Photo by jimmy teoh

In Let the Playing Field Level the Playing Field, Dennis Joiner shares his vision for an egalitarian society and the development necessary for its achievement.

Knowledgeable of mathematics and the computer sciences, Dennis Joiner is quite familiar with ordered and closed systems, fairly manageable realities whose constituent parts he can easily tinker with and take out, replace, or repair. 

Yet, in Let the Playing Field Level the Playing Field, he tackles something different, sharing his extensive and systematic evaluation of contemporary American society while also outlining his conceptualization of future human society, where the major ills of the world have more or less been eradicated or controlled. Dennis Joiner seeks to wave away the fog of confusion that lingers over everyone’s head and reveal the real world of progress and equality.

What Is An Egalitarian Society?

The philosophy of egalitarianism has been around since the first societies ever came about. People are attuned to seeing each other as other people, and this develops in everyone a sense and yearning for fairness. Nature corroborates this longing by making it so that only the fairest species come out on top. Resources are hard enough to come by as it is, so evenly distributing them helps the largest number of creatures. 

If there are people, there are societies. If there are societies, there will always be ideas of fairness–and if there are ideas of fairness, there will always be contentions on how to bring them about.

Egalitarianism, then, is the favoring of equality, whether it is equality of treatment, equality of resources, or equality of opportunity. Perhaps it is a combination of all three. Regardless, the foundations of egalitarianism rest on the axiomatic view that people are fundamentally equal in worth or morality. Egalitarianism says that there is no inherent difference between people. There are many ways an egalitarian society can exist, but they all rest on the idea of inherent equality.

Egalitarianism has evolved throughout the years, as it is always defined by the dominant paradigm. 

During the feudal age, where kings and clergy ruled over the peasants, an egalitarian society would have been one where there were no kings nor clergy to rule the peasantry. This vision of a more equitable society led to the dissolution of monarchies and the establishment of republics, where it was not lineage that determined an individual’s worth but their merit (at least in theory). 

Nowadays, when a functionally oligarchic system stands over everyone, the vision for an egalitarian system is one that pursues a world where income disparities are non-existent or one where resources are shared amongst communities: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs,” as a famous philosopher might say.

What’s in Let the Playing Field Level the Playing Field

In Dennis Joiner’s explorations and musings on society, he envisions a future wherein science has established a system that prioritizes the needs of the common people above the profits of a few individuals. Adequate food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, and education are accessible to anyone and everyone, and war is something that is seen only in fiction. 

Although Mr. Joiner concedes that this future society is impossible to appear in tomorrow or even in the next decade, he is hopeful that humans will continue to evolve into gnostic entities, people who fully understand the virtues of knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. Only then can the whole of humanity be freed from the grief and pain that grows out of evil.

These are just some ways to level the playing field and establish an egalitarian society:

• Promoting Gender Equality – Despite some groups proclaiming gender parity, the evidence is to the contrary. Although some strides have been made, entrenched political and conservative forces are still significant obstacles to true gender equality; and in some countries, women have yet to be elevated to anything close to their male counterparts.
• Promoting Justice for All – While the justice systems all over the world have been revamped significantly, it is by no means a done deal. Corruption and discrimination still exist and need to be dismantled for true justice to persevere. Racial, LGBTQIA+, and religious minorities still face persecution in many parts of the world, and that has to be rectified.
• Promoting Civil Rights – Democracy is the worst system humans have, but it’s the only one that works. It is only through engaged effort that democracy is refined and improved, but this goes against the current paradigm, where only a few control the rest. That is why the promotion and maintenance of civil rights is one of the most important bulwarks against tyranny today.