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Say What?
Lately I've been noticing a dramatic uptick in the repetition of a certain phrase. It's a phrase I've heard ocassionally over the years mostly from my friends on the political left. But these days, I'm even hearing it from many on the right. The phrase is usually triggered by topics charged with some sort of social significance, often the result of some recent sensational event, like a church shooting or a rape revelation, and it usually comes out a little something like this:
I'm for equality, but...
The "but" is typically followed by some statement considered high herasy in whatever political circle this phrase is uttered, and hairdos all over the room burst into flame immediately. Much attention is paid to the trailing phrases. Things like, "I'm not a feminist", or "there's too much immigration", or whatever.
But nobody pays much attention to the phrase I'm talking about. For the person who utters it, it is an innoculation; a self-justification; a moral safety blanket. For the receiver, it is the call of the mockingbird; an imposter; an infiltrator; a liar. For both, it is an unspoken fundamental agreement. An agreement that niether seems to realize they are entering into regarding an object about which niether seems to fully understand, let alone demonstrate any awareness of.
All Things Being Equal...
So, what exactly are you saying, when you say you are "for equality"? It turns out, this is an incredibly difficult question to answer. The concept of "equality" is one of the most difficult to understand, and most muddled, of the major questions of philosophy.
Why, then, are we so quick to align ourselves with it? What impulse is driving our self-identification with whatever it is we think "equality" means?