Justice and Equality (and why you may be doing it wrong)

Justice and Equality were two of the ideals discussed by Plato in "The Republic".  These are two of what Plato called forms, or what we call ideals.  While we understand what they should look like, they are literally impossible to define because there is so much subjectivity when discussing them.

We use the symbol of an empty scale for equality and justice quite intentionally.  Any attempt or action which puts weight on the scale moves the balance.  Once the scale is moved, it can never be brought back into balance by putting more weight on various arms of the scale.

There is a stark difference between the way the "right" and "left" view equality, and this is where if you are on the left you may be doing it wrong.

It is not a secret that the West (including the USA) is imperfect.  As society changed, we have needed to update rules.  I'm not going to describe anything too contentious, but lets take a simple example of women in the work place.

In the past, women were excluded from many jobs.  Some of these were positive, and some were negative discrimination.  Two easy examples"  First, women in combat roles in the military was disallowed.  This was what society saw as protecting women, chivalrous, and ethical.  Our second is based on a vision of what a role should be based on cultural norms, like a race car mechanic.  Today, virtually all of those exclusions have been lifted.  If you can meet the requirements for a combat role in the Military, anyone can serve.  If you are an exceptional mechanic, anyone can serve on a mechanical team.

The left view of equality is that you must allow favoritism because of past behavior.  The right view, and the correct view, is that you must empty the scales.

An easy example to discuss to demonstrate why weighting scales is wrong, is with College Entrance exams.

For quite a long time, it was normal for certain ethnic groups to be kept out of higher education due to their ethnicity.  It did not matter what their qualifications were, they were simply disallowed entry into certain educational institutions.

The left's version of "correction" has led to people of Asian culture being required to have much higher qualifications than anyone for entry into college.  They have further demanded that other groups can have lower qualifications.

This has resulted in more inequality than we started with.  This has also harmed many of the people the discriminatory practice was alleged to be helping.

For example:
An Asian person with very high qualifications may not have a degree from MIT because of their ethnicity.  This impacts their livelihood for the rest of their lives.
Meanwhile, a person with lower qualifications being pushed into MIT may find it too difficult and drop out.  The debt associated with College entry will be stuck with them until it's repaid, causing untold financial harm.  Further, the person failing to begin with has an impact both personally and socially.

If you are on the "right", you would have implemented different fixes.  Namely, that people are punished for treating people unequally.  All people, regardless of their birth position can obtain a job or education based on their personal skills and achievements.

Justice and Equality requires that we always strive to empty the scales, not add more arms and weight hoping to make perfect.  Once things are out of balance, it is impossible to ever get them back into balance unless you empty the scales.