1And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3And they said one to another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 4And they said, “Come, let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” 5And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men built. 6And the LORD said, “Behold, the people are one and they have all one language, and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be withheld from them which they have imagined to do. 7Come, let Us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off building the city. 9Therefore is the name of it called Babel [that is, Confusion], because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Genesis 11:1-9 (21st Century King James Version)
The biblical story of the Tower of Babel is interesting because it shows the reaction of an alarmed and jealous Yahweh looking down suspiciously at the works of a united people. While Sunday school teachers have played God’s spiteful act of confusing the language of humanity as a just punishment for the hubris of a people’s of wanting to “make a name,” there is the strong implication that Yahweh felt threatened as was in fear a collected whole of people, and this was apparently too dangerously close to becoming self-sufficient for Yahweh’s liking. We may have been created in God’s image, but He will be damned if He’s going to just let us become Him.
People who rail against the notion of Equality or economic equality are cut from the same cloth as our LORD. They cannot stand the thought of everyone having as much as they have. They’ve worked hard for what they’ve got. They don’t need something that they see as a direct challenge to the meaning of their lives. If you have to take from someone else, it’s only because someone is going to try to take from you. It wasn’t your idea. You just accepted this as “the way things are.” And that “way” is that everyone must go through the same wringer of survival-purchase as you have (no matter where you start off in life, but if you have the head start of being born to the right set of parents, then so much the better), and if you survived it, then you should be entitled to your rewards. Those who can’t get out of the blocks due to factors beyond their control, well, sorry. They must lose, because this life is only meant to be enjoyed by the winners. And the losers must die or fuck off. Preferably die or fuck off somewhere where we can’t see them. And you will feel justified because your anti-equality point of view is reflected in the bible (one of the remarkable and enduring brainwashing gadget of Western Civilization) many, many times.
In the Babel story it is clear that Yahweh does not want a unified world where oneness is present and all agreements are directed by one point of working together for the common good. No, God wants division, confusion and separation – all the better to rule over others. “As above, so below.” The same sickening spitefulness and fear of manifested Equality that filled Yahweh with cosmic revulsion is present within today’s winners of the survival game. For they know on some level what they have gained was gained at the expense of others. The winners of the survival game cannot allow the others who they’ve beaten to be given another chance. Those who are defeated must remain defeated, they must continue to suffer because if they were worthy, they could have been winners too. Without losers, the victory of having “won” is rendered hollow. So the winners must stand and the losers scattered across the face of the Earth. It would seem what is really being defended by the opponents of Equality is the winners’ right to continue their oppression and destructions of the losers. Equality within an economic would not allow the winners to continue as they have, and that is unacceptable. The meaning of Equality must be trivialized instead.
