英语阅读：First among equals
Reader question:In this sentence - The US dollar’s role as the world’s major currency would
weaken to become a “first among equals” (US clout down, risks up by 2025,
Reuters, November 25, 2008) - what does “first among equals” mean?
My comments:
In the sentence, it means the American greenback’s sole dominance as a
world currency will be replaced by a few equally important currencies. The euro,
for example, will be equally as important. However, the dollar will probably
retain a slight edge, hence the term “first among equals”.
“First among equals” is from the Latin “Primus inter pares” meaning “first
among peers”, peers being people enjoying the same social status or position.
“First” means that even though someone is considered equal to others in a group,
he’s especially respected and revered. In other words, he’s a leader, even
though a different kind of leader than what a leader is generally perceived of
in China.
Indeed, “first among equals” is strictly a Western concept. In China, no
similar concept exists. In China, someone considered in the West as first among
equals might just be called a leader outright. In other words, he’s your UNEQUAL
and this has to do with the historical lack of a sense of equality on the part
of all individuals (even the concept of the individual as we know it today was
practically non-existent).
In the Roman Empire, peasants began to sue their masters (landlords) for
wrongdoing and to expect a fair trial in a court of law as early as the eight
century (correct me if you can). In China, that is still a rarity, something
unfathomable to most. I won’t dwell on the subject but will give you one example
to demonstrate the lack of sense of equality among the Chinese – the country’s
leaders at various levels of government still address the public as “the masses”
and “the masses” keep letting them do so without giving one collective bother.
Well, it’s been that way for thousands of years and so I think it is proper to
note that old habits die hard.
Before I call it quits on cultural comparison, I want to point out that
it’s great to realize that one is equal to everyone else even though, to quote
George Orwell, some people are always more equal than others in some ways.
Imagine how powerful you’d be if you know and conduct yourself in a manner
showing that you’re not above, nor beneath anyone in this world. Not just
knowing it, but actually doing it accordingly. Then at the end of the day you’d
really be able to say that you’ve come, seen and conquered. You’d never care to
speak about it, but you know what I mean.
Anyways, here are two up-to-date examples of “first among equals”.
1. The United States’ leading intelligence organisation has warned that the
world is entering an increasingly unstable and unpredictable period in which the
advance of western-style democracy is no longer assured, and some states are in
danger of being “taken over and run by criminal networks”.
The global trends review, produced by the National Intelligence Council
(NIC) every four years, represents sobering reading in Barack Obama’s intray as
he prepares to take office in January. The country he inherits, the report
warns, will no longer be able to “call the shots” alone, as its power over an
increasingly multipolar world begins to wane.
…
At the same time, the US will become “less dominant” in the world – no
longer the unrivalled superpower it has been since the end of the Cold War, but
a “first among equals” in a more fluid and evenly balanced world, making the
unilateralism of the Bush era no longer tenable.
- 2025: The end of US dominance, The Guardian, November 21 2008.
2. Back in 2004, when it was still relatively flush, General Motors invited
automotive journalists to the South of France for a three-day “global product
seminar.” The idea was that writers like me would drive new cars, consume loads
of free food and wine, pal around with executives, and develop favorable
opinions about GM.
…
A couple of years later Time named GM’s president, Harlow Curtice, man of
the year. Time described Curtice as “first among equals,” a businessman “whose
skill, daring, and foresight are forever opening new frontiers for the expanding
American economy.” Curtice told the magazine, “General Motors must always lead.”
I started telling people that I wanted to be the chairman of General Motors when
I grew up.
- GM: Death of an American dream, By Alex Taylor III, Fortune Magazine,
November 25, 2008.
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