How do you view equality?

Ambientmouse · 2013-07-27T23:53:32+00:00

Why rule out other possibilities?

*Take everything from everyone and use it "for the good of all."

*Reduce everyone to £250, £500, or some other arbitrary value.

*Slightly different version: set everyone at £583, ignore the remainder.

*Eliminate the monetary system entirely, placing them all on equal footing in a new environment.

*Create a scaling system which "penalizes" those with higher wealth by redistributing it to those with lesser, on the basis of how far from the mean each is, such as a progressive tax system with programs to aid those below a certain level.

Personally, in a strictly monetary wealth evaluation, I do not see any way for equality to exist over any length of time, if only because the actions of each individual will rapidly create large disparities. Systems which try to maintain equal footing after those actions in turn remove personal responsibility for the consequences of one's actions.

Of the options present I would prefer a system that ensures a certain base level (which should be low enough to survive on but not more and require recipients to seek alternatives if they are capable), and perhaps soft-caps personal wealth by progressive taxes whose funds are theoretically spent for the common good, but I'm entirely too cynical to believe that any such system would not be corrupted to serve the interests of one group above others.

No_Fudge · 2013-07-28T01:32:48+00:00

Honestly this is just a really bad analogy. There are soo many variables.

I'll assume that this money was made through working in america (Even though it uses pounds). People that work different jobs shouldn't all make the money. So Giving them all adjusted money to make it totally even isn't fair to the person who worked harder for the money. I'm not saying that poor income isn't often caused by things outside that persons control, but it's better to address those factors rather than just arbitrary give everybody the same amount of money.

What if the guy with 250 has less money because he spent it all on heroin? It's not fair to punish the people with more money because they made smarter financial decisions.

ILoveHate · 2013-07-28T01:55:02+00:00

How about like this. If you can remove age, gender, race, social economic status and everything else from someone and after being judged, the outcome is the same as if you hadn't removed those things, then we have equality. This applies to educational, job opportunities or the way you're treated in court, etc.

paladin_ranger · 2013-07-28T00:16:41+00:00

That everyone is treated the same under the law, to the greatest extent possible.

AtlasAtticus · 2013-07-27T23:40:04+00:00

I think equality (as an isolated concept) is not measured in money Even though trying to define equality is a great idea, in your post I think there is a different valid question. But I don't know how to extrapolate it. Perhaps you mean "is a financial equilibrium reached at a particular set value? Or is it achieved through putting everyone at any value size as long as they are all in the same financial class?"

tomsix · 2013-07-27T23:38:23+00:00

How about give everyone nothing. Equal opportunities and equal responsibilities, that is equality.

rightsbot · 2013-07-27T23:22:18+00:00

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fishing-for-downvote · 2013-07-28T00:38:21+00:00

It depends, who worked the hardest for it? And equality can't be measured in money like that, because any money is good money. So it never address the problems that someone would face, it only focuses on the good parts.

Pecanpig · 2013-07-28T03:05:46+00:00

Depends on a lot of factors, to many to be accounted for here. But /u/Ambientmouse does a good job answering anyways.

ultimation · 2013-07-28T08:15:50+00:00

Sorry guys, perhaps money was the wrong unit to pick.

It wasnt to do with money, I just picked that unit as it was easily quantifiable. I meant on a much wider scale. Ignore that it's money, and more just, something, be it physical or not.

Money could represent emotional help, or anything.

bunker_man · 2013-07-29T02:25:23+00:00

That depends WHY their amounts are different. Certainly closer to the second than the first, but not by much.

JavaPants · 2013-07-29T03:11:42+00:00

The first one. At least out of the two options given.

2013-07-29T13:40:05+00:00

Equality of opportunity.

Not equality of outcome.

avantvernacular · 2013-07-29T13:54:32+00:00

The law both protects and prosecutes £999, one with £500 and one with £250 equally. Having £999 has no impact on the outcome of court cases, nor does £250.

They keep their money.

atheistunicycle · 2013-07-29T22:09:46+00:00

Equality is giving each 1,000.

Equity is giving each their respective amount to reach 1,000 total.

Quarkster · 2013-07-28T00:20:19+00:00

Who needs help?

SilencingNarrative · 2013-07-28T02:37:48+00:00

I don't think your metaphor captures the issue of equality. Society is not a sugar daddy that dispenses unearned wealth. Its a system that allows people to create wealth.

Title	How do you view equality?
Author	ultimation
Upvotes	9
Comments	18
Date	July 27, 2013 11:21 PM UTC (13 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/1j6qvz/how_do_you_view_equality/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/how-do-you-view-equality.1167766 https://theredarchive.com/post/1167766

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