In response to Henry Laasanen:
When Nordics and Americans call for gender equality, we usually assume that they mean the same thing, even if they aren’t speaking the same language. But this is far from true. Despite the lexical similarity, the concept is entirely different.
The Nordic countries operate on the basis of “consensus;” they tend to see themselves as playing on one team, all with a similar goal. Americans, on the other hand, have an adversarial outlook on life. We are not all on the same team. Americans want to beat the other team and be the winners. It’s how our businesses, courts and political contests work.
Therefore, when a Nordic person thinks of equality, in the back of his mind he is really thinking about something that is good for all men and women, and even children. Equality means a general feeling that everyone is satisfied in roughly equal share.
When an American thinks of equality, it is more along the lines of making a contest even. The National Football League constantly strives to manipulate the rules to make football teams as “equal” as possible, thereby making the competitions more interesting. This is why weak teams get the first choice in the draft, etc. In our courts, we try to even the playing field by imposing rules on prosecutors and providing a lawyer to the accused. In politics, we are strict about campaign financing for the same reason. The goal of American equality is not to make everyone happy, but to create the conditions for a fair fight. At the end of the day, there is still a winner and a loser.
Because Nordics and Americans have different concepts of equality, they use different methods. Nordics negotiate with each other, air grievances and either give or ask for concessions. When there is a disagreement, they mediate. Americans attack each other from the get go, make accusations, always try to gain the upper hand, and instead of negotiation or mediation they litigate upon disagreement.
This is why the concept of “gender equality” is so awful for Americans. It means an endless war between men and women in which the worst and most partisan of all women – typically radical feminists – will have the most sway. It also means that there will be endless demands to handicap and weaken men to “equalize” the two sides and make it possible for women to “win.”
Ultimately, most people lose in such a contest. Most women and most men, who are not interested in outright gender warfare, find themselves dominated by the gender warriors, whose goal is necessarily an androgynous, sexless society. Their world – a world where there is no difference between men and women – is an inhuman monstrosity. It is an ugly imposition on the rest of us, a dystopia of freakish she-males, and a confusing wilderness to children.
In conclusion, to Nordics equality means that everyone is equally satisfied, while to Americans it means everyone is equally miserable.
