Some Inequality is Better
David Brooks has an unbelievably fantastic column in today's New York Times. (I know!) It attempts to explain which inequality is socially acceptable in this country and which is not. A sample:
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.
And it keeps going and going. Brilliant idea and very well executed.
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Jun '10
Re: Some Inequality is Better
I find being a Catholic beautifully leveling. The adulation of wealth or beauty or career doesn't help you in the least (to become a saint.) In fact, adulation is more of a hurdle than a help if your goal is to get into the Catholic "Hall of Fame"...with the likes of St. Francis, or St. Therese of Lisieux.
Aug '11
Re: Some Inequality is Better
"If it bends, it's funny. If it breaks, it's not funny."
I think he broke it somewhere around the half-way point.
Re: Some Inequality is Better
DrewInWisconsin: "If it bends, it's funny. If it breaks, it's not funny."
I think he broke it somewhere around the half-way point. · Nov 11 at 8:02am
Perhaps. Although the cupcake part was funny.
Re: Some Inequality is Better
But I don't think he's actually arguing that some inequality is better. He's just describing mainstream attitudes toward various sorts of inequality.
Re: Some Inequality is Better
I thought he was just pointing out how society embraces some inequalities but not others. Perhaps I was not clear ...
Feb '11
Re: Some Inequality is Better
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
I thought he was just pointing out how society embraces some inequalities but not others. Perhaps I was not clear ... · Nov 11 at 8:15am
It sounded to me as though you were referencing 1984? All pigs are equal, but some are more equal than others?
Aug '10
Re: Some Inequality is Better
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
Although the cupcake part was funny. · Nov 11 at 8:08am
Definitely.
Can't understand the current cupcake craze myself. You go all gourmet on this tiny piece of fluffy cake with too much frosting, and in the end, you're still left with... a cupcake.
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.:
Even if moral fitness inequality were more acceptable (and I think it should be), advertising it quickly reaches a point of self-defeat anyhow, since humility is so important to moral virtue. As Weird Al put it in "Amish Paradise":
May '10
Re: Some Inequality is Better
I had to laugh at most of the comments on the NYT's site. So few saw his humor. I took it as a throw-away column. It's Friday after all...
Aug '10
Re: Some Inequality is Better
Well, I liked it enough to share it on Facebook. Anything that shines a light on leftist hypocrisy is a-ok by me.
Nov '10
Re: Some Inequality is Better
I didn’t get a chance to read it. What did he say about inequality in the crease of one’s pants?
Oct '10
Re: Some Inequality is Better
I think it is a brilliant idea, whether that was his point or not. I just realized you never hear any populists ranting about the top 1% in universities, with excellent GPAs.
Oct '11
Re: Some Inequality is Better
It reminded me of the brilliant point Milton Friedman made on his Free to Choose series. “A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both”
Aug '10
Re: Some Inequality is Better
Mama, the book you refer to is Animal Farm - also by George Orwell. It is funny, but the book I most see referenced in popular culture is 1984 - until recently, suddenly I am seeing more references to Animal Farm. I credit the Obama influence.
Edited on Nov 11, 2011 at 10:34amJun '10
Re: Some Inequality is Better
Mr. Friedman was so great. I think it should be said that you will never get perfect equality and we should stop the lies about attaining it -- especially in our leftist churches. We need to maximize equality -- that should be our goal.
The beauty of the leftists insistence that we have equality, peace and justice is that they know these are never attainable this side of Armageddon and it perfectly suits their evil intentions that this is so. They will always have Lenin's requirement for a cause to fight for, to divide the national will of any country.
The idea that community organizers can unite us is so absolutely absurd that it makes me sick to think that this ridiculous notion was actually discussed by seasoned pundits. They (organizers) spend their time toiling in the sewer (the inner cities) that they have spoiled with their Utopian schemes and blame the rest of us for the smelly results.
May '10
Re: Some Inequality is Better
Brooks piece was probably ghost-written.
Jun '10
Re: Some Inequality is Better
I loved the part comparing competition between university departments vs the resistance of teachers unions to any sort of ranking or comparison of high school departments. Plus the line about Sun God status made me chuckle.
May '11
Re: Some Inequality is Better
All inequalities are equal, but some are more equal than others?
Re: Some Inequality is Better
Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day.
Jun '10
Re: Some Inequality is Better
Yes, but one has to wonder how this particular clock even avoids this minimum expectation. Brooks is really a left-winger who talks to Republicans every now and then. That's the only difference between him and standard issue left-wingers. He's just as anti-conservative and just as dismissive of the traditional values of America.
Aug '11
Re: Some Inequality is Better
I didn't find the piece particularly right- or left-wing. It just sort of is. It's more a commentary on American culture.
And, ultimately, kind of shallow. Like Brooks himself.