We can imagine a world in which the ability to play basketball was the most important possible qualification for success. In that world, short people would be complaining, “We need a level playing field.” Eventually, if short people were able to take control of the government, they might pass laws against people being too tall. They might stunt the growth of taller children with chemicals or intentional malnutrition. People who were grown might be determined to be deserving of lower limb amputations so that they would not have an “unfair height advantage”.
The possessions of those who’d done well playing basketball in the past would be scrutinized. “If people have accumulated excessive property because they were tall enough to play better, it’s only fair that their property be redistributed among those who did not have such unfair advantages.” Soon, legislation would be passed enabling the identification of those who’d taken “unfair advantage” to “improperly gain riches” which automatically “caused pain, suffering, and hurt among the disadvantaged”.
During this process, it will be found that some people actually are shorter and less able to play basketball for that reason, alone. Educational institutions will be founded for them. Uncountable sums will be spent, teaching them to “play as well as anyone else”. Taxpayers will be told, “Every child deserves an equal opportunity.”, so tutors, programs, classrooms, scholarships, and all manner of “help” will be provided. “No expense is too great to achieve equality”, people will be told as their taxes rise beyond their ability to pay. Large and innumerable “support groups for equality” will form, and grow so large that they’re able to influence legislation.
People, even tall people, will be convinced that “The short are as good as the tall. With a little more effort, we’ll be able to make sure that they can play as well.” Some tall people will handicap themselves. “Look! I’m tying a concrete block to my ankle!” It will all come to naught.
Eventually, the tall people will be wiped out, unless they, too, can organize themselves with the same sort of focus on how things are “so unfair” to them. They could, for instance, make a sport like horse-racing more popular than basketball, and have five foot jockeys paid more than eight foot basketball players. “It’s not fair!”, the tall people would then say. “Those short people have an unfair advantage. It’s only fair that they be stretched and fattened.”
