Equality? Really?

Maybe I’m weird, or a math nerd, or a word fanatic, but, every time I hear the word “equality,” it conjures up fascistic images of complete, absolute, 100% total conformity. Everybody wearing the same clothes, the same hair style, living in identical houses, believing the same propaganda…and it makes me sick. The word “equal” is a mathematical term that means exactly the same as. Now, I don’t know about you, but to me, the idea of everybody being exactly the same as everybody else sounds a lot like the Third Reich. To me, it’s a scenario I would do my damnedest to escape from, not a lofty ideal to which I would ever aspire. And the phrase “equal but different” is not an improvement. It’s an oxymoron that cancels itself out, even as it is uttered. 1+1=2. 1+1≠3. It really is that obvious.

Yes-yes. I know. When people say “equality,” they don’t mean it in a mathematical sense, but in a legal sense: for all people to have the legal entitlement to equal rights, equal treatment, equal pay. But it takes too long to say all that. It’s a lot easier to abbreviate with the sweeping generalization, “equality.” It’s assumed everybody knows what you mean. But with something this important, is an assumption good enough? It’s the wrong word. Why not say “homogeneity?” Or how about “uniformity?” That’s not the intended meaning, but that’s what’s being created. Incrementally. What people are trying, and for some reason, failing to say is “egalitarianism.” That’s the right word. It means everybody is different and diverse and unique and that that’s a good thing. There are no value judgments, everybody gets to be who they really are with the exact same rights as everybody else. Now that would be something to behold! Egalitarianism. One word that accurately describes an entire concept. But nobody uses it. Strange…

How can a culture, as obsessed with verbosity and nit-picking legal technicalities as this one is, refuse to use the right word? It makes no sense. Is there something wrong with the right word? Does it have too many syllables? No. People in overly literate cultures like this one love multi-syllabic words. It makes them feel smart,important, more than equal. That’s why jargon and nomenclature are so popular. It’s certainly not illiteracy. The dominant culture is, if anything, a slave to the written word. Literally. It’s all spelled out in its Creation Myth. “The Word” is what makes manifest. Nothing else. “The Word” is all important. Everything we know, or think we know, everything we hold dear is produced from “The Word.” So why this persistent use of the wrong word? And for something so basic, so important…what is it?

It’s auto-pilot.

Auto-pilot?!

Yes. Auto-pilot. And it’s marching on, as to war.

Something unnatural, unsustainable and, for lack of a better word, evil was set into motion a long, long time ago. It has gained a lot of momentum, has become ubiquitous enough to be invisible. Hidden in plain sight. And everybody…be they a bleeding heart left-wing liberal progressive, or a right-wing, blood lusting war mongering racist, be they an American, Israeli, Arab, Christian, Jew or Muslim…everybody is carrying it along, working together to make it manifest.

Together?!

Yes. Together. The more they fight against each other, the stronger it becomes. One stinking war at a time. It thrives on antagonism, any antagonism. It doesn’t matter what “issues” are at stake or how well fueled they may be by native intelligence, passion and a burning desire for justice. It doesn’t matter which side “wins.” All that matters is that people fight with and kill each other over whatever minor variations they think they perceive in each others’ world views. War is very profitable, in the short view. In the long view, the adversarial method grinds humanity ever onwards to the coveted New World Order.

What does this have to do with Equality?

Everything! Because, in the end, there aren’t any “sides” and everybody…everybody…loses. Equally. The reason nobody uses the word “egalitarianism” is because Egalitarianism makes male supremacy impossible. Egalitarianism is Old School. Really Old School. It was humanity’s way of life for millions of years, and it worked brilliantly. God was female, with multiple aspects, sex was for pleasure as much as for procreation and not constrained to any stupid and puritanical, made up, male-dominating laws. Morality was an organic, living thing not an externally enforced set of rules enforced by outside “authorities.” Everybody was their own authority and knew right from wrong. In this paradigm, divinity is innate, it is the Inner Voice that is always Right. With multiple gods, the diversity of Nature is celebrated, and the celebration naturally extends to ourselves.

But monotheism changed all that. With One God, only conformity is allowed. One way of seeing Divinity. One way of living and loving. One way of planting. One crop, one type of animal only, no natural diversity allowed. A tight control must be kept and everything segregated into its made-up place. This is considered progress. This is not progress, it is a monstrous Frankenstein experiment.

In the New World Order, everything…everything…is a standardized artificial construction, from individual thoughts, belief systems, and social structures, to education/indoctrination systems, to immune systems, reproductive systems and food production systems, where corporate sponsors tell you what to think and you think it, because you cannot even conceive of doing otherwise, because any models for doing otherwise are long extinct…for this world, homogeneity and uniformity are an absolute necessity. And Equality, not Egalitarianism, is the way to get there…and it has to be fought for, against many opponents. It has to have opponents and it has to be a fight. How else would it be perceived as, not only worthy, but Real? That is the mechanism by which humanity can maintain its illusion of Free Will and choice. The reality is different. The controls keep getting tighter, don’t they? The level of Fear keeps rising and citizens happily give up one Freedom after another in return for alleged “security.” Supporting this dynamic is the persistent use of the word “Equality.”

“The Word” really is powerful.

How about we start using the right one?