Interesting take. I don’t believe it’s an all or nothing question. But I think we can all agree that a lazy-by-choice person doesnt deserve as much as someone who went to school for 6 years to be a doctor. Now.the lazy person doesn’t deserve prison or to be homeless. But if you think both people need to live in a 1 bedroom apartment for things to be equal, thats actually oppression, not equality.
My main disagreement with your point is the word “deserve”. I don’t actually have a problem with an economic system that rewards some activities more than others, as long as there’s a humane baseline for everyone. But I think that’s absolutely an economic choice, and not the only reasonable one.
“Deserve” implies to me that there’s a moral system judging one activity as more worthy, or better, than another; rather than simply being more valuable to a particular economic model. It seems like a short step from that to deciding some people are more worthy than others.
I think the wording is crucial on this point, yes. I’m open to terms like “earned”, or “justifies”.
“Deserves” has moral connotations to it. As we see now in the US, it’s extremely dangerous to associate moral qualities with economic outcomes.
Also, my original objection was to the question, “Is every human equal?” There, I have no semantic qualifiers - all humans are created equal, and deserve equal rights. Full stop.
Yes. Why is this even a question?
Interesting take. I don’t believe it’s an all or nothing question. But I think we can all agree that a lazy-by-choice person doesnt deserve as much as someone who went to school for 6 years to be a doctor. Now.the lazy person doesn’t deserve prison or to be homeless. But if you think both people need to live in a 1 bedroom apartment for things to be equal, thats actually oppression, not equality.
My main disagreement with your point is the word “deserve”. I don’t actually have a problem with an economic system that rewards some activities more than others, as long as there’s a humane baseline for everyone. But I think that’s absolutely an economic choice, and not the only reasonable one.
“Deserve” implies to me that there’s a moral system judging one activity as more worthy, or better, than another; rather than simply being more valuable to a particular economic model. It seems like a short step from that to deciding some people are more worthy than others.
Agree, poor word choice. I just meant that yes some jobs are more economically beneficial. You can’t pay an artist the same as a sewage worker.
That’s only semantics. You agree with the OP, you only don’t like the wording.
I think the wording is crucial on this point, yes. I’m open to terms like “earned”, or “justifies”.
“Deserves” has moral connotations to it. As we see now in the US, it’s extremely dangerous to associate moral qualities with economic outcomes.
Also, my original objection was to the question, “Is every human equal?” There, I have no semantic qualifiers - all humans are created equal, and deserve equal rights. Full stop.