Veiled Rage

Too many lotteries still determine our success or otherwise. “The Veil of Ignorance” is the idea that the rules should be determined before these dice are thrown, when you theoretically know nothing of your natural abilities or your place in society. I have never been good at “knowing my place”. Never good at the struggle between accepting things the way they are, because that is the pragmatic approach, and raging when they are not as “they should be”. One of the cornerstones of my worldview is growing up in Apartheid. An ugly philosophy founded on a seemingly positive idea of “self-determination”. Meritocracy is a similarly seemingly positive idea. The problem is the magic of compounding. The “same merit” applied to different resources results in a different outcome. It is impossible to see squiggles and not words once you learn to read. We remember names we have heard before. We recognise skills we possess. We acknowledge knowledge we know. We are human. We are ignorant. We are connected. Sometimes to move forward, you have to unlearn. To put aside what you think you see. And see.

Behind the Veil