#om

Probably it is true enough that the great majority are rarely capable of thinking independently, that on most questions they accept views which they find ready-made, and that they will be equally content if born or coaxed into one set of beliefs or another. In any society freedom of thought will probably be of direct significance only for a small minority. But this does not mean that anyone is competent, or ought to have power, to select those to whom this freedom is to be reserved. It certainly does not justify the presumption of any group of people to claim the right to determine what people ought to think or believe. ↗

— Friedrich A. von Hayek

#equality

I leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt that all mean are created free and equal. ↗

— Seth Grahame-Smith

#equality #freedom #equality

Assured of your salvation by the unique grace of our Lord Jesus Christ" is the heartbeat of the gospel, joyful liberation from fear of the Final Outcome, a summons to self-acceptance, and freedom for a life of compassion toward others. ↗

— Brennan Manning

#jesus #love #freedom

Forty-two years after Dr. King was murdered, we are still a nation of inequality. People of color, women, gays, lesbians, and others are still treated as second-class citizens. Yes, things have changed but we have still not achieved equality among all humans. And nonhuman animals continue to be chattel property without any inherent value. ↗

— Gary L. Francione

#chattel-property #heterosexism #inherent-value #nonhuman #racism

If woman had no existence save in the fiction written by men, one would imagine her a person of the utmost importance (...); as great as a man, some think even greater. But this is woman in fiction. In fact, as Professor Trevelyan points out [in his History of England], she was locked up, beaten and flung about the room. ↗

— Virginia Woolf

#clichés #dignity #equality #fiction #gender

While pity shows a lack of respect for other human beings, compassion has its roots in a deep respect for others. Pity is an emotion; compassion is a connection. Compassion sees the other as equal. Compassion happens when we care for another person enough to make his or her problems our own. ↗

— Matt Litton

#pity #respect #equality

If Christians are all loving and full of God's grace (like some of us really are), do they truly love their neighbor? Would they catch a grenade for one of us (like some of us would for them because we truly have love in our hearts)? ↗

— Solange nicole

#compassion #equality #gay-rights #equality

A rather vicious cycle has been at work for years. Reduced taxes on the rich leave them with more money to influence politicians and politics. Their influence wins them further tax reductions, which gives them still more money to put to political use. When the loss of tax revenue from the rich worsens already strained government budgets, the rich press politicians to cut public services and government jobs and not even debate a return to the higher taxes the rich used to pay. So it goes – from Washington, to Wisconsin, to New York City. ↗

— Richard Wolff How the rich soaked the rest of us Guardian March

#equality #inequality #inequity #politics #rich

The word feminism has become synonymous with man-hating when in fact it has more to do with women than men. ↗

— Aysha Taryam

#gender-equality #women-s-rights #equality

Men’s greatest weakness is their facade of strength, and women’s greatest strength is their facade of weakness. ↗

— Warren Farrell

#feminism #men #men-s-rights #mra #women