Al has gotten 1500 for starting money like you're supposed to, but Ben only has 200. It doesn't end there. In this version of monopoly, Al gets 200 whenever he passes go. Ben gets 50. Ben is also 6 times as likely to be sent to jail and pays twice as much for any property he might want.
Now take a moment to think what that might mean: Al travels over the board, buys properties like he's supposed to and sees money coming in. He's a good guy really, and so he doesn't even cheat. Things are going well for Al.
Ben's is a different story entirely. He buys his first property, same as Al, but where Al goes on to buy the next property he lands on, Ben finds he doesn't have enough money to buy. Not only that, but he ends op on Al's properties more than once, which means paying up. While Al goes around the board, Ben ends up in prison.
"Tough luck, man!" says Al, and keeps playing.
After about half an hour, Ben is barely keeping away from bankruptcy, while Al is doing great. He doesn't want to brag, but he silently congratulates himself on his keen business sense.
"Okay, I'm done!" says Ben, exasperated. "This isn't fair! All the rules are stacked in your favour!"
Now Al isn't a bad guy, and he's doing pretty well anyway. After Ben lays it out for him, he agrees it probably isn't fair. "Alright, we'll even it out," he says. "From now on, you'll play by the same rules as me! Come on, let's keep playing!"
From that moment on, Ben also gets 200 passing go, and he pays the same for any properties as Al does. He doesn't go to prison that often anymore, either.
And yet he keeps losing. Al has most of the properties. He has way more money than Ben does. Even though they now play by exactly by the same rules, Ben still can't keep up.
Obviously, when Al eventually wins the game, Ben complains that it's massively unfair. Al gets annoyed. He's not a bad guy after all. He played by the rules. He worked hard and earned everything he got. When the unfair rules were pointed out to him, he even changed them! He won fair and square! Annoyed, Al decides Ben must be a sour loser. He moves on.
Al's annoyance isn't all that weird. He did try very hard, and he did play by the rules. Saying he only won because the rules were stacked in his favour sounds awfully much like saying Al is a chearter and an asshole, when he's really not. He's just a bit short sighed when it comes to other people. That's no crime!
In the meanwhile, Ben can plainly see how things would've gone differently if he'd been playing by the same rules from the start. He's not saying he would've won, but at least he would've had a chance! And that arrogant bastard Al dares to act like he earned the victory...
An obvious solution would have been to start over. Give Al and Ben both a fair chance. But that would mean Al having to give up all of his property. Property he's worked hard for. From Al's perspective, that doesn't seem fair either!
The other solution? The other solution is to give Ben money and property until he owns exactly the same amount as Al does. But that property has to come form somewhere. Al already owns most of it and there's only so much money in the bank. Obviously, Al isn't too keen on that, either! Besides, that would be like giving Ben free stuff while Al gets nothing. Fair? Al thinks not.
For the most part, it's the Als of this world who are in power: They're the CEOs of big companies, rulers of countries and even if they're not, they know the people that are. To them, it feels absolutely fair that they have the position they do. Even if their parents have given them a head start, they clearly see the work they've put in to become what they are now. What's more, they don't just want to give up what they already have.
And that's where the problem is: Even if we eliminate discrimination entirely, all play by exactly the same rules (which we haven't, by the way) that doesn't mean we're done. We need to find a way, all together, to give everyone an equal chance at succes.
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