“Equity”: Can Equal Outcomes Be Achieved?

Written by John (the other John).

Today, the concepts of “diversity”, “inclusion”, and “equity” (better known as “DIE”) are the new zeitgeist of the political Left. For this article, we will only analyze “equity”. We of course must first state that the traditional definition of equity has changed to now being:

• the condition that would be achieved if one's racial identity no longer predicted, in a statistical sense, how one fares. When we use the term, we are thinking about racial equity as one part of racial justice, and thus we also include work to address root causes of inequities, not just their manifestation. This includes elimination of policies, practices, attitudes, and cultural messages that reinforce differential outcomes by race or that fail to eliminate them.

This is different from the Constitutional right of “equality” (which is for “equal opportunity”), whilst “equity” is for “equal outcome” (regardless of lack of talent/ability/work ethic, etc...).

Although in a utopian fantasy world, “equal outcome” sounds nice, in which no person is better/worse than any other person. But can this be achieved in the real world? Can different people truly have equal outcomes? Can I (for example) demand “equal outcomes” by having equal talent as (for example):

• Elvis Presley’s magnetism
• David Beckham’s footballing talent

Of course not, that would be ludicrous. But then again, this “equity” concept may not apply to me because I am a honkey. So let us instead analyze the above group of people chosen randomly for this study and try to predict their school grades and their earning potential. And once we make this prediction, then let us analyze:

1. If equity (i.e., “equal outcomes” in grades and earning potential) can be achieved, and
2. How much money has to be spent on these people so “equal outcomes” can be achieved.

As a starting point, we cannot look at the above people and predict if one person’s grades and/or earning potential would differ from one another; that would be like rolling dice. But if by chance one of the above people had lower grades and/or lower earning potential (other than the honkeys of course), then the allegation would be that the current system is “systemically racist”. So if that were to occur, the next question is how much money must be spent to ensure that these people (i.e., groups) achieve “equal outcomes”. (But more importantly, is “equal outcomes” even humanly possible)?

I am in no position to make any predictions for the above people, as they all on the surface appear to be upstanding industrious young people who will likely earn excellent grades and whom have unlimited earning potential. But despite that, my guess is that the US will spend (i.e., waste) trillions of dollars trying to accomplish “equal outcomes” under the guise of “equity”.

So because the above people all appear to being Ivy League quality, perhaps the money may better be spent at attempting “equal outcomes” with other beings (perhaps between a lion and a rabbit). Let us all re-imagine, “Bugs Bunny, King of the Jungle”.