Equality & Discrimination

I have had more thoughts since writing about discrimination recently.  I think I have reached the conclusion that some anti-discrimination ideals are a farce.

Please don't misunderstand me.  I think that treating people as inferior or deliberately putting people down is bad behaviour.  Especially if it is on the grounds that the other people are of a different gender or a different race.  By this definition of discrimination, I would think that discrimination is wrong.

The other people are as human as we are.  They are sinners, just like us.  In this sense, we are no better than the others and should not act as if we are.

However, as I thought about it, I also thought that the opposite extreme is also not true.  To regard everybody as the same is not being true to reality.  We are of different genders.  We are made up of many races.  We can discriminate to the extent of realising these differences, even if we do not put others down.  We can acknowledge who the bride and who the groom is, for example; or choose to use the right toilet.

To think that everybody gets the same marks in exams, to think that everybody is as athletically capable as each other - these are examples of just not being real.  To think that an untrained guy is as capable of performing surgery as a trained surgeon ... I would not do this, would you?

I think we are swallowing a lie if we take this meaning of discrimination too far.  We could end up saying that there should be no headship in the home, or even in the country.  We could say that worshipping God, idols or the Devil is exactly the same thing.

I think that we should not regard ourselves more highly than what we ought to, we should not put other people down.  But to think that children have the same right to correct their parents, to think that everybody is exactly the same in every way ... that is not right either.

What do you think?  Are all created equal, but some are more equal than others the way "Animal Farm" says?  Are we all alike in every way?  Are we believing a lie if we champion the anti-discrimination concept to its extreme?