On Equality

I thought it appropriate to address myself to the practice of prejudice since we are seeing so much of it these days.  Whether a particular prejudicial situation is about gender, race, sexuality, religion or any other bias, when a person is judged on the basis of that bias, in the absence of personal character information, prejudice has occurred.  We often know it by one of the more usual terms such as racism or anti-Semitism, but these all fall into the broader camp of prejudice.

I have heard it said that prejudice is rooted in fear – more specifically, in a fear of the unknown.  It seems plausible since the practice of prejudice always involves generalizations in the absence of actual facts.  It is also true that when someone practices prejudice, that behavior is rooted in the concept of equality.  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,…..”  With these opening words for our Declaration of Independence, our Forefathers began the narrative of equality in America.  Not all of our Forefathers lived up to this lofty idea, but it was still a part of our National character from the very beginning.

With that in mind, consider that the equality being proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence is equality in the eyes of the government.  The colonialists weren’t being treated fairly by the British Government when compared to some of the other parts of the British Empire and that unfairness became so intolerable that they rose up in revolution against it.  They were willing to fight and die in order to be equal so we have to know they thought it was important.

When I look at the spectrum of equality with the range from inequality on one end of that spectrum and equality on the other opposing end of that spectrum, I can’t find any middle.  It always comes down to a person either sees themselves as equal to everyone else or not.

When we encounter a panhandler with that wrinkled up cardboard sign and disheveled appearance, do we see that person as our equal?  I suspect not, but is that person treated equally by our government?  That’s a much tougher question to answer because most of us are in such a different economic condition that we don’t have the same needs from our government.  Most of us have never needed our government to help us with any form of subsidy so we simply can’t relate to someone in that condition.

And, as the 2016 Presidential election season is getting started we should listen to the messages being offered by the many candidates to ascertain whether they support equality or prejudice.  Whether their idea of good government would walk with all of our citizens or walk on some of them in favor of others.  Think about it.

The Sausage Grinder is broken; will you help to fix it?

Comment here or send an email:         abrokensausagegrinder@comcast.net

Like us on Facebook:  A Broken Sausage Grinder

Follow us on Twitter:  Hank Thomas

Watch on YouTube:    A Broken Sausage Grinder