Sunday, July 5, 2015

Equality Imperatives for thinking people -Orwell

"The only inevitable thing about simple equality arguments is that they are shallow and unusustainable .  So the only inevitable thing about simple equality arguments is that they don't last long before people see through them . That;s why the  perpetrators seek to  rush this legislation through. 

No word has got old Westerners into more trouble than the ideal of equality. No word has or is likely to run riot with a audience of us armchair experts (in our internet age ) than this powerful and useful idea because the ideal is a super simple and punchy  one . The popularity of a simple idea needs no explanation to those who think deeply.
No idea better symbolizes the pedantic blinkered view of the natural order than this one . Not that nature is simple; Its beyond simplicity to uncanny . Unity in diversity is possible, but talk of making all things equal is to ignore diversity completely - in both product and function.  The modern western myth of legislating equality is thereby theoretically and practically unworkable.
While we are not alone in being tempted by this myth , our generation does not have the experience to know when and where the word works. George Orwell was no dill,  but we have become dull to his warnings on the word use .The greatest evil is still done in the name of misnaming this best intention . Equality is a  good word  to use in the right place ,
So why is the ideal so well held amongst us ?
Clearly this idea originates in the West from at least as far back as the Bible where God asserts His care for all his creation equally, We are , according to the good book,  all created equal .The God of the Bible GOB says its in "his DNA for men " even if we  don't wanna accept it in ours. What makes us unequal in life is , if you take a fantastic view of life , our doing;  either its what we do to ourselves or to others .   So there is a case that we have gone wrong in not accepting the latter bit of our freedom ; our freedom to set things right --That bit of biblical doctrine on personal responsibility is often left out of  modern Western dialogue between men ;God too has a bigger picture of how to hold equality and diversity together than we do . In providing for people He called into the desert he provided equally for the people so that those who had much had enough, while those who only collected a little had enough also( manna) .Take it or leave it its a faith thing expounded right through the book - GOB is no man's debtor .  God maybe the best mathematician in the Universe but he doesn't insist on always using the actuary's two columns ( there being a strong array if you think about it ) GOB doesn't insist that mere 2 column maths should rule when it comes to giving equal potential for satisfaction for his creatures, His gifts , according to those who trust him,are perfect .
. Maybe the consensus amongst many men is evidence that the Devil has no good ideas of his own and so has to distort the good and better concepts of the created order.....


George Orwell  was not an ignorant man. His writing, unlike that of journos of our generation,  was informed by harsh war experience of the human dilemma. Most pointedly, he came to realize that the focus on equality was an example in his own time of good intention producing great evil. Too easy

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