Equality

[Riley 12,967]

Equality. Something we all look for in life. People have sacrificed their lives for this cause as well as founded countries on top of it. One day I wish I could wake up and see true equality in this world. One day I wish I could walk through the streets of my home town, talk to people, interact with people, and have true equality. Recently conflicts such as these have not been fought with weapons or violence, they have been fought with words. People have created a war that is at the same time at the forefront of everyones brain and at the same time unthought of. Gender Issues. 

The origin of movements such as feminism were to promote true equality thought the land but in fact through every act all of societies members take in this role has made the problem worse. The key tipping point was the first accusation made. That changed what should have been a peaceful discussion into a mental war fought not with weapons but with words. People aren't used to this kind of warfare and the solutions to it just make things worse. Every accusation made against a gender forces a retaliation from the other side otherwise you are accepting the fault of whatever the accusation is leading to public humiliation and the destroying of your life in front of your eyes. This cycle leads into an unbreakable loop of conflict through words and phrases in the name of equality. This process of stereotypes, labels, and generalizations have lead to people getting thrown in jail, people forming tribes to destroy others, and peoples lives getting destroyed. Does all that sound like equality?

Thomas Jefferson wrote in the United States Declaration of Independence that people have the right to unalienable rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and that everyone is created equal. A very similar line in the french Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen written by Lafayette states that all people are born equal yet now 250 years later we have not achieved this goal. One might ask, What is equality? To me equality isn't recognizing that a group of people is detrimental to society based on one trait. We call that stereotyping or labeling people. That practice causes things that should never be even considered in a person to be considered. We look at labels such as gender and race and subconsciously judge people by it. I have watched people tear each other apart on issues such as gender equality. I have watched my own parents belittle each other on things such as gender. When we walk through the streets we don't judge someone if they have blue eyes instead of hazel eyes, yet we do if they are a certain gender, a factor that someone has no control over. For equality to succeed these labels need to not exist. We need to stop caring if someone is a boy, a girl, has blue eyes, is caucasian, etc because in the end all this does is create misery and pain for everyone in an environment of judgement or fear. There shouldn't be a requirement for people to fill out their gender or race anywhere except maybe the doctors office where they need to know that. Forcing people into these labels, forcing them into checking those boxes is toxic to our success as people in modern day society. 

I hope that one day I can wake and walk down the street seeing men and women not caring about each others gender. I want to live in a world where labels don't exist, where people have true freedom. I want to live where people can pursue their unalienable rights and not have to worry about how someone will think of them based on factors they have no control over. To have true freedom means being free of stereotypes, it means being able to talk to people and have issues not even come up over gender or race. Freedom means that people are happy and have a better quality of life, and I think this problem in society being fixed is one step closer to achieving that goal.

-thoughts from Riley

-sorry

[gldenwetgoose 20,270]

Very eloquently stated @Riley - far better than I could put it.

I'm only going to pull you up on two words which don't have a place in your piece:  'thoughts... sorry'.  The point is, you're upholding the principle of freedom from discrimination and you're expressing your views (as you and all have a right to do) so no apology should ever come into play.

Personally, I think we sadly have progressed little or nowhere in the last decades or centuries - all our education and the amazing resources we have at our disposal (like sharing a chat instantly around the world) may have made us more aware of other cultures, races, practises, belief systems or whatever other bucket you want to put people into.  What we have now though is the ability to drill down into deeper and deeper channels of some feel more equal than others.

The days of segregation in the US Deep South or Apartheid in South Africa may thankfully be long gone, but instead the rise of narcism and privilege create just as much derision.  The gap between the haves and have-nots seems just as visible, but now about which kid has the best trainers and phone. In my personal opinion the drive to embrace all options by 'identifying' as a gender is the latest double edged sword - which is being used as a source of derision just as much as it is helping.

So, totally agree @Riley - the world would be a far more beautiful place if we could treat everyone around us - near and to the furthest reaches - as equal to us. Imagine how much negative energy is being applied against that principle at the moment. It would take huge concerted effort to put the brakes on and turn around.

 

[steve25805 121,335]

In a usually separate existence to my life here, I am a strong supporter of the British Labour Party, precisely because I believe in equality and social fairness. Gender equality. Racial equality. Religious equality. Ethnic equality. Equality of respect for all ages and classes.These are core values to me.