But we should not jump to the simplistic conclusion that double standards make these principles meaningless or fallacious. Attempting to make societies, which are after all constructs of imperfect human beings, adhere to a single standard inevitably causes a gap between reality and principles. Application of a second standard, by contrast, buttresses the original principle. The tension between the two represents an insoluble problem, but it would be foolish to rethink the principle of racial equality for that reason. While making selective use of double standards, it somehow manages to sustain the original principle.
Universalism is grounded in the tension between two standards.
To maintain, come what may, that there is only one global standard is puerile. Looking back over history, we can say that America is the nation that gave us hedge funds. And with the gold they plundered from Spanish galleons they set up the colonies of Massachusetts and Virginia. Getting rich quick is the American dream. In the 1990s the United States is trying to establish its way of doing things worldwide, making it the global standard.