Human perception of society has some paradoxes. Consider freedom of speech: In countries that generally have freedom of speech, many people complain about all kinds of injustice, censorship, etc. In countries that have no freedom of speech, everyone is quiet, and when asked explicitly, says: everything is great. Therefore, naive observers often conclude that the former countries have less freedom of speech than the latter, judging by the number of complaints about censorship.
I believe there is a similar effect with meritocracy/equality/etc. Imagine a perfectly unfair feudal society where unless you are born as a member of aristocracy, you are screwed; your talents and hard work will make absolutely no difference. Ironically, many people will believe that this society is fair, that the aristocrats are chosen by God for being better. If the poor kids are never given an opportunity to learn, everyone may believe, based on what they observe, that the poor kids are completely unable to learn. This is what all their priests would teach.
Then comes a revolution, and people find out that the aristocrats are often stupid, and that if you give free education to the poor kids, many of them turn out to be talented. So a meritocratic society is established, everyone gets the chance, the smart and hard-working people can raise, and the stupid and lazy can fall. After a few decades the society is rearranged and made much more fair than before. Ironically, people living in this society believe that it is most unfair, and that you only need to keep giving more and more resources to those at the bottom so that their geniality can manifest. Existence of IQ is denied, because to most people it seems similar to the arbitrary aristocracy of the past.
Human perception of society has some paradoxes. Consider freedom of speech: In countries that generally have freedom of speech, many people complain about all kinds of injustice, censorship, etc. In countries that have no freedom of speech, everyone is quiet, and when asked explicitly, says: everything is great. Therefore, naive observers often conclude that the former countries have less freedom of speech than the latter, judging by the number of complaints about censorship.
I believe there is a similar effect with meritocracy/equality/etc. Imagine a perfectly unfair feudal society where unless you are born as a member of aristocracy, you are screwed; your talents and hard work will make absolutely no difference. Ironically, many people will believe that this society is fair, that the aristocrats are chosen by God for being better. If the poor kids are never given an opportunity to learn, everyone may believe, based on what they observe, that the poor kids are completely unable to learn. This is what all their priests would teach.
Then comes a revolution, and people find out that the aristocrats are often stupid, and that if you give free education to the poor kids, many of them turn out to be talented. So a meritocratic society is established, everyone gets the chance, the smart and hard-working people can raise, and the stupid and lazy can fall. After a few decades the society is rearranged and made much more fair than before. Ironically, people living in this society believe that it is most unfair, and that you only need to keep giving more and more resources to those at the bottom so that their geniality can manifest. Existence of IQ is denied, because to most people it seems similar to the arbitrary aristocracy of the past.