OK, I'm going to try two things with two posts.
This post will be responses to posts, in as much detail as I want.
The next post will be an attempt to explain my simple position differently and even more simply than last time, since it appears some people didn't understand it.
It sounds as though you are assuming that everyone is currently equal
No, it doesn't. I have not said that. I have not said anything like that. I have not said anything implying that. Even though my analogy was extremely simplified, I still made 3 of the 4 starting numbers unequal
and the starting totals unequal.
Would you explain how you arrived at your conclusion so I can understand how the misunderstanding occured?
and that those groups are calling for better treatment at the expense of others.
Some do so explicitly, some don't. They're all excluding others from consideration because that's what biological group advocacy is for. The difference is between hostility and dismissal.
There's a scene in Casablanca about that difference which is arguably the most insulting exchange in any film ever:
It's only 5 seconds, so watching it is not a great burden.
Whereas many of those groups would argue that they currently at a disadvantage.
Almost all of them. Some of them believe it. Which means nothing - even the most extreme, most grotesque examples of biological group advocacy throughout history have included that claim and very likely at least some of the people making it believed it.
It doesn’t have to be a zero sum game.
Some things don't. Some things do. Some things that don't have to be are made so. Reality is a lot more complicated than pretending that billions of people are one entity, that humanity consists of only two entities and that one is always at a disadvantage and it's always the same one.
Which is why I asked my previous question which you haven’t answered.
So I'll look back through the thread, find it and answer it now...presumably is these questions so I'll answer those:
Out of curiosity, how pervasive do you think this inegalitarian egalitarianism is?
Is it fundamental to all activists? Or do you think there are some activists who genuinely do want an egalitarian outcome?
I'm talking about biological group advocates, not
all activists.
I think I can most easily answer your question by quoting myself:
[..] I have never heard of any group advocacy ideology seeking to achieve equal treatment between different groups. I think it's impossible. The basic ideas are too incompatible. I allow for the possibility that some people might think they can somehow make it possible, that they can use the wrong tool for the right job, but no-one has ever succeeded in doing it and I think no-one ever will. Of course, if they did succeed then they would have radically changed the entire ideology so it was no longer a group advocacy ideology. Sometimes you can get a job done with the wrong tool, albeit not as well, but sometimes the tool is so wrong for the job that it just can't be done.
I'll also provide a different way of saying that, since my position is so alien to some people that it requires a lot of explaining.
An unknown (and unknowable without mindreading) proportion of biological group advocates genuinely do want an egalitarian outcome.
All biological group advocates are working against equality - including those who genuinely do want an egalitarian outcome - because biological group advocacy is inherently detrimental to equality.
This sentence is rubbish. Making things equal for members of a specific group that is currently disadvantaged in a specific area doesn't mean you aren't campaigning for equality unless you're wanting better treatment for that group than everyone else.
It is unless you also believe that all people in that group are are disadvantaged in comparison with all people not in that group, all the time in every way. Which many biological group advocates believe, of course.
How would a man go about campaigning for equal treatment for men in the child courts in your view? Just say both parents should be treated fairly? Which is essentially the same argument and what is currently not happening.
It's a completely different argument. The former cares only about one sex, the latter cares about everyone. One is exclusive, the other is inclusive. They're not even similar positions, let alone essentially the same position. In addition, courts don't exist in isolation. They're part of the society they are in and thus at least in large part a reflection of it, of a larger and more complex whole. The different status of mothers and fathers in family court reflects the different status of fathers and mothers in this (and many other) countries, which is not only about men and does not cause problems only for men. So the fair solution is not only about men. Also, it's not true that
only men ever get unfair treatment in family court. Almost true, but not always. Ignoring any women who get unfair treatment isn't fair.