Which Types of Inequality Are Not PC?
Academic inequality is socially acceptable. It is perfectly fine to demonstrate that you are in the academic top 1 percent by wearing a Princeton, Harvard or Stanford sweatshirt.
Ancestor inequality is not socially acceptable. It is not permissible to go around bragging that your family came over on the Mayflower and that you are descended from generations of Throgmorton-Winthrops who bequeathed a legacy of good breeding and fine manners.
Fitness inequality is acceptable. It is perfectly fine to wear tight workout sweats to show the world that pilates have given you buns of steel. These sorts of displays are welcomed as evidence of your commendable self-discipline and reproductive merit.
Moral fitness inequality is unacceptable. It is out of bounds to boast of your superior chastity, integrity, honor or honesty. Instead, one must respect the fact that we are all morally equal, though our behavior and ethical tastes may differ.
The entire David Brooks column is a delightful read.
Increasingly, the attributes or characteristics that make us all different are deemed to be something that should be remedied through public policy or redistribution.
I was perusing through this book once – can’t remember what it was called – that dealt with the so-called “transhuman future” subject. Basically, everything from genetic modification, designer babies, bio-nano technology, drugs that make us live longer, robotics, etc.
The inequality issue was one of the main points brought up in the book.
This is a very good column. The whole thing is worth reading.
This was a great column. Witty and to the point. Good post.