What is fair anyway?

1. September 2011 by Publius.

You hear the word ‘fair’ bandied about a lot these days. And all good people want to be ‘fair’, right? Therefore if you are not in favor of being ‘fair’, you must not be a good person.

The problem is that ‘fair’ is an ambiguous word. It can mean many things. Here are three ways in which it is used:

Fair: synonym for equal; dividing the cake is fair if everybody’s slice is the same size.

Fair: synonym for earned; you get what you earn - eat your vegetables if you want dessert.

Fair: synonym for charity; your brother had a hard day in school today, you should give him your cake.

Political speech today is very fond of the word ‘fair’; it is very unpopular, however, to specify which of these meanings is meant. The reason is very simple. People will object to one or more of these uses in any given case, yet everyone wants to be ‘fair’.

The best solution would be to abolish the use of the word ‘fair’. Second best would be for everyone to realize that anybody using the word in political speech is consciously trying to cheat and to ignore whatever they are saying.

I’m almost tempted to say, “It’s only fair!”

Now, all that talk of cake has made me hungry. I’ve got to go.

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