On Demands for Equality

"Demands for equality have a very different meaning in our lives than do demands for respect.  Someone who insists that he be treated equally is calculating his demands on the basis of what other people have rather than on the basis of what will accord with the realities of his own condition and will most suitably provide for his own interests and needs.  In his desire for equality, there is no affirmation by a person of himself.  On the contrary, a concern for simply being equal to others leads people to define their goals in terms that are set by considerations other than the specific requirement of their own distinctive nature and of their own circumstances.  It tends to distract them from recognizing their most authentic ambitions, which are those that derive from the character of their own lives, and not those that are imposed on them by the conditions in which others happen to live."     ~Harry Frankfurt, On Inequality (Princeton U. Press, 2015), pp. 88-9.