So the question becomes - can good exist without bad, can we have a society that is valuable overall without including negative qualities in it somewhere? Maybe I'm going too broad here. ;)

I don't think so, actually. That was very much what I was implying - the idea that 'equal' societies are only possible in the most extreme, undesirable and, yes, maybe fascistic circumstances. Because 'equal' societies require something significantly less than diversity, they also require the purging and forcible prevention of the very negative characteristics that can be seen to drive better people towards achievement. After all, it's aggression, anger, jealousy and territoriality that make society unequal in the first place.