Do YOU believe"all men are created equal"?

Question

If you believe this, have you ever questioned that belief,have you seen that belief being supported by the behaviour of society in general,do you believe that all cows are created equal?All sheep?all seagulls?where do you draw your line?

The phrase stands as it is because this is the popular proliferation of the idea.To me ,the idea is like a lawnmower.Not all blades of grass are created equal,but the blade creates the uniformity.

The phrase stands as it is because this is the popular proliferation of the idea.To me ,the idea is like a lawnmower.Not all blades of grass are created equal,but the mower creates the uniformity when it cuts the grass.

Answer 1

People aren't all created equal, but in the United States they are endowed with equal rights.

Answer 2

When I read "all men are created equal" I think of the Declaration of Independence. In that political context, yes, I believe we are all created equal. Our society definitely reflects that truth. It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor -- your vote in an election counts the same. If you're rich and on a jury, or if you're poor and on a jury, you have equal say in making the decision of guilt. You'll never see a law in this country that says something is or is not a crime depending on the circumstances of your birth!

There are other ways in which we are created equal -- for example -- we are all mortal -- we all die. We are all finite in our understanding. We are all made of failable flesh and blood.

There are, of course, ways in which we are not created equal, but those are not the things our founding fathers were talking about when they coined that phrase. They didn't care that some are born smart while others were born dumb; they didn't care that some are born rich while others were born poor. They were interested in the politics (and they were, seemingly, blind to how the system they set up was, at that time at least, perpetuating the false myth that some were not born equal even politically -- as women and blacks were not viewed as equal politically -- they couldn't vote -- and that was based solely on the circumstances of their birth -- but our founders did make great strides and we have much to be thankful for that they stated so eloquently the proposition that we are all created equal.)

Answer 3

I think that when we're conceived, we're equal. It's when we leave the comfort of the womb and enter society that things become unbalanced. A child born in an impoverished nation is not equal to a child born in say, Vancouver. I believe that neither life is worth more than the other, but equal? Let's get real. Not a chance. They should be, but the kid born in a nice town in Canada is going to have way more opportunity to make a good life than the kid in Ethiopia. They could even be genetic duplicates (I know it's not possible, really, but for the sake of argument) and their minds could work at the same capacity but that does nothing to change the environment we're given at birth. So born equal? No, but it would be nice if we were.

Answer 4

A pedant writes:

"All men are created equal" is a mistranslation. The correct translation is "all men WERE created equal". (Roussea thought that inequality arose with civilisation).

As for the actual question: it depends what you mean by "equal". If you mean "the same" then clearly not. Not in looks, abilities, talents, hopes, dreams etc. If you mean "in moral worth" then I would say yes. I'm quite happy to agree that some adults (Saddam Hussein would be a good example) are not of equal moral worth (because their c**** basically) but when they are born at least every human is an "end in themselves".

I draw the line at humans! I do not think that cows are of equal worth to me (though they might make better burgers).

[edit] I've just realised how stupid my pedantry is! Rouseau is "all men were born free". The "created equal" thing is the American thing! Yeesh, how stupid.

Answer 5

No. I don't believe so. Just think about the people born in those war torn countries, think about the children who were born to mothers who use drug, have AIDS. Not only we are created with different level of intelligence and different level of physical attractiveness (some are so beautiful and/or talented, some others are just weak, ugly and stupid), we don't face life with equal opportunities either. Some of us get to go to best schools and have parents care a great deal and some of us don't get a chance to be educated and/or have abusive parents. No. Men are not created equal!!

Answer 6

No two people are truly equal. We all have our own separate areas of expertise. Two people can be physical equals, mental equals, but no two people can have all areas match all areas in another. We are designed to be unequal--to depend on each other as a tribe. Even if you notice in your friends there is a tendency for the group to have at least one person with each character shortcoming. One bull sh! artist, one promiscuous guy/girl, one political nut, one entertainment nut, one arrogant, one with low self esteem. Not to say there is only one trait in each person, or that each trait occurs only once. However, there is typically an evening out between the most stable group of friends. If we were all equals, where would the necessity to coexist go?

Answer 7

Technically no, we are not all equal, biologically we are not either, but when we shift into "SOCIAL" mode we are or should be treated as.

Social conditions are put on upon us, we have the same potential, but because we are born under different environments other label us and predestine us to be or act as described by a circle.

Some one mentioned we all turned to dust, and we are all conceived the same way (sperm/egg)

So, the questions is too much literal to draw an answer.

Answer 8

Hmmm... good question... I don't think so. It depends on how the person is being valued. See if someone is retarded and a smart person is there with him, then no, no one is equal. In the constitution though, all it means that everyone is equal in the view of god. If Men were equal, then men would have breasts, and women would have ***** and have beards. Same goes for animals. If one retarded cow is equal to all cows, all cows are retarded. So if we were all created "equal" then we would all have the same characteristics.

Answer 9

All men are not created equal for the simple reason that they weigh different at their birth but as they grow up they all are addicted to pizza and average about 300 lbs.

Also i don't believe that all cows are created equal because indian cows are more beautiful, intelligent, and docile while the cows in america are hugh, dumb, and stinky.

Answer 10

I don't think all men are created equal. Some people are born disabled or with serious disease. I think the government wants us to believe we are all created equal so we can get the right car, the right house, the right job, to keep us stuck in order to pay more taxes. That is the equal sign. Not our equal sign, their equal sign.

Answer 11

I don't believe all men are created equal, nor are they supposed to be. Obviously each human has different challenges in life and hence different talents. They cannot be possibly born equal, since they are born into different circumstances. The only thing that might make people equal is that all are born with some problems. But since the set of problems differs from one individual to another, total equality is still impossible, in my opinion.