After the human right had emphasized with the freedom that contains economic activity and possession, the gap between so-called “the haves” and “the have-nots” was widened. Therefore, in the 18th to 19th century, “equality” was also highlighted to reduce this gap. Policies and laws to support the weak such as eight-hour day labor system and minimum wage system were implemented. The importance of freedom and equality in human right became larger even after the Second World War and voices to demand freedom of black people and homosexuality, and equality of gender, which caused feminism also became louder. The realm of equality is expanding until now, too, but I think some equalities are wrong.
Let’s define “equality” first. Does equality mean to treat everyone equally regardless of gender, race, or sexual identity? I do not think so. Equality does not mean to divide evenly or treat everyone equally. Rather, it means to make the situation evenly, admitting the differences and identifying things to ignore. That is, I think equality of opportunity is much more important than that of outcome. However, the equality of today seems more concentrated on the latter one.
Recently, a congressperson announced that he is examining a local allocation system, which means government offices have to recruit employees from local universities up to 50 percent. Since the ratio of people from local universities and those from metropolitan universities is the same, it may be considered as a way to reach equality by reducing inequality between the two parties. However, if you think about it a little more, the answer comes out. This is reverse discrimination. Why do students who have struggled hard since they were young have to be treated as the ones who have not, even living in the same environment and conditions? This is an obvious inequality that pretends to be equal.
Gender equality of today can be another example of it. Ignoring the benefits of each gender, men and women always quarrel. While enjoying everything they can, they want and demand more. In the end, when arguments are weakened due to the lack of logic and reason, they appeal to emotion. That means they know, it is not inequality. Rather, it is their greed. The change that will be made to satisfy their greed would be inequality.
As such, equality can be abused as a means to resolve the complaints of members of society. Some people feel discomfort in lots of situations and want some changes for themselves saying, the discomfort they feel is an inequality. Don’t you think so? Listen to your conscience if you still have it.