Equal Treatment

Krusk and I are currently experiencing a slight shift in mindset, a shift which is not necessarily for the worse. We have come to the realization that giving women special treatment is inconsistent with treating people equally. It is, frankly, sexist. People should treat men and women the same. However, Krusk and I interpret this maxim in different ways. Krusk has decided to treat women the same as men, and I have decided to try to treat men the same as women. There is a difference. Under my interpretation, everyone gets special treatment; under Krusk's interpretation, no one does.
Krusk is not a kind person. He doesn't treat people very well, generally. He steals from people. He fights people. He kidnaps people and holds them for ransom. However, until recently, he didn't consciously include women in that definition of "people." Case in point: He had an opportunity to hold a woman for ransom, and he turned it down partly because she was a woman. As he has learned, that's ridiculous. The victim's gender has nothing to do with whether or not it's wrong to kidnap someone, and he shouldn't let it influence his decision of whether or not to do so. So, from now on, he won't. From now on, he's going to try to overcome his gender biases and treat women just as poorly as he treats men.

I, on the other hand, will try to treat men just as well as I treat women. I grew up with the concept of Chivalry, which includes being especially nice to women. This means holding doors open for them, offering them assistance, and generally being very respectful and kind. However, I realize now that that kindness and respect shoe extend to men, too. Men also deserve kindness and respect, just as women do. The recipient's gender has nothing to do with whether or not it's good to do small acts of kindness for someone, so I shouldn't let the recipient's gender influence my decision. I should be kind to everyone, not just women. So I will, or at least I'll try to. I can't promise perfect success, but I can promise to try my best to treat men just as well as I treat women.

Fairness and equality are tricky ideals to strive for. It's tough because any imbalance in either direction is capable of unbalancing the whole system. Being extra kind to a particular person at a particular time may be acceptable, and we do have to treat individuals differently as justice demands, but being more kind to one group of people than one is to another isn't exactly kind or just; it's biased. People should try to overcome that bias, take gender out of the equation, and treat everyone with the same (large) amount of fairness and kindness.