A lost cause from the start
If you fight for equality, you already lost. You lost because, from the start, you conceded half of the cake before the cutting event starts.
The unreachable middle ground
If equality is the central point between absolute privilege and complete subjugation, then every triumph in the struggle to improve your disadvantaged condition is an incremental step towards the middle ground. Even without considering the backlashes, which will be many, the gradual path towards equality is slow and never-ending. The reason for this endless struggle is that if you aim for the middle, you never really reach it.
If you throw a rock aiming at the middle of a field with a strong wind against, you’ll have to shoot further than the middle to hit your target. This metaphor translates to the problem of equality. Only by overreaching in your demands and actions is equality feasible.
If you fight for equality, you already lost. You lost because, from the start, you conceded half of the cake before the cutting event starts.
Overreaching — A strategic paradox
For this reason, if your ultimate goal is equality, aim for privileges. This idea might sound counter intuitive and dangerous. But don’t get confused. Aiming for privileges as a strategy doesn’t mean you believe in them or that you would abuse your power if the play field tilted in your favor — it means acknowledging that the equality mindset only serves the ones at the top of the social structure. Striving for equality is right in theory, but keeps tangible change close to the status quo.
Flipping the game board
If equality is the end goal, aiming for privileges is a sound strategy.
The biggest fear of the privileged, what takes their sleep at night, is losing their privilege. They fear getting treated the way they treat others. By overreaching, you create a real threat that the unjust system could be flipped.
The real threat of you not playing the disadvantageous game anymore, of flipping the game board, is more effective in changing the rules than the crumbs gained by demanding equality. Only in the context of a possible board flipping is that a new social contract can be agreed, and the middle ground actually reached. If equality is the end goal, aiming for privileges is a sound strategy.
Changing your narratives
Overreaching implies a level of entitlement that is uncommon in unprivileged people. For this reason, before engaging in this strategy, a transformation of narratives must happen.
Not playing the disadvantageous game requires deep introspection, as the game rules are woven deep in culture. Transcending them requires getting rid of self-imposed mental barriers, decolonizing your mind of dominant ideologies, and wildly reimagining what is possible for you.
