Posted on 05/05/2015 3:37:16 PM PDT by naturalman1975
So many disputes in our liberal democratic society hinge on the tension between inequality and fairness: between groups, between sexes, between individuals, and increasingly between families.
The power of the family to tilt equality hasn’t gone unnoticed, and academics and public commentators have been blowing the whistle for some time. Now, philosophers Adam Swift and Harry Brighouse have felt compelled to conduct a cool reassessment.
Swift in particular has been conflicted for some time over the curious situation that arises when a parent wants to do the best for her child but in the process makes the playing field for others even more lopsided.
‘I got interested in this question because I was interested in equality of opportunity,’ he says.
‘I had done some work on social mobility and the evidence is overwhelmingly that the reason why children born to different families have very different chances in life is because of what happens in those families.’
Once he got thinking, Swift could see that the issue stretches well beyond the fact that some families can afford private schooling, nannies, tutors, and houses in good suburbs. Functional family interactions—from going to the cricket to reading bedtime stories—form a largely unseen but palpable fault line between families. The consequence is a gap in social mobility and equality that can last for generations.
So, what to do?
According to Swift, from a purely instrumental position the answer is straightforward.
‘One way philosophers might think about solving the social justice problem would be by simply abolishing the family. If the family is this source of unfairness in society then it looks plausible to think that if we abolished the family there would be a more level playing field.’
(Excerpt) Read more at abc.net.au ...
That’s what the normal, broad public was saying about the sodomite “marriage” 15-20 years ago. Look at us now. There is no deviancy or leveling downward which is too absurd for the left.
And I read the comments, some of the apologists for these “philosophers” are actually trying to make the case that they are defending a conservative view by defending the family at all, even if the parents in that “family” would have no right to work hard and provide their biological progeny with advantages thanks to that work (or the work of their forebears, through inheritance). It has never, to my knowledge, been a conservative view that government should have any say in the philosophical or material upbringing of a child, other than the protections provided to all humans in common decency, such as freedom from physical harm ( closely defined, ie beatings, injury from abuse, etc).
Did you read the article? Most of the really inflammatory statements are from the interviewer not the Dr. Swift. The researchers are not suggesting people shouldn’t read to there children, they are suggesting that choices families make have an important impact on future success. Not much new here really.
Except their own, of course, like that of these “philosophers” (who, by the way, are paid by Aussie tax dollars)
At least I hope it is
Here lies madness.
One does not abolish advantage.
One abolishes societal disadvantage.
It’s time to chamber the round.
It’s entirely serious in content. It’s not a joke. There are people who really think this way. And some of them actually have some influence.
“Is having a loving family an unfair advantage?”
Only if they’re hetrosexual.
These people are maniacal lunatics. Seriously.
Inequality is now the most grievous sin besides moral absolutes.
These are people who could potentially have been someting if someone slapped the sh1t out of them and brought them back to reality.
Instead of referring to them as “philosophers” as they wish to be called, can we just call them what they actually are? Drooling idiots seems to be a better fit.
Isn’t that what the left has been trying to do for for several decades?
This needs to be shown to everyone.
Here is a perfect sample of the democrat party/left's true nature .
Every voter needs to know just how messed-up-in-the-head these people are-And ask themselves whether it is really a good idea to give them the power they seek-The power to control every single aspect of our lives.
No matter how much free stuff they give you. No matter how much they take from others, who have more than you-so you can feel equal-Ultimately, they want to control you.
It is completely insane to give them any power at all .
Yes, but they don’t always openly talk about it in such clear terms. And when they do, we should highlight it.
Can I be in awe of the astounding stupidity and insanity of this??
Should parents snuggling up for one last story before lights out be even a little concerned about the advantage they might be conferring?
Their vision of utopia is the shared equality of misery rather than ever truly considering raising the standards of the lowest common denominator. That's not PC/MC and so verboten.
I'd say this one example reveals the Left's evil war on happiness better than another million words ever could.
This pig ***ker Adam Swift is actually a Brit. Philosophy professor. It’s not an exaggeration to say that leftist academics are enemies of the human race.
Ironic that the side that calls a loving and stable family an “unfair advantage” is also the side that does its best to destroy the stable, loving family unit.. Kind of like the one about the kid who killed his folks and burned the home to try to hide it pleading for mercy because he’s a homeless orphan...
It’s staggering.......
- Strickland Gillilan, The Reading Mother
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