Equality

Another book I'm going to have to add to the pile. A fascinating chapter moves between Sumner’s laudatory musings about how “competition is hurrying on the survival of the fittest” and Carnegie’s more tormented conscience. The concept of "competition" is embedded in our culture. The other night, in an effort to get her son into bed, Mitzi's daughter posed the effort as a race, "I'm going to beat you!" I'm not suggesting that competition is a toxic concept. I am saying that the thoughtless embrace of competition as a means for ordering society or institutions is toxic. Competition has a place, but it's not above empathy, mutual respect, compassion, kindness and the other humane virtues. We used to teach kids that, "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game that counts." I don't think we do that very much anymore, if indeed we ever really did. We call people "winners" and "losers." We have a president who demeans prisoners of war as "losers," because he prefers people…

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