Publications
Partners
Are all lives equally valuable? I think, quite clearly, the answer is no.
I'll start with myself, a childless person. My death compared to a man who is a father ... quite clearly, in my opinion, the death of the latter has more consequences than my death. The value of his life, if you want to measure it against mine, is higher than that of my life. Is this arguable?
Another simple comparison ... the death of Zuma compared to that of Mandela. Quite clearly, Mandela offered a lot more to our nation than Zuma, who quite clearly has offered next to nothing, in fact has been an impedance to the well being of our people. So Mandelas life was clearly much more valuable than that of the thieving Zuma.
Take two people in a community. The one is somebody who gets involved in everything possible to aid the community, he sacrifices his time and life for the greater community. The other is one of those people who always hides away when help or assistance is asked for. The person who only lives his life for himself. Trick question ... do these two peoples lives have equal value. If you said yes, you are wrong, wrong answer!
Now we come to the questionable ones. Old Piet the tramp dies due to some thugs beating him up in the park one night. The same night some rich yuppie gets killed in a highjacking, a single guy, one of those go getter types, squash all those in his path to come "first", kind of fellows. More people will be at yuppies funeral due to circumstances, but whose life was more important. In this scenario I believe their lives were "equal". (Debatable)
Then the death of a celebrity, a family person, on the same night of a run of the mill family person. Its a huge tragedy for many, the death of the brilliant entertainer. The death of the other is only ever mourned by his direct friends and family. The one death is headline news, the other is just a small notice in the local newspaper. Clearly the life of the celeb had influenced far more people than Joe Soap. But are their lives equally valuable. Questionable.
My last death scenario is not arguable. A paedophile and fraudster dies the same day as a heroic policeman on duty. I'm not prepared to even consider these two lives had equal value.
Moral of the above ... in terms of the value of our lives, not all lives are equal.
In terms of income ... I'm not going to bore you with many examples. A doctor who has a seven year degree, and a brain clever enough to save many lives, deserves more than a less intelligent man only able to dig holes. The latter deserves more than a lazy man content not to work but live rather on a social grant. There can never be equality in terms of compensation for effort and ability. How we measure how much value each vocation has is something to argue. Example, good artisans are becoming scarce, yet certain degrees are so commonly obtained those that get them can't get jobs. In my opinion the artisans deserve better compensation.
Then there are the unfair forced inequalities. The legal system comes shining (dully) to the fore. The legal system clearly favours the wealthy and the powerful. There is no way a poor murderer suffers the same consequences as a wealthy murderer. Oscar comes into my thoughts, or OJ Simpson. We are not equals in terms of the law. You need money for a decent defence. That is not equality.
In terms of health, yet again a poor man is far worse off than a wealthy person in this country. Our government does not provide decent health care for poor people. Trade unions representing health workers teach their members to feel nothing for patients. (Rob Ferriera strike as an example) Same goes for education, a poor person cannot access decent education as the state does not provide it. The trade union representing teachers is clearly uninterested in the learners rights to a decent education. So the ruling regime and its alliance partners ensure there is no equality in terms of health care and education, the poor are the bottom feeders, they live on scraps. No decent medical aid equals no decent healthcare. No money, no healthcare.
In many countries religion is used to enforce equality. Especially in Muslim dominated countries, people not following Islam are not treated equal to Muslims. In other countries race is the determining factor in equality, the dominant race very often subjugates minority races. Even in the same countries different races dominate different areas. A black man in red neck parts of the USA risks his life in those areas, likewise a white man walking through the streets of Harlem can expect trouble. Perhaps in evenly cosmopolitan cities of the world there will be a level of equality between races.
Political systems providing the most equality are those in which democracy actually functions properly. Democracy does not work in many countries. In the USA only the mega wealthy will rule, it requires huge funding to campaign for power. In Nigeria, even though it is Africa's biggest economy, only a small elite benefit from it. Most live in poverty. A system of socialism is the only way to provide equality in terms of education, and healthcare.
Trying to attain equality is a difficult thing. An educated and disciplined citizenship is required. A society that is taught good values, that has a strong and fair law enforcement agency. Society needs the greedy to create work and opportunities for those less ambitious, but those greedy elite need to be taxed to look after the less fortunate or able. If they don't sacrifice in this regard, those at the bottom of the pile will eventually revolt and destroy those at the top. All need to be kept content, for the system to be sustainable. A government needs to enforce taxation to be used for core functions that don't operate on the need for profit.
The bottom line is we are not all born equal. We are born different, unlike ants and bees which communists seem to think human beings are like. (Except the ruling elite of the commies, of coarse) Just a long thought ...
I'll start with myself, a childless person. My death compared to a man who is a father ... quite clearly, in my opinion, the death of the latter has more consequences than my death. The value of his life, if you want to measure it against mine, is higher than that of my life. Is this arguable?
Another simple comparison ... the death of Zuma compared to that of Mandela. Quite clearly, Mandela offered a lot more to our nation than Zuma, who quite clearly has offered next to nothing, in fact has been an impedance to the well being of our people. So Mandelas life was clearly much more valuable than that of the thieving Zuma.
Take two people in a community. The one is somebody who gets involved in everything possible to aid the community, he sacrifices his time and life for the greater community. The other is one of those people who always hides away when help or assistance is asked for. The person who only lives his life for himself. Trick question ... do these two peoples lives have equal value. If you said yes, you are wrong, wrong answer!
Now we come to the questionable ones. Old Piet the tramp dies due to some thugs beating him up in the park one night. The same night some rich yuppie gets killed in a highjacking, a single guy, one of those go getter types, squash all those in his path to come "first", kind of fellows. More people will be at yuppies funeral due to circumstances, but whose life was more important. In this scenario I believe their lives were "equal". (Debatable)
Then the death of a celebrity, a family person, on the same night of a run of the mill family person. Its a huge tragedy for many, the death of the brilliant entertainer. The death of the other is only ever mourned by his direct friends and family. The one death is headline news, the other is just a small notice in the local newspaper. Clearly the life of the celeb had influenced far more people than Joe Soap. But are their lives equally valuable. Questionable.
My last death scenario is not arguable. A paedophile and fraudster dies the same day as a heroic policeman on duty. I'm not prepared to even consider these two lives had equal value.
Moral of the above ... in terms of the value of our lives, not all lives are equal.
In terms of income ... I'm not going to bore you with many examples. A doctor who has a seven year degree, and a brain clever enough to save many lives, deserves more than a less intelligent man only able to dig holes. The latter deserves more than a lazy man content not to work but live rather on a social grant. There can never be equality in terms of compensation for effort and ability. How we measure how much value each vocation has is something to argue. Example, good artisans are becoming scarce, yet certain degrees are so commonly obtained those that get them can't get jobs. In my opinion the artisans deserve better compensation.
Then there are the unfair forced inequalities. The legal system comes shining (dully) to the fore. The legal system clearly favours the wealthy and the powerful. There is no way a poor murderer suffers the same consequences as a wealthy murderer. Oscar comes into my thoughts, or OJ Simpson. We are not equals in terms of the law. You need money for a decent defence. That is not equality.
In terms of health, yet again a poor man is far worse off than a wealthy person in this country. Our government does not provide decent health care for poor people. Trade unions representing health workers teach their members to feel nothing for patients. (Rob Ferriera strike as an example) Same goes for education, a poor person cannot access decent education as the state does not provide it. The trade union representing teachers is clearly uninterested in the learners rights to a decent education. So the ruling regime and its alliance partners ensure there is no equality in terms of health care and education, the poor are the bottom feeders, they live on scraps. No decent medical aid equals no decent healthcare. No money, no healthcare.
In many countries religion is used to enforce equality. Especially in Muslim dominated countries, people not following Islam are not treated equal to Muslims. In other countries race is the determining factor in equality, the dominant race very often subjugates minority races. Even in the same countries different races dominate different areas. A black man in red neck parts of the USA risks his life in those areas, likewise a white man walking through the streets of Harlem can expect trouble. Perhaps in evenly cosmopolitan cities of the world there will be a level of equality between races.
Political systems providing the most equality are those in which democracy actually functions properly. Democracy does not work in many countries. In the USA only the mega wealthy will rule, it requires huge funding to campaign for power. In Nigeria, even though it is Africa's biggest economy, only a small elite benefit from it. Most live in poverty. A system of socialism is the only way to provide equality in terms of education, and healthcare.
Trying to attain equality is a difficult thing. An educated and disciplined citizenship is required. A society that is taught good values, that has a strong and fair law enforcement agency. Society needs the greedy to create work and opportunities for those less ambitious, but those greedy elite need to be taxed to look after the less fortunate or able. If they don't sacrifice in this regard, those at the bottom of the pile will eventually revolt and destroy those at the top. All need to be kept content, for the system to be sustainable. A government needs to enforce taxation to be used for core functions that don't operate on the need for profit.
The bottom line is we are not all born equal. We are born different, unlike ants and bees which communists seem to think human beings are like. (Except the ruling elite of the commies, of coarse) Just a long thought ...
