1.5.9.4 Dimensions of Equality

Version 1.0 October 2022                             (Previous Version)

In the previous section, we said valuing Love is making choices that are beneficial to others and that minimize harm to them, tending towards satisfying their needs or desires and promoting more fulfilling lives.  Ultimately, valuing Equality is making those choices so that, in the ideal, the interests of everyone affected by the choice is considered equally.

Of course, no two people are really equal in all respects.  Sceptics of valuing Equality suggest that if we treat everybody equally – in all respects – then society wouldn’t function properly.  But this is a ‘straw dog’ argument, obviously false, because no-one seriously proposes that.  But we should treat people as though they were equal in specific ways: we value equality only along certain dimensions. 

The equality we value is, at a minimum, equality before the law and equality of treatment in civil society.  Regardless of age, sex, gender, social status, race, religion, caste, class, ability or disability, appearance, dress, and so on, legal authorities such as the police, the judiciary, government agencies, etc should treat people in the same way, and allow or grant them the same entitlements: to be dressed, housed, nourished, schooled, employed, married, listened to, represented, medically treated, and so on. 

These obligations also apply to corporate enterprises, businesses, hospitals, schools, NGOs, civic groups and charities as well as ordinary people providing goods or services to others.  This is what we refer to in this context, for want of a better term, as civil society.  For instance, no-one should be excluded from hiring a room in a hotel on the basis of their skin colour.

There may be some organizations or individuals that we accept are exempt from respecting equality before the law and equality in civic society, but currently we aren’t aware of any.  Some religious organizations and schools may claim exemptions but these are inappropriate and shouldn’t be allowed.

The equality we value includes being treated with respect.  This includes respecting everyone’s dignity as a human being, being polite and considerate to each other in day to day situations, ensuring basic bodily needs can be met, and allowing normal emotional responses. 

Even convicted criminals in prison, prisoners of war, or ‘illegal aliens’ should be treated with dignity:

●   NOT kept in open air cages, or dungeons, or freezing cold, or stultifying heat, or excessive noise;

●   NOT isolated, NOT subject to torture or torture like ‘pressure’; NOT expected to act cheerful;

●   Provided with basic food, clothing, sanitation, medical care and some access to open air; and

●   Spoken to audibly but quietly and referred to by name, not a number or a pejorative term.

The equality we value includes taking into account people’s suffering, needs and desires as equally deserving, rather than ranked according to irrelevant criteria or dimensions such as age, sex, gender, social status, race, religion, caste, class, ability or disability, appearance, dress, and so on.  A professional or member of the elite who has transgressed in some way should not be treated as having finer sensibilities than the supposedly ‘common people’, nor granted any special dispensation on such grounds, but penalized to the same extent as everyone else, whatever is appropriate.