Deep thought on equality

We all had this awful feeling of injustice one day because our peers are better treated than us. In our head a little voice is telling us “it is so unfair ! This treatment is unequal !”. Inequality is applying for many cases at different scales. There can be inequality in a family, at work or more generally between people in a same country. But can we all be equal ? Is it just an ideology or something applicable in our societies ? Does perfect equality exist ?

These questions are leading me to a famous political current communism. The definition of this current is “a theory or system organization in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed”. The purpose of this policy is to have a “better world” without inequalities. This ideology is based on three steps : the first one a revolution to make a coup, the second one is establishing a temporary dictatorship of the proletariat and the third step is to destroy it and establish a country full of liberty without inequality. This seems beautiful to live in a world without inequality, but in fact, this ideology has never proved itself.

Firstly because none of the countries which are experimenting this ideology arrived at the last step which is : establishing a nation full of liberty and abandoning the power in place. In fact this political current, hadn’t think that by trying to have a country more equal between its citizens, it would create a gap much more bigger than with the other currents because it is a small part of the population which is leading the country and those people, because of their power, allow them a privileged life way more comfortable than the majority of the population. Because those people are too attached to their life they don’t see the need to abandon this dictatorship and they stay leaders of the country for decades. This way of behaving is normal, every man who is used to being the most powerful person in a nation wants to stay being this person. It is just natural. Secondly, I am letting you imagine that a country has arrived at the third step which is, I remind you, the establishment of a nation full of liberty where there are no inequalities and no social classes. Imagine one second what the people in the country would do ? Some of them would certainly play the communism ideology game but another part would obviously try to take the power and establish another political regime. It is in the nature of man to impose its authority.

As you can see, communism had not been thinking about what men are capable of for themselves.

So if this current which is principally based on equality had not worked, is it possible to live in a world without inequality ?

In our modern world, the idea of equality is very present. Most of the countries are now a democracy, in those political regimes “the power is given to the people”, which means the people are deciding their country's destiny. In fact, in most of the democracy, the question of inequality is major. I am going to take the model of the french democracy which I know well.

In France, like in many other countries, there are social classes. But the fact is that equality is something really important for french people and therefore french government. So in order to reduce these inequalities, the government is taking some measures such as offering some jobs for people in need and also offering some holidays to children living in a troubled area. These measures are very generous but they are creating other inequalities. Because for example a person who can’t find a job won’t have the possibility to have one by the help of the government simply because he has enough money not to be a part of those people in need (even though he doesn’t have a lot of money) and some children who can’t go on holidays but who are not living in those harsh areas won’t have the possibility to go on free holidays. But no bad interpretations of what I am saying, I am not criticizing those measures but just doing the observation that by trying to avoid or reduce inequalities the french government is creating inequalities.

Furthermore, we have to admit also that there are inequalities in nature. For instance, some animals are more powerful than others and even in the same species some animals don’t have the same capacity. In fact, some dolphins will swim more speedly which will give some of them the possibility to avoid predators. Also, even in the food chains there are inequalities because small fishes will have a more important probability to be eaten than big fishes. This is what scientists are calling natural selection. It is implying some animals or species will be more advantaged to survive and not others for some reasons. And even if that is completely unfair and unequal, it will remain like this.

Which leads me to the fact that inequalities even though they are unfair can’t be completely erased. They are part of a balance in our societies and even in nature. Without poor people there are no rich people and without rich people poor people and middle class people can’t survive because there is no corporation, no economy, no jobs and therefore no society. But in order to improve that, politicians can encourage social evolution to let people have this possibility to evolve their status in society. Unfortunately, even though it is cruel to say it, we will never have a world without inequalities and it has to remain like this in order to protect peace and mankind.

I hope even though this article is a bit different than the ones I did before (a bit more dramatic) you enjoyed reading it !

Don’t hesitate to give some ideas of blog articles in the comment on my instagram page and tell me if you like this kind of article.

Have a nice week !

The French Art De Vivre