[Neurons] 2021 Neurons #47 THE BAD IDEA OF EQUITY

[Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

2021 Neurons #47

July 30, 2021

How Self-Actualization 

Can Save Politics #8

 

THE BAD IDEA OF EQUITY

 

In thinking about bad ideas in politics, ideas that are having a field day
these days, the idea of equalizing out everything is one of the worst.
Equal opportunities- sure.  Equal access- yes, definitely!  Equal in the
eyes of the law- of course!  But trying to control things so that all get
the same thing- equal outcome- that's a really bad idea.

 

Why?  The first reason is the simplest one.  Namely, given human nature,it
is not possible.  Given differences in talents, intelligence, creativity,
interests, desires, energy, motivation and on and on, the
socialist/communistic idea of equity, of equalizing out everything, is an
utopian hope.  And historically, it has always turned out to be a nightmare,
rather than a dream.  Even for parents in a home with just two or three
children, it is not even possible to do this!  While the kids want things to
be fair, they don't want to be treated as if they were all the same.  And if
we go to communist regimes around the world who purportedly believe in this
bad idea, none of them have created economic equality.  In spite of a
hundred years of trying communism, what country has actually achieved
economic equality?  None.  Actually, the separation between the rich and the
poor is much more extreme in those countries.

 

It's a bad idea also the consequence of trying to force equity (equal
outcome) leads to forcing conformity upon people, banishing true diversity,
and lowering standards.  People are not the same in scores and scores of
ways- they don't want the same thing, aren't interested in the same
outcomes, don't prioritize values in the same way.  So trying to get
everyone to conform is another impossible dream and one that fails to
respect diversity and uniqueness.

 

Pursuing equity puts all the focus on the result or the end and to do that
means unequal treatment of the individual or group.  Of course, to do that
is to construct a structure that is inherently unequal.  That's a bad idea
because it is a step backward.  By contrast, legal equality means treating
people as equal in the eyes of the law and being color-blind to skin color
so that each person is gien an equality of opportunity.  Something that is
very different from equity.

 

A much better idea is to believe in people, to validate and embrace
diversity, and to let people choose to create the kind and quality of lives
that they want.  Some will strive an entrepreneurs to create new enterprises
and build businesses and become wealthier than most people.  They will work
12 to 16 hours a day and love every minute of it.   Others would utterly
hate that way of living.  They want to find a good secure job, work at it
from 9 to 5 and then leave work so that they can focus on something that
they care about- perhaps family, or sport, or recreation, or some hobby.
They don't care about how much money they accumulate.  They spend whatever
they get.  Others do not even want a full-time job.  They would prefer to
work as little as possible- just enough to have the lifestyle they want.

The bad idea of equality of outcome would deny people the right to set their
own values and to live by those values.  It would rob them of their basic
freedom of choice and impose on them a false promise and an impossible
dream.  In terms of self-actualization, equity doesn't work.  What works is
equality of persons and opportunity which is why it is a much better idea.

 

 

 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, Neuro-Semantics

P.O. Box 8

Clifton CO. 81520 USA

www.neurosemantics.com 

Check out The Shop -- www.neurosemantics.com/shop/ 

 

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Making smart decisions is not easy--- many, many cognitive biases work
against us and it is far too easy to default to pseudo-decisions: emotions,
gut feelings, intuitions, circumstances, others.  

Executive Decisions (2021) offers a way to decide intelligently and wisely.

 

130969 Neuro Semantics Executive Decisions Book Cover

 

 

 

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