Quote:
Originally posted by HAL-9000
WE ARE, HOWEVER, NOT ALL THE SAME.
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No-one said we were the same (well, except for idiots).
If we're going to define the word "equal" to be synonomous with "same" then why bother having two words? Equal means something different. To use yet another analogy : If two football teams play and they are evenly matched (i.e. they draw or whatever) then it's a reasonable statement to say "On the day, both teams were equal". This is quite obviously a different meaning to "On the day, both teams were composed of genetically identical teams playing in exactly the same formation with exactly the same levels of fitness, injuries on both sides".
What has evolution got to do with anything? Yes, we are still facing some natural selection pressures, so what? How does that affect anything particularly? Unless there are entire group of people who are regressing mentally (via sex selection or whatever), I don't see why it affects the doctrine of equality.
As regards actions people perform (e.g. criminals) then obviously that's different. The dictum is "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal". Equality before the law quite evidently does not mean that the guilty are punished equally to the innocent.
As for people finding others attractive, the UK has one of the fastest growing "mixed race" population. 50% of black men have a white partner for instance - this is a bit different from a "general consensus".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sta...of_britain.stm