Editor starts discussion about egalitarianism, values response

Connor de Bruler

Opinion editor

Prejudice is not something reserved to the uneducated. The educated are just as guilty. 

     I was speaking with an English professor the other day. We talked about the finesse and practice it takes to become a proficient writer. I likened writers to welders. I have always admired welders. 

     Welding is the liquefying of metal through an electrical current in order to fuse two pieces together. It a serious artform that takes a vast technical knowledge and ascetic approach in order to master. 

     It is very much like writing. It takes the same amount of dedication and impacts the infrastructure of our society just as writing impacts the infrastructure of our intelligence. 

     Welders are regarded as workers, not as the artisans they truly are. I told the professor that I thought welders were just as important as writers.  

     The professor said, “Yeah, I bet they are.” with a subtle tinge of sarcasm. 

     I thought, “Damn you.” 

     Prejudice is a form of ignorance: an ignorance that believes itself to be intelligent. We naturally want to be better than other people. I don’t understand why. 

     Most of my own prejudices come from being treated poorly. I’ll admit I hate teachers. 

     I never liked school because I was yelled at every day and called an idiot by my second and fourth grade teachers. School, in my eyes, was a systematic attempt to break every child of their creativity. We were not encouraged to approach anything differently but to do as we were told or suffer the punishment of more homework and less recess. 

     Even today, as a 20-year-old college student, I am still bitter and curt with many of my professors because of what I experienced in elementary school.  

     I guess I’ll work on that. 

     Another prejudice of mine happens to be my aversion to German and British culture. I had bad experiences in those countries. I’ve talked about it in other columns. 

     Now that my own faults have been accounted for, I want to take the rest of this short column to advocate egalitarianism: the belief that everyone should be equal. 

     Strictly speaking, we are not equal. Some of us have learning disabilities. We all have different tastes and preferences. We have different physical characteristics. We have different needs. The point isn’t equality. The point is to treat all living beings with “equal understanding.” 

     I think most people agree with this idea. I also think most people unconsciously want to be better than everyone else. 

     I want to hear your thoughts on the subject. If you’re a professor or a sociology student or whatever, e-mail me at debrulerc@mytjnow.com and tell me what you think it would take to instill such a principle as egalitarianism into modern society.