Equality as security‑enabled luxury

The piece argues that widespread belief in human equality is historically novel and depends on secure living conditions created by strong states and integration. Applying today’s egalitarian standards to earlier eras misreads how people living amid constant predation and scarcity viewed outsiders. — This reframes culture‑war judgments about the past and warns that egalitarian norms are contingent, not automatic, which matters for policy and civic education.