Philosophy
We were talking about bathrooms the other day. I mentioned that in my building at work, on the top floor there used to be one single stall men's and one single stall women's room. They have since chanced the men's room into a unisex bathroom. My son protested that this was unfair since females of the floor had a bathroom and a half, but the guys only had a half a bathroom. It was a good point to discuss the difference between equality and fairness.
It reminded me of an old bit Michael Moore did on his short-lived television show, TV Nation. He loaded three super nice porta-pots on a flatbed truck with a big sign that read "Johns of Justice" and took it to movie theaters where the lines for men's and ladies' rooms are certainly asymmetrical in length. "Justice" is a great word for this discussion.
So, in terms that a smart nine year old would understand, what is the difference between fairness, equality, and justice?
- Modern Mencken
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Philosophy
What's the Difference: Equality, Justice, and Fairness
We were talking about bathrooms the other day. I mentioned that in my building at work, on the top floor there used to be one single stall men's and one single stall women's room. They have since chanced the men's room into a unisex bathroom. My son protested that this was unfair since females of the floor had a bathroom and a half, but the guys only had a half a bathroom. It was a good point to discuss the difference between equality and fairness.
It reminded me of an old bit Michael Moore did on his short-lived television show, TV Nation. He loaded three super nice porta-pots on a flatbed truck with a big sign that read "Johns of Justice" and took it to movie theaters where the lines for men's and ladies' rooms are certainly asymmetrical in length. "Justice" is a great word for this discussion.
So, in terms that a smart nine year old would understand, what is the difference between fairness, equality, and justice?
- Modern Mencken
Tomorrow is Mencken day at the Enoch Pratt Library, honoring one of the great intellects of Baltimore. Who would be the modern day version of H.L. Mencken? Is there a writer who is smart, ascerbic, conservative, and wry? P.J. O'Rourke? ...
- Fricking Fracking Fixtures
Two questions from Michael Schmidt. First, "Frack" a suitable substitute for the expletive "fuck," and "frickin'" (or "frikkin'") is a suitable substitute for the participle "fuckin'". Why, then, is "frick" rarely used as a substitute...
- The Nature Of Genius
What does it mean for one to be a genius? Is genius just the upper end of the really smart continuum? Is there a difference between genius and really, really, really, smart? Is it a difference of kind or degree? Is genius a matter of...
- Statute Of Limitations
Ought there be a statute of limitations on crimes? On the one hand, the longer one goes from the time of the crime, the more the evidence loses its strength. Over time, notoriously unreliable memories fade and become even less reliable, physical...
- Group E-mail Vs. Spam
Is there a difference between sending an e-mail to a group of people and spam? Is the difference based on the number of people contacted? If so, where is the dividing line between contacting a bunch of folks and sending spam? Or is it...