Let's Play a Game
A thought experiment on equality
Let’s say you sit down with three friends and play a game of Monopoly. You set the board up, and your friends decide on some rules that only apply to you:
You only get $200 to start (whereas they get the normal $1500).
Everyone else gets 10 turns before you are allowed to roll the dice for yourself. Of course, that means once you start, many of the properties have already been purchased.
For the next 10 turns (when you are finally allowed to play):
If you land on an unowned property, the other three players vote on whether you are allowed to purchase it. You don’t get a vote.
Whenever you have to pay something (for properties, for rent, or any other fee or tax), you have to pay 20% extra.
If you somehow acquire more than 3 properties, the other plays may vote to force you to put a property up for auction, where they can buy it from you.
During the first 20 turns, if you utter one word of complaint, the other players are allowed to slap you.
Finally, starting on turn 21, all these restrictions set on you are removed, and play continues as normal. (And no more slapping.)
What chance do you have at catching up to the other players? What are you odds that you will win the game? Infinitesimally small.
But since you’re now allowed to complain (without getting slapped), you protest, “This isn’t fair! I don’t have an equal chance to succeed!”
The other three players will respond, “That’s ridiculous. Of course you do. You are now playing under the same rules as we are. What’s in the past is past, and if you can’t get ahead, it must be that you’re lazy or dumb.”
Sounds absurd, right?
But these sound like the same arguments against any form of affirmative action or reparations, especially for oppressed and marginalized groups. While we may have equal standing now (and even that is debatable across the board), that ignores the fact that their necks have been under a firm boot for decades and centuries.
To say that everyone born post-1970 has “equal opportunity” forgets or ignores the truth that the game has been rigged.
That’s something to lament, and to work to restore.