Equality - A Utopian Fantasy

Yes Equality, Marriage Equality, Equality for Everybody and everybody for equality.

Etc.

Nice idea, especially if you only look at it superficially and from a feel-good perspective.

One wonders if those who give so much lip service to equality even know what it means, or what it would mean to have it universally imposed.

To Atlantic Philanthropies patron Chuck Feeney, for example, who does so much to promote the yes equality referendum, it would not mean that everyone in the world could be a billionaire like him. Nor is it certain that this is what he intends by his support for equality.

A more likely result of complete equality would be that Mr Feeney would become a relative pauper like the rest of us, which is hardly the outcome he is seeking.

Equality is a chimera, an unrealisable dream. And who really wants it anyway?

For most people it suffices in life to be able to pay the bills and enjoy moderate comforts and leisure.

Making everyone equal, or trying to, doesn’t contribute to that ideal. In fact, the desire for equality only sows envy and discord.

Being equal to Bill Gates, with all his responsibilities as well as his money, is not an attractive prospect for the vast majority of people – in spite of the almost universal fascination with his enormous wealth.

What, then, can be said of those who promise an equality that they can never deliver?

Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784) famously said that: “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” Well, that was in the 18^th century, and perhaps it was indeed so then.

But today, far outrunning even the most false patriotism to that last refuge of the scoundrel, is the promise of equality to the masses.

And those who do so are either complete charlatans or invincibly ignorant, in as much as they either know the dire consequences of the false utopian ideology they promote, or they are unaware of those consequences.

Either way they are guilty of the fraud they are perpetrating and responsible for the outcome of their dishonesty or stupidity.

The 20^th century stands as a testament to the dangers of pretending that we can, or should, have perfect equality in this life. Rivers of blood have been spilt in its name.

Ironically, the same people who are so determined to inspire egalitarian ideals in the masses are often loud in their declamations of religion as the cause of wars. Of the religion of equality, perhaps it is true.

This is not to deny that all are due certain inalienable rights, such as the right to life and to at least the minimum conditions that will enable them to live their lives with dignity. Above all, everybody has the right to know and practice the true religion.

So all are essentially equal, but the accidental differences that result from genetic or environmental influences are infinite, so that no two people in the history of the human race were completely equal.

We differ from one another in age, appearance, wealth, strength, skills and in a huge variety of ways. This is what makes the world so interesting. Just imagine what it would be like if everyone were the same.

And what about Marriage Equality, a topic on which much ink has been spilled in the past weeks?

Marriage is currently defined as being between one man and one woman. Before that definition, everyone is equal.

But if equality means allowing some of those who reject the current definition of marriage to have their way, why not allow everyone who rejects it to have their way?

For example, there are those who want to marry animals, children or multiple partners, who will still be excluded from the new definition of marriage.

It seems that, as well as redefining marriage, those supporting the referendum want to redefine the concept of equality as well.

This is not entirely new. According to the ruling pigs of George Orwell's Animal Farm: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”