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| Thread: Are all people equal? |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 3 · NEXT» |
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted March 03, 2008 09:45 PM |
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Are all people equal?
The phrase "All men are created equal" is one that is often tossed around in modern society. Yet is that truly so? Let us investigate.
First, let us look from a literal theistic perspective. "All men", this could perhaps exclude women. "Are created", literally "created". "Equal". Yet not all share equal abilities.
Second, let us look at it differently. "All men are created equal" is just a fancier way of saying "All humans are equal". Yet let us look if they truly are.
Person A comes from a poor family. He is born out of wedlock, and grows up with several half-siblings. His mom, who is addicted to drugs, doesn't care much about her children. He gets into fights all the time. He does poorly at school. He is lazy, so he pretends to be mentally retarded in order to get into Special Ed classes. He drops out of high school, and tries to get a job. He succeeds at getting a low-paying job, but, one time, his buddies convince him to rob his workplace. He might know better. He might not. But because of his upbringing he lacks the moral fortitude to resist their suggestion. He robs his workplace, and uses the money to buy drugs. Soon, he is living on the streets, on the run from the police. He dies of a drug overdose.
Person B comes from a middle-class family. His parents care a lot about him. Yet he has one major problem: he has Downs Syndrome. When he goes to school, he gets into a Special Ed class. Person A is also there. Person B notices that Person A has a lot of friends, and so he wants to be like him. His parents tell him not to get involved with him, but he disobeys them behind their back. Person A pretends to befriend Person B, but really makes fun of him behind his back. When Person A drops out, Person B does so as well. Person A starts to use Person B, and tells him to rob a store. While he is robbing the store, he is killed.
Person C comes from a poor family. Yet despite his family's not caring much about him, he shuns the druggie influence and doesn't attempt to become friendly with them. He goes to school, and graduates, not dropping out. Using achievement scholarships and scholarships for the poor, he manages to go to college and become a teacher, thus setting an example for others like him.
Thus, we see that these people are not equal. Person C is better than Person B, who is in turn better than Person A.
It is obvious that not all people are equal. The people who work in third-world sweatshops are, on average, better thann welfare bums in the first world. Einstein was better than some cannibals from the jungles of Papua New Guinea. A doctor is better than a suicide bomber.
Are Persons A and B entirely responsible for the way their lives turned out? No, not entirely. Person A grew up in bad circumstances, and Person B was unfortunate enough to fall under Person A's influence. But they are responsible for what they do.
Not all people are equal. So the statement should not be "All men are created equal". It should be "All people should be equal in the eyes of the law, in most cases".
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Eccentric Opinion
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Orodruin
Adventuring Hero
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posted March 03, 2008 10:10 PM |
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Edited by Orodruin at 22:12, 03 Mar 2008.
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People are equal in some ways, like the codification of genes (not in the case of Down Syndrome, there's a little difference), we belong to the same species, the variety of lookings exists only due to geographic diferrences, that's it basically. And we are pretty different in other ways, such as personality, culture, metabolism as well (compare a person that lives on high mountains to one that lives next to a sea shore, the level of hemoglobine of the latter is much lower), lookings as said above.
Anyway, as Einstein said, everything is relative, so it depends on what kind of similarities we're talking about.
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Lord_Woock
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Daddy Cool with a $90 smile
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posted March 03, 2008 10:21 PM |
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On average, they are. But that's what averages are for, so...
STATISTICS SAVE THE DAY!
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Yolk and God bless.
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My buddy's doing a webcomic and would certainly appreciate it if you checked it out!
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ismail222
Known Hero
The Cataclysm
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posted March 03, 2008 10:28 PM |
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According to karma,people are not equal.
But people are born equal,what differs people is what they do or what did they parents do to make them either born royal or born on the street or being a one drunken mistake ^_^.
There u go,u got ur answer  .
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Ppl griveing,Ppl
Deceving,Ppl lying,Ppl dying
One Word : Life
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violent_flower
Promising
Supreme Hero
Almost there.
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posted March 03, 2008 10:37 PM |
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No they are not. People are born into circumstances that they can not control. We are not even born equal, without equal opportunity there is no equableness. It is a nice sugar coated term but far from true, nor will it ever be…
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Learn how to duck and weave because I will throw truth at you all day!
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted March 03, 2008 11:00 PM |
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Quote:
But people are born equal
Not necessarily. You could be born a genius or mentally challenged. You are just born and you are already unequal.
And I'm glad to see the way this thread turned out. I thought I'd be flamed for it. XD
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Eccentric Opinion
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ismail222
Known Hero
The Cataclysm
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posted March 03, 2008 11:02 PM |
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Yes,and that's what I mean by stating that ur parents determine who u're gonna be,but that shouldn't be the case since new borns are the exact same,crying and weeping xD.
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Ppl griveing,Ppl
Deceving,Ppl lying,Ppl dying
One Word : Life
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Corribus
Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
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posted March 03, 2008 11:30 PM |
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Nature has shown us that for any quantifiable measure, there is always a statistical distribution of values surrounding the mean. Why would humans expect to be any different?
People need to learn that there is always going to be someone smarter, richer, luckier, sexier, faster, taller, or better at something than themselves, just as there will always be someone dumber, poorer, less lucky, less sexy, slower, shorter or worse.
Just be thankful you aren't dead, although someday you will be.
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I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're goin', and hook up with them later. -Mitch Hedberg
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Seraphim
Supreme Hero
Knowledge Reaper
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posted March 04, 2008 01:25 AM |
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Edited by Seraphim at 01:27, 04 Mar 2008.
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There is no such thing as justice in this world,only degress of guilt.(originally taken from and turned to fit from W40K)
We all belong to nature,so it is not very uncommon.Its just natural and logicly is true.There is no equality in this world.
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"Science is not fun without cyanide"
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted March 04, 2008 01:56 AM |
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Quote:
but that shouldn't be the case since new borns are the exact same,crying and weeping xD.
Even newborns aren't the same. Some already have defects. Some are geniuses. We are a product of genes and our environment.
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Eccentric Opinion
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Trogdor
Legendary Hero
Words in a custom title
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posted March 04, 2008 07:17 AM |
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Whoever said that we're all equal has not had his/her promise fulfilled. Martin Luther King Jr. tried to make everyone equal, regardless of race or gender, but the prejudice long remains since his assassination. Racial tension is still rife, people have different political opinions, some are straight, others are gay, some take drugs, others are straight edge, and with that in mind, how can we all be equal?
If we can't be equal, can't we all just get along?
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"Through the power of the dollar you can communicate with the dead." - Artu
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ismail222
Known Hero
The Cataclysm
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posted March 04, 2008 07:37 AM |
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Quote:
Quote:
but that shouldn't be the case since new borns are the exact same,crying and weeping xD.
Even newborns aren't the same. Some already have defects. Some are geniuses. We are a product of genes and our environment.
I agree.
But if a newborn is has a defect,would that make him should be treated diffrently??
What I mean with the same is if u left them in the wilderness alone they'd die,monkeys won't take care of them like Tarazan .
It's not about similarity in either looks,mind,race or gender,it's all about the how a newborn would do in any situation,witch would be crying and weeping  .
Diffrence between people is man made,more specifically money made,no matter how ugly or beautiful or smart or stupid or rude or polite etc etc... U're,the money is the only thing that makes people treat u any diffrently.
It's kinda sad tho  .
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Ppl griveing,Ppl
Deceving,Ppl lying,Ppl dying
One Word : Life
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Mytical
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
Chaos seeking Harmony
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posted March 04, 2008 07:38 AM |
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Indeed, not everybody is equal. Some are self-important, egotistical, and think they are better then everybody else. They may have been born into wealth, or lucked into something, or they could just have an ego complex.
Well I will be blunt and honest (I know, no shock there). When they say all people are equal, it's not about how they are born. It is about what they do with their life. You can succeed despite obsticles or you can blow it despite the fact that everything has been smoothed out for you.
For instance, take somebody who has been dirt poor, who got to 'wealthy', and then became middle class. You could argue that they were fortunate (being better off then what they started) or unfortunate because they lost some of what they once had. Could be because of what they did, or pure blind luck (good or bad).
So yeah, we are not born equal. Some have to actually WORK to achieve, while others have things given to them on silver platters.
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Message received.
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ismail222
Known Hero
The Cataclysm
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posted March 04, 2008 07:47 AM |
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History would state many geniuses who worked really in their life and were given credit as *crazy* and never lived their life the way they deserved,I know it's great that history remembers u a 1000 years after ur dead,but it won't matter to ya,u're dead and u didn't get the type of life u deserved.
After all u can work hard throughout ur entire life and achieve nothing,alil bit of luck is always necessary  .
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Ppl griveing,Ppl
Deceving,Ppl lying,Ppl dying
One Word : Life
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roy-algriffin
Supreme Hero
Chocolate ice cream zealot
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posted March 04, 2008 07:47 AM |
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Not everyone is equal.
Everyone has the oppurtunity to be equal to everyone else, However this usually means going lower then your normal standards. Which would be pointless.
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"Am i a demon? No im a priest of the light! THE BLOODY RED LIGHT"
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Azagal
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Smooth Snake
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posted March 04, 2008 08:22 AM |
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Sorry mvass but I think you didn't understand the sentence "All men are created equal". It's as Ismail said it means people are born equal.
Quote:
Even newborns aren't the same. Some already have defects. Some are geniuses. We are a product of genes and our environment.
So? Yes now they are not the same anymore but that doesn't mean that they should be treated any diffrently does it? The chances for their later life are determined by their enviroments not by their conditions. If the challenged baby would grow up in a rich family maybe he could be cured. If a genius grows up in a trash family his genius life will be wasted.
Quote:
Not necessarily. You could be born a genius or mentally challenged. You are just born and you are already unequal.
Yes you are unequal considering your metal abilities but you are human thus you are the same.
"All men are created equal" is about human rights, not about the illusion that all people are the same througout their lives of course they aren't how could they? Everybody has diffrent envrioments thus has grown to be a diffrent person. But that doesn't change that all men are equal as humans.
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"All I can see is what's in front of me. And all I can do is keep moving forward" - The Heir Wielder of Names, Seeker of Thrones, King of Swords, Breaker of Infinities, Wheel Smashing Lord
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ismail222
Known Hero
The Cataclysm
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posted March 04, 2008 08:43 AM |
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Yay some1 who agrees with me xD.(finally)
And thnx for stating that out it was exactly what I meant,humans are and will always be humans,mortals and imperfect.
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Ppl griveing,Ppl
Deceving,Ppl lying,Ppl dying
One Word : Life
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Binabik
Responsible
Legendary Hero
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posted March 04, 2008 08:53 AM |
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Equal is nothing but a theoretical mathematical concept that doesn't exist in nature unless two things are defined that way.
There's the saying you can't compare apples to oranges. But in early arithmetic we might learn that one apple "equals" one apple. But in reality one apple does not really equal another apple, they are all different. So the idea that one apple equals one apple is a purely theoretical concept that doesn't really exist except in our minds.
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kookastar
Honorable
Legendary Hero
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posted March 04, 2008 09:01 AM |
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We are all equally human.
You can put people into different boxes {differentiation}, higlighting the differences and inequities in the social structure of the communities in which we live sure, but that fact will remain.
There is no such thing as equality though 
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uhuh
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ismail222
Known Hero
The Cataclysm
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posted March 04, 2008 09:13 AM |
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Humans are like numbers,they can differ in the form a 1 could be just 1,or 1/1 or 100/100 or 0.5 x 2 and so on,but after all we're all really humans,for me I don't look lower or higher on anyone.
We all have hearts and we are all similar,diffrence between people is overrated even the defects are most likely because of the technology that the man made it.But humans nature is imperfection,everyone has his flaws,so some1 could be better at something and some1 could be better at another thing and that's equality,perhaps not in every aspect of life,but for quite enuf aspects.
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Ppl griveing,Ppl
Deceving,Ppl lying,Ppl dying
One Word : Life
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