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Gifts for all occasions in the Galleria! The "What is the Deal?" Deal-of-the-Week: Save 15% on special Mother's Day products at 1-800-Flowers.com April 24, 2005 What is Equality? By Jan A. Larson "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal ..." - U. S. Declaration of Independence "No state shall ... deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." - 14th Amendment of the Constitution The laws of the United States make no distinction between the rich and poor, black and white, tall and short, smart and dumb or any other pair of attributes that may characterize Americans. That, however, is where equality truly ends, if we want to be honest about it. Some would like to extend the notion of equal treatment in the eyes of the law to the achievement of equal outcomes in life; feminists and the advocates of affirmative action are two groups that come to mind. Hard-core feminists assert that in any area of life where women are not equal to men whether it is in terms of the number of corporate CEOs, the average salaries of women, the number of women in combat positions in the Army or whatever, the only possible explanation is gender bias or discrimination. Some take the assumption of bias to a degree reminiscent of Jerry Seinfeld's "Uncle Leo" who blamed every bad thing that happened to him on anti-Semitism regardless of how ludicrous that may be. The unwillingness to accept even the possibility of any inherent differences in abilities between men and women sent MIT biologist Nancy Hopkins into a recent tizzy over Harvard University President Lawrence Summers' remarks suggesting that men and women may have differences in "intrinsic aptitude" in math and science. No one questions that men are, on average, physically stronger than women. No one questions that, on average, women have a higher pain threshold than men. Why can we not explore the possibility of cognitive and other ethnic and gender differences without getting our knickers in a knot? The equality police don't even want to discuss the role of gender- or ethnic-based choice in explaining gender- or ethnic-based outcomes. For them the only possible explanation is discrimination. In pure meritocracies, such as professional sports, it becomes clear that everyone is not equal. Some say that the fact that the majority of professional basketball and football players are African-American is culturally based. To suggest that it could be otherwise, that is, that African-Americans might have inherent physical advantages invites nothing less than outrage from the politically correct. Witness the career of the late Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder. If we can accept that people of different ethnicities may have differences in physical appearance, for example the exceedingly tall members of Dinka tribe of the Sudan versus the relatively short average Japanese, why can we not even entertain an academic discussion of the possibility that people of different ethnicities or gender may have different physical and/or mental abilities as well? It only makes sense that it is at least a possibility, if not a fact. Affirmative action policies at universities and in corporate America have no other purpose than to create a "diverse" student body or workplace although there is no hard evidence that a diverse classroom offers a better environment for learning than a classroom filled with only bright students regardless of ethnicity. Affirmative action policies attempt to mix people that are "different" without acknowledging that these "diverse" people ARE different in many ways. While everyone is equal under the law, people are not equal and we should not expect equal outcomes. Some people are smart. Some are dumb. There are the industrious and indolent, the conscientious and corrupt, the geniuses and imbeciles. Geniuses and imbeciles come in all colors and from all backgrounds, but is there something about my ethnicity that would make me more likely to be a genius or an imbecile? I don't know, but in today's politically correct society, I can't even ask the question. I've asked some questions for the purposes of provoking thought, but I must admit that I know at least some of the answers. We have no real issues with accepting that individuals may have differing abilities, that is, one man might be a great ball player while his brother is a great pianist, but we cannot accept any generalities such as if Americans of Swedish ancestry (of which I am one) were found to have IQs 40 points lower on average than Americans of Norwegian ancestry or that men under 6'2" tall (of which I am one) had IQs 40 points higher than men over that mark. While there would appear to be no obvious linkage between height and IQ, suggesting linkages between ethnicity or gender and other cognitive or physical abilities is clearly unacceptable in today's society even if such differences actually existed. We simply can't talk about this subject. Efforts to downplay differences whether they are, in fact, due to ethnicity or gender versus environmental factors in an effort to make everyone be "equal" serves no useful purpose other than to further the agendas of those involves in such efforts. It is time to accept our "diversity" for what it is and quit trying to engineer equality where it doesn't exist even if the discussion of such inequalities is taboo. -- Send feedback to the author. The "What is the Deal?" column will appears weekly on the Pie of Knowledge website. Guest submissions are welcome and encouraged. To submit an article to "What is the Deal?" click here. To subscribe to the "What is the Deal?" mailing list and receive early notification when a new column is available, click here. The Pie of Knowledge will never, ever divulge email addresses to any third party for any reason unless so ordered by a court of law. Contributions to the Pie of Knowledge are greatly appreciated. 
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