Now I see what you mean. And I also see why howeird (I suppose) & I didn't agree with it.
The Discordian quote uses "equal" in terms of rank:
SNAFU principle: [WWII Army acronym for "Situation Normal: All Fucked Up"] "True communication is possible only between equals, because inferiors are more consistently rewarded for telling their superiors pleasant lies than for telling the truth." - a central tenet of Discordianism, often invoked by hackers to explain why authoritarian hierarchies screw up so reliably and systematically.
For me, speaking of people as "equals" usually refers to equal rights, equal personhood; and everything you wrote in the post, except for "what every schoolchild knows", supported that reading. In this I may be strongly influenced by a use that every American schoolchild knows, in the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
There's also another common meaning, which howeird seems to have taken and which also makes sense to me: people who are of equal ability, standing, etc. (in this case, education).
But neither of these involves rank. Neither does "snafu", AFAIK, outside of the Discordian Principle, which was indeed the smoking gun unshared reference. Here's the word as I've always known it, summarized by Merriam-Webster:
Etymology: situation normal all fucked up (fouled up) Date: circa 1941 : a situation marked by errors or confusion : muddle ; also : an error causing such a situation <a scheduling snafu>
slang (chiefly U.S., orig. U.S. Mil.). [Acronym f. the initial letters of situation normal all fouled (or fucked) up.]
A. Used acronymically (often with an explanation) as an expression conveying the common soldier's laconic acceptance of the disorder of war and the ineptitude of his superiors.
B. adj. Confused, chaotic. [That one's very Discordian.]
C. n. Now usu. with a and pl. A confusion or mix-up; a hitch, mishap; muddle, confused state. Hence as vb. U.S. slang,
(a) trans. to mess up, to play havoc with; (b) intr. to go wrong; also snafued ppl. a.
Anatomy of a snafu in communication
The Discordian quote uses "equal" in terms of rank: For me, speaking of people as "equals" usually refers to equal rights, equal personhood; and everything you wrote in the post, except for "what every schoolchild knows", supported that reading. In this I may be strongly influenced by a use that every American schoolchild knows, in the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
There's also another common meaning, which
But neither of these involves rank. Neither does "snafu", AFAIK, outside of the Discordian Principle, which was indeed the
smoking gununshared reference. Here's the word as I've always known it, summarized by Merriam-Webster:The OED, expectably, is a bit more thorough:
And that is where this communication went wrong.