The Category of Factor X

Malcolm X, an African American Muslim minster and human rights activist, once said “We declare our right on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.” According to Malcolm X, everyone on the earth has a right to be called a human being and fit into the category of a human being; no matter if they are young, old, disabled or incompetent. Yet if we were to look back on our past and cannot seem to count how many times these so called human beings have treated others who share the same characteristics of human beings as lesser creatures. It becomes as if in order to have some form of equality, there must always be one group of people that is treated as inferior. According to Francis Fukuyama, author of “Human Dignity”, if we were to live by his idea of Factor X, the world would be a more equal place.
“What the demand for equality of recognition implies is that when we strip all of a person’s contingent and accidental characteristic away, there remains some essential human quality underneath that is worthy of a certain minimal level of respect (Fukuyama 186).” In all true fairness this does seem like a good idea in the beginning, however people will always find another reason or characteristic to say that one group of people is better than another. How does Factor X put boundaries and restriction on those that do of fall into the category of Factor X? How can Factor X be improved or change to include them? Do we then create another type of Factor X to create equality again or are we as humans going to accept the fact that there can never really be truly fair, b...

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...ts taken away before they even have the chance to used them. They no longer have the choice in how they want to live their lives, political feelings or social interactions because they are either different or do not possess Factor X. These people posses what are as Fukuyama calls them accidental characteristics, that make them unable to be categorize under Factor X.
Leaving the idea if these people should still be considered a human being and the idea that if Factor X was amended to fit these people, who will be the new group of people that do not fit into the Category of Factor X ? As we look back into the past there have always been one group of people who do not fit into the general population and are seen as inferior. Even in the present they are these types of people, so if it has been done in both the past and the present, what does it leave for the future.