Inequality is not unfair just as equality doesn’t mean something is fair. Oh how quick our internal warrior for justice and freedom for all is ready to jump onto the questions of inequality, as it somehow instantly implies suffering on the side that got the “short end of a stick” that was supposed to be equal to another stick.

Complete equality of outcome is not possible. It’s a daydreaming pleasant social phantasm just as a utopia would be, just as a problem free life of pure hedonistic delight and constant bliss is fiction devoid of contact with the real. Everybody is equal in their universal unalienable rights as conscious beings and the freedom to pursue what they wish, love whom they want and believe what they desire but not everyone is equal in everything. There is a naive absurdity to this low resolution notion that just cannot function in the world. How will you make the outcome equal for all if there are differences between people and there is not even an equality of effort. Is it not demeaning to equate someone who tries to better themselves, acquire new skills and knowledge with the Cheetos dust covered slob binging on Netflix 60 hours a week? Does it not belittle the effort of those who try and reassure the lazy that they don’t have to bother with it. The reasons we try are as various as we are as individuals but one of the central ones is – to build ourselves and our lives into something, step out of the average by our own effort and wit and not to be pushed deeper in it. Fairness lies in being given equal opportunity to try, without being discriminated based on any of the traits not under your control such as race, gender, the financial or social climate you’ve been born into. After that you’re on your own. The outcome depends on what you do from that moment on and things beyond your control in the environment. You may fight for the equality of opportunity but not expect equality of outcome.

The example of Scandinavia shows the nature of true fairness which is actually a raise in inequality. Scandinavia has the most inclusive social system ever in which there is absolute freedom when perusing something regardless of the above mentioned categories. Instead of resulting in complete 50/50 dispersion of males and females across the board of career opportunities, this freedom allowed people to be who they are, flourish according to their own natural inclinations. Women’s brains are built for care so there is a 20:1 ration of females in careers that include caring for people, and an opposite ratio in tech careers due to the natural male inclination towards them. 50/50 is not fair here. Giving freedom to choose where you want to be and what interests you is. Similarly, if you have a couple of children and are a tyrant forcing your expectations on them they will turn out the same, but if you allow the freedom for their natural traits, interests and characteristics to be developed they will turn out completely different. The second one is fair, not the first one. one of your kids might be more sensitive and social than the other and require more of your time, the other you might barely see yet they always know they can come to you when they need help. Forcing the same amount of time on the second one as on the first one would be suffocating them, making your effort for equality completely unfair and damaging.

50/50 was never fair, catering to the individual and their needs is. We are not a homogenous blob of sameness and we don’t all want the same things, and what an absolutely awesome thing it is that we don’t.