a lot of the truths behind them. A worthy read, especially if you have a lot of time to read through the comments. It is the growing backlash at the war on "toxic" masculinity.
https://old.reddit.com/r/MGTOW/comments/8qhp0x/dear_women_who_are_visiting_rmgtow/?limit=500
Well, never heard of it but sounds reasonable. One principle I really like is this: If you attempt to create anything that goes against nature it is folly. Trying to make men into non-men is nuts. Good pun huh?
Your balance is below $0.25. This is your first notification that your account is running low and should be replenished.
@davemccoy, forgive me for tagging you but I know you are one of the founders of this. I am concerned this will be viewed as spam if notifications are being placed on others posts. Your thoughts?
My apologies @mistermercury. I finally decided to use them and was unaware this was how they choose to notify us that the account is running low.
Hi Jason, the reply is on your comment so only you will be notified, but it can show up, as in this case, on a different person's blog, so I see your point there. It is still not optimal.
We wanted to avoid wallet spam, but perhaps this is not any better.
We will soon get a dedicated Discord bot where the balance can be checked. I will discuss with Dave how we can improve this at the same time.
I am hopeful you may consider perhaps an opt in for wallet notification as well. I am one of the rare ones that refuses to use Discord and would not have access to the bot.
Thanks for the feedback.
Yes, that is the plan. Discord will be an addition, so users can check on-demand. We will still keep notifications. Just have to decide if we keep it as comments or change to wallet memos. But good idea to have that as an opt-in.
Yup, quite a quagmire trying to manage and control equality/equal opportunity/equal-everything, and this often amounts to an attempt to blend and then 'equate' around the level of the lowest common denominator. It seems to look at the physical and material aspects of life and attempts to use force to chop bits off here, add bits on there, such that there is an appearance of similarity/equality (uniformity?). It is wide open to corruption and becomes, as on Orwell's farm: 'All animals are equal, just some are more equal than others.'
My take:
I too think this is misguided.
I think we are each unique expressions (of ONE fundamental reality/energy - there is connection, not separation). As such, there is no basis for comparison whatsoever. All comparisons look at characteristics that are fleeting and transitory, and which form the flux of change and experience - the details. Each expression of an individual, each experience experienced by an individual, is unique. Comparison itself is flawed, for it assumes attributes of the real person are being measured against another real person. This is false IMO (even violent), and more like STRAWPERSON vs STRAWPERSON. I am not any measure I can be compared by - no attribute such as name, job, nationality, possessions, reputation, habits, traumas etc is who I am, they can all be altered without altering the essence of 'I'.
Thus, I think that part of the 'myth' of equality is that equality needs to be managed and that comparison is meaningful. I do not believe that it does/is, for, as unique expressions of the ONE, we are at the same time utterly beyond comparison, and also, fundamentally identical - and in between is the varied, multi-coloured dance of life (UN- HOMOGENIZED
SAMENESSDIFFERENCE :). Considerations of equality/inequality seem to take place in incomplete or artificial conceptual settings, and are often fear-based and negative. The beauty and truth of paradox is discarded in the heartless march of 2-dimensionally misapplied logic and reason.Equality, I think, exists in the infinite potentiality that we all - as spirit beings having a human experience - have as the core of our essence, we ARE this infinte potentiality. In terms of the ability to realise our own potential (expressing ourselves freely and fully, without fear - actually living vs existing/surviving), no being has greater or lesser access to the Source, no being has greater or lesser access to the potential to realise oneself as such :D
As you say "And most importantly be fucking RESPONSIBLE for yourself and stop being the perpetual VICTIM." - I am sooooo tired of my own conditioned bullshit, and I am tired of listening to it in the human world around (physical and virtual) LOL. Nature may not allow equality the way in which the traumatised human psyche would like to manage it, yet there seems to be no inequality in Nature either, except at the level of human illusion!
Many thanks @mistermercury 🔆
🚣
Sorry, I've been delayed in getting back to you in regards to your excellent comment. I agree with you that our ultimate reality is we are expressions of the One. I Am that I Am is the truth for everyone. However, on this earthly plane we experience separation, we fall back on our survival instincts, our consciousness drops. We fall prey to all sorts of misbeliefs and falsehoods. We madly scrabble about in an effort to mold outer circumstances to make the inner person feel good when it is actually the inner person that bbrings joy and goodness.
Well said. With all of it. I couldn't agree any more if I had written this myself.
I do question, though (not your arguments or your conclusions) the actual beliefs progressives have. There are, yes, the useful idiots in any cause. Heck, maybe we'll be proven to be Steemit's useful idiots. :)
However, the actual zealots in any cause are not the ones pulling the strings or running the show. Those folks are the real progressives, the ones who use whatever ideals they can get people to buy into to bring about their own, more selfish purposes. Wealth. Power. Worldly Glory.
When it comes down to it, it's all about the herders and the herded. It doesn't matter how it happens, or what belief system is in place, as long as that belief system is contrary to Nature and common sense. It's about ruling through controlled chaos (now there's an oxymoron and a misnomer). It's about keeping people pitted against one another when in reality, there isn't so much separating the common man.
It's about gaining and preserving power. Then you die, unless they figure out ways to prolong that for themselves, too. :)
I've pondered this myself. Is it some energy band or as Sheldrake says, a morphogenetic field, that these people are tied into that influences their beliefs and behaviors? But like you say, it's not just progressives... it seems that all of us are easily and even subconsciously influenced by group think. We are susceptible to dashing off like lemmings without thinking rationally or critically about our beliefs. Not only that but our beliefs, even if terribly irrational, take on the weight of fact and reality.
I've touched upon this phenomenon in another post but it deserves further investigation. One perfect example is this: The Sumerian Myth of Origins. You most likely are familiar with it. Essentially it is a quite elaborate story of how aliens from the Pleiades constellation came to earth some 400,000 years ago and by genetic manipulation created modern man. Anyway, from these ancient roots modern monotheistic religions from the middle east have emerged. The story has been retold so many times and magnified by elaborate YouTube vids that now there is a great number of people who believe it. The thing is I came across a person here on Steemit about a month ago who actually reads the ancient Sumerian script and I asked her about these stories to see what she thought. She said she had never heard of them, which I found to be very interesting.
I very carefully explained this to a true believer of the Sumerian myth recently. Have not heard from him since. He apparently did not like that I questioned his reality. Disappointing.
Oh, and as to those who might be the ones who influence progressive professors, for example, I wonder about that too. Is there in fact an organized campaign to manipulate the Millennials? It would certainly appear so. Their world reality and mine are certainly not of the same origins.
I've heard about aliens potentially being responsible for all kinds of things, from our very existence, to mundane tasks like building pyramids and providing other technologies that early man supposedly could not have developed on their own. I find it all very interesting that people will believe in aliens from other planets (something that I find feasible for them to exist), but then turn around and call other things fairy tales. Somewhere, though, you do get to the truth.
I think in every generation there has been a concerted effort by those who are in power or who would take it to try to mold the up and coming generation into something else, thus hoping to ensure change because eventually the old guard dies off.
While it works in a more incremental fashion, it doesn't quite get there because something funny happens on the way to maturity. Youth finally get enough experience to look around and realize that reality isn't what they were told it was. And so many of us make it through to battle off those who either never figure it out or end up not caring because it brings them the power they supposedly never wanted. And then they end up doing the exact things with it that they hated before and swore they never would do, because once had, most will not put power down.
Curated for #informationwar (by @openparadigm)
Relevance: A Great Examination of Equality.
Our Purpose
Thanks @openparadigm. What in the world does your name signify by the way. I am familiar with paradigm but...?
And thanks for the curation. Blessings.
Something along the lines that my ideas aren't set in stone.
I don't believe that believing the "right" idea (religion,ideology, etc.) confers any special merit on the believer. Rather that you should be judged by your actions.
I don't believe in hating people for their ideas but judging them by their actions.
Well can't give you a pair of dimes, but I'll... whoops, too much voting, you'll have to be happy with an almost one-dime. Blessings.
Hi Christopher.
I replied to your comment on Minds. In case you don't see it, here are some initial tips.: https://www.minds.com/blog/view/742327794419113984 and https://www.minds.com/faq to wonder through and start to figure it out. First make sure you register a mobile phone, which gets encrypted even from them, in order to setup your wallet to collect rewards.
Basically the key is to upload a logo and background for your channel (and maybe a description), wonder around, like, remind (like resteem), comment and subscribe to those you like. Many people will subscribe back. Those posts you remind are placed in your timeline and thus any likes, comments or reminds they get there you get credit for. See https://www.minds.com/wallet/tokens/101 to understand better the rewards system. I hope you enjoy it :) Many Blessings
Thanks @positivesynergy. I must tell you I'm kind of burnt out on Steemit right at the moment. I'm having a hard time keeping any amount of motivation. Perhaps it's just a passing phase. But this doldrum is affecting my interest in any other platform too. My daughter @littlescribe is going to try and do some psycho-steemit therapy on me to reignite my enthusiasm. We'll see if the magic wand she might wave does any good.
I appreciate your kindness in helping me out though. I really do. Part of my failing interest is that we all pretend that what we are doing here has some special meaning and purpose. Maybe it does, but right now it evades me. Sorry for the wet blanket reply.
Hang in there, bro. Maybe you need a break from it all for a bit to rekindle your inspiration. I totally relate, though, Christopher. As I've been feeling a bit similar also. There's been a heavy dose of negativity everywhere lately, such as the crypto markets, the dreary winter rainy weather here where it's supposed to be about to begin summer, the corrupt governmental regulator mania, etc., which all collectively weighs heavily too lately.
Sometimes I think we're having this experience of living in a giant testtube world to ultimately push us to go within meditatively (or prayerfully) to find our true higher self part of God/heaven to then inspire ourselves to ascend from the old world into the new heaven and the new earth (i.e. from Revelations). Many Blessings
Yes, I agree, it seems the world continues to careen from one craziness to another. In such a state the best policy is to seek a spiritual path. I think my biggest problem stems from false expectations on my part...a certain formula for disappointment. So, I'll adjust. And, frankly Big Change is in the air. Of course I may be mistaken. I appreciate your friendship and input. Blessings.
In my view we've gotta keep our eyes focused on our highest dreams... As the saying goes, "If we don't know where we're going, how will we now when we get there." or "If we aim for nothing, we're sure to get it." LOL Lots of laughter and enjoying the ride/journey along the way helps as well... Have a great weekend, my friend
BTW, I saw the headlines EOS voters have elected the 21 witnesses and is now running full steam ahead on the mainnet as fully decentralized. I expect their newer improved (anti-whale) version of steemit to roll out in the near future now. It went from +/- $9.50 a day or so ago to 11.11 this morning, which I read as an interesting number sign, given we are in an 11 year and I have my eye on both 9-11 and 11-11-11 (Nov. 11) to have something significant take place towards "change". Many Blessings
So you are saying that Steemit II is actually going to be a reality, soon?
Time will tell... I don't think it will be called steemit II though, given the super negative way Ned reacted several weeks ago in S. Korea in reply to a question at the end and the way he downvoted Dan just for his post on EOS several months before...
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Well said, @mistermercury! To force equality upon us is a dangerous path, indeed. And that is the only way it can come into existence. Pure equality is forcing mediocrity upon everyone. It would be a dull, flat existence. That is why it doesn’t work. Never has, never will.
We are designed to strive to improve ourselves. The grey flatness of equality destroys the spark of ingenuity, curiosity, inventiveness, self-improvement, creative thinking and uniqueness. These traits are a part of our genetics. And nature will, for sure win.
We're dancing to the same music. THank goodness. I find that Steemit is a fascinating example of inequality for those with any doubts about equality.