Is Equality really important?

in #philosophy7 years ago

At present many people tend to believe that inequality is a big problem and that the fact that few have much and many have little affects society negatively.

Well, although many times this thought is well intentioned, because it is a direct emotional reaction to the problem of poverty, it is not entirely accurate, and ends up generating even more problems for all social groups, including the poor people.

To understand the problem of inequality we must go back thousands, tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands years ago, when technology did not exist. In those moments there was full equality, nobody had absolutely nothing, neither clothes, nor riches, not even sticks.

But as we evolved and created a greater range of objects and material resources inequality began to rise, since it is only after there is wealth that inequality can be generated. In this way we can know that equality is closely related to the scarcity of resources, and inequality with the abundance of these.

Wait ... what inequality do we talk about?

When we talk about economic inequality, which is what we have been referring to throughout the post, we must understand that we are talking about a merely materialistic concept. In fact, economic inequality was one of Marx's most aggressive points against Western society, because in his materialist conception of history there was no spiritual life, not even faith, or something beyond the material.

The material is everything, and everything is the material, therefore no matter the effort or dedication, but the result.

If you think you are different from Marx in criticizing inequality, maybe you should think twice.

Inequality itself is not a problem, since nature does not produce in series, and we are not all equal.

Economic inequality is not a problem either, but on the contrary, economic equality itself, since it is a fallacious concept, why not all men work the same, we do not all think the same, we do not all have the same abilities, not all men are equal of intelligent, nor do we have the same aptitudes, so, why should we have the same amount of material resources? If all men proceed differently, why should we have the same results?

Many poor people have learned to victimize themselves, since in today's society results are more important than procedure, so that if two men have economic inequalities among themselves, then it will not matter if one is dedicated and the other is lazy, what really It will matter that they have uneven results, and therefore something goes wrong.

When we have a poor person, who also does not have the least hope in progressing because he thinks he is a victim of society, and that his poverty is due not to his disability, but to external ones. Then we have a true social weight that does not produce at all the wealth it consumes. Practically, a parasite.

Let it be clear that I do not mean all the poor, and perfectly and first hand that not all are like this, but we cannot victimize them and make them believe that their misfortune is due to external causes, because then we will have created a beast that refuses to progress, which consumes more resources than it generates, and that above all, is not responsible for its destiny, blaming everyone for its misfortune.

Help the poor people

Whether or not there is to help the poor is in the hands of each one of us, I personally think it is very important, since many of these people are very influenced by the environment that surrounds them, and I do not speak of houses or objects materials, but of people. Many people with scarce material resources lose their hope and faith in personal progress because their relationships and people close them put ideas of stagnation in their heads and make them believe that they cannot progress.

I know a personal case, a childhood friend with whom I studied, that despite being very intelligent and having very good school grades, with a very good future if he wanted, he preferred to settle and not even try to make more progress because his friends (of few resources) made him believe that this was impossible. (And no, I'm not plagiarizing Good Will Hunting, this happens)

Poverty is mental, and if we really want to help, then we must help them help themselves, the best help a person with scarce resources can receive is not money or objects, but education and perseverance, if a poor person knows that he can do what he wants and nothing will stop him, then that person stops being poor.

Returning to the central theme, that there are people with many resources does not make the poor poorer, and is not preventing these poor people from progressing, the only thing that prevents people with few resources from progressing are themselves (with an evident exception with respect to the kids), it does not matter if the rich are few and have a lot of money, if these people are there justly, then that is why they proportionally benefited society.

Nor am I defending the rich, I know that many of them are up there not by merit but by corruption and government intervention, but seeking equality and redistribution is not a solution, but a problem.

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The problem in this analysis is that there is no definition of 'poor' and a major flaw in your reasoning is that you assume everyone with less, actually wants more !
I agree with many things in your article, environment and the people we surround ourselves can be, if allow them to be, very influential but we must all be and do what we feel most comfortable and happiest being and doing, then everything else is just 'extras'.
I dont have an iphone X for example, because I dont want one and neither could I afford one but i chose exactly what I wanted to do today...
Time inequality is what matters, not economic inequality..

Sorry Im not an eloquant writer and cant get mypoint accross as succintly as Id like!
And thanks for a great thought provoking piece :-)

I admit that I made a couple of mistakes by expressing myself correctly in English.

Poor I was referring to a person who does not think about progressing by himself, (speaking in a materialistic sense) is that person who wants to get more (say, money), but does not do so because of his disability.

All people always want more, now, they do not always want more in a materialistic way. If a person has few resources, but is not interested at all increase them because it seeks progress in other ways besides the economic, then that person is not a poor person, at least for me.

Greetings.

Thanks for the reply and for the clarification!
My friend, Im English and I cant write as well as you lol
I just want people to never stop learning and learning to understand each other. For me, learning and being happy are the greatest riches I can aspire to .
Regards

Lol, I wanted to write about this topic. : )

Yes, there is an "direct emotional reaction to the problem of poverty", nicely put.

When someone is rich because he/she earns well or his/her family earns well, it is regarded as unfair, while when someone is intelligent or beautiful, it is regarded as his/her accomplishment. Social norms are often very inconsistent.

Actually, I've posted yesterday about human life value philosophy, if the topic interest you I'm looking forward to discuss it with you. : )

You can do it, the issue of equality definitely gives more, this is just a small pamphlet for all the content that there is about this.

While I agree that there are some people who are held back by their views of themselves, I do not think poverty can be regulated to mostly being a mental condition. The sad fact of the matter is that, in the physical world, money and possessions are power, and those who possess the most of it will work to ensure that power remains within their fold and that it has control over those who don't have power. That's how the physical world works. Spiritual, intellectual, and emotional beliefs might not agree with this, are aware that there is more to the world than just these physical desires and needs, but the physical world, the materialistic world, by and large doesn't care about this. And while there is more to us and to all things than materialistic needs, a solid foundation with materialistic needs being met comes before those other needs and desires can begin to be met.

You are correct, to some degree, in stating that there is a tendency for those who are worse off to victimize themselves and develop poor self-esteem. We should help these people to realize that they can do so much more and to get away from a self-defeating mindset. However, this self-defeating mindset and victimization is far from the only thing holding them back, because there are many things in society, especially capitalistic society, that wishes to hold them back. The main power and thing that needs to be present for a capitalistic society to function is that there needs to be a group in society that can be exploited. Without this exploitable group, a capitalistic society can't function. In order to provide the services it demands, there has to be a group that is inherently without and desperate. Understand that communism is not particularly better, and while it functions under the idea that it is revolutionary and freeing for those who are exploited, it really just continues to exploit them all the same.

A self-defeating mentality is prevalent among those who are of lesser means, but to say that this is the only thing keeping them back and that there are no societal structures that do so is fairly false.

You're correct that nature inherently makes us inequal. But it is a sign of human nobility that we strive to make it so that we are equal.

I do not think so. Capitalism understood as a free market, and not as "crony capitalism", does not require the exploitation of anyone, personal freedom itself.

The general mentality of people is what marks the idiosyncrasy of a people, and that is what ends up determining everything.

Why are the Nordic countries much richer than the rest of the countries in the world?

They are also those with lower rates of crime, homicides and corruption, however, they have much more economic freedom than the rest of the countries.

So:

Nordic countries: greater economic freedom (capitalism) = less poverty, higher quality of life.

There is no relationship between capitalism and oppression and exploitation, if that were the case, the countries with greater economic freedom would be where they exploited the most people, something that does not happen, rather countries with less economic freedom like Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, if they are exploited for hunger wages.

An interesting article.

As you say each of us has different abilities and backgrounds which have the potential to greatly influence our life choices and ability to succeed.

Some of us learn fast and achieve early on in our lives, others are slow starters and some non starters.

We all are here to live our own unique story.

To have succeeded materially is ok if you have achieved this status morally without stepping on your Grandma's head - and, I feel, it would be only fair to share your good fortune in some way, for the greater good of all, if at all possible.

In our world there is enough for everyone to have an average level of comfort but through greed many are denied basic rights of living standards and healthcare and this is morally wrong.

Then again the richest people I have met in my life have had the least freedom and freedom is ultimately the truest wealth. Freedom to work as one wishes, to not have a boss, or debt or large house and car loan.

In our world equality would be hard to achieve as we each have different expectations and desires.

I wish you well and invite your comment on my most recent article: https://steemit.com/philosophy/@ldacey-laforge/hope

xox

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