Civilization sustains itself by suppressing raw human instincts. It muzzles our violent urges to harm others with "laws and punishments," and fences in our sexual desires with "marriage and institutions." To maintain the massive system we call society, dangerous instincts have always been kept under the strict surveillance of a jailer named civilization.
This raises a question: Why, then, does civilization leave our instinct for "equality" seemingly unchecked? Why is equality treated not as a dangerous craving to be suppressed, but as a sublime value we ought to rightfully pursue?
However, a chilling plot twist unravels if we closely dissect historical facts and the inner workings of modern society. Civilization has never left the instinct for equality unmonitored. On the contrary, because equality was the most terrifying bomb capable of shattering the order established by the ruling class, it has been "the most thoroughly controlled hazardous material" throughout human history. It is just that in modern civilization, having realized that this bomb cannot be physically dismantled, the ruling class has finally mastered the art of taming equality in "the safest way possible."
Toxicity Drained: Equality Trapped Within the Framework of Institutions
In the monarchies and rigid class societies of the past, crying out for equality was an act of treason punishable by death. Civilization utilized armies and sheer terror to physically crush the instinct for equality. Yet, through numerous blood-soaked civil revolutions, the ruling class awakened to a crucial truth: the instinct to rage against inequity and pull down the strong—the reverse dominance hierarchy etched deep into human DNA—can no longer be completely erased than hunger can. They realized that the harder you compress it like a spring, the more catastrophic its ultimate destructive power becomes.
From this realization, the ingenious strategy of modern civilization was born: the institutionalization of equality. Civilization effectively drained the toxicity out of this volatile energy by locking it inside a legal dam.
Modern society subtly gifted every individual with a flawless political equality: "one person, one vote." And through a megaphone, it proclaims: "Behold, we are a perfectly equal society with no social castes or classes!"
The moment this sweet illusion is complete, the cruel twist begins. By granting the masses a diplomatic absolution in the form of political equality, civilization strips them of the justification to rebel against the colossal "economic inequality" (the wealth gap) unfolding right before their eyes. The logic works flawlessly: "We gave you the exact same voting rights and equality before the law; if you are poor, it is your own fault, not a flaw in the system." Civilization has essentially remodeled the value of equality into the most perfect anesthetic to legitimize its own dominance.
The Magic of Swapping the Desire for Equality into Possessiveness
Another method by which capitalist civilization grips the leash of our equality instinct and tames it is by cleverly rewiring the circuits of our desires. Instead of telling us, "Let us build an egalitarian Round Table where everyone is equal," civilization constantly tickles our greed, whispering, "If you just work hard enough, you too can sit on that high throne and monopolize the grapes."
In the past, when inequality reached a tipping point, the vulnerable stood in solidarity and beheaded the king (revolution). Today, however, when the vulnerable see a member of the elite living an overwhelmingly affluent life, they do not think about seizing that wealth to distribute it fairly. Instead, they jump onto the racetrack as individual thoroughbreds of selfishness, thinking, "I need to grind at stocks and crypto so I can drape myself in luxury brands and drive a nice car just like them."
The instinct for equality (the reverse dominance hierarchy), which originally sought to rewrite the absurd rules of society itself, has been systematically replaced by an individual’s possessiveness—the desperate struggle to become a victor within those unequal rules. As the race of greed intensifies, the revolutionary force of equality quietly vanishes without a trace.
Civilization has never left equality unchecked. In the past, it relied on swords and guns to enforce "physical control." In the modern era, it simply exercises "psychological control" through the illusion of political equality and capitalist consumerism.
Therefore, the very fact that we wonder, "Why doesn’t civilization control equality?" is the most sorrowful yet definitive proof that modern civilization has flawlessly succeeded in domesticating the wild equality instinct within us without triggering a single note of resistance. We may well be living inside the most intricately designed cage named equality, cradling the comforting illusion that we have finally been liberated.
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