Are You Smarter Than a Monkey?

Everybody has some phrases that inflame them. Think about it. Isn't there some brief collection of words that  raises your hackles simply by being said in your presence?

They usually imply something which upon a rational examination doesn't follow from the implication. One of the most common ones I've used in government classes is the time honored, "we've got to do it for the children." I usually follow the statement with the caution that it is time to grab your Constitution and get ready to defend it.

I heard the phrase regularly when I was on the Board of Trustees of the Pikes Peak Library District serving the greater Colorado Springs area. Well meaning folks would come in to complain that the library was an unsafe place for their children to wander. Once we had established that the library was not a child care facility and that parenting requires participation, we would get to the question of whether a library which was filled with only those materials, ideas and concepts which would be suitable for at typical third-grader would be worth funding at all.

Today's phrase is "income inequality." I simply revel in the concept of economic inequality. It means I can succeed on my merits. It means my effort has value commensurate with its scarcity. It means I can differentiate myself and through that decision I can excel. At its most basic level, it means I can gain more than you. I can get rich.

Yet, there is a certain charm to this piece. Be sure to watch the video because participant on the left (coincidence?) is very unhappy with the proceedings.

Equal Pay For Equal Work For Primates

Does the research illustrate a political truth? Maybe.

It seems to postulate subservience. It eliminates the possibility of distinction. It mandates dependence for simplistic and rote work. And it blindly accepts the principle that a dispenser of largess is obligated to dispense the same compensation equally.