The author of the book I'm reading now discusses Aristotle and how he differed from thinkers before his time. Aristotle contemplated poetry's worth to man and society, among other things. That got me thinking - way back in ancient Athens, the government was considered a democracy, but not as we are used to it. Slaves were common and an accepted part of life, though not necessarily for the slaves themselves of course. I wondered how they would justify the practice back then, for if everyone were equal, there is no justification. Most civilized societies today have given up the excuses, but we are far from accomadating everyone equally. That got me thinking about what the excuses are today.

One I've heard quite often lately is related to the so called 'trickle down' economics. One could argue the point this way. Back in ancient times people weren't treated equally, one of the ideals being maximized leisure time. In America there certainly is plenty of liesure time to go around. Also back then not everyone was educated. Today school is mandatory, because we know it is important. People could and do argue that everyone is afforded an education, as opposed to the dark ages when learning was stifled, and how people spend every second of every day is not dictated by someone else.

This doesn't wash, because there are still inequalities. There are explanations for this. One is people are lazy, and that everyone is afforded the same opportunities, and it hasn't always been that way. This got me thinking about the scales on which equality is measured. Right off the bat wealth comes to mind, as well as social status... and there is the amount of leisure time one has to make use of. These are important to people. That led me to think about why or how basic education had moved down this measure of equality when compared to others. It is taken for granted, and so has lost some of its prestige when one thinks of equality and how well one is doing in the game of life. Successfully completing an education nowadays doesn't matter as much as it used to....

I'll have to finish this later, time to go.