Monday 1 February 2010

Survival Of The Fittest


Reading "A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman", I have to admit I wasn't expecting to agree with half of what was being said. I have never admired the thoughts of feminists, but I did find myself unusually understanding a majority of the points Wollstonecraft made.
Feminism aside, the authors tirade against the royal family (undoubtedly because it was a king instead of a queen) did however raise some good questions.
Our royal history is splattered with bloody murders, plots, lies and sabotage. All undesirable traits in anyone we consider to be a human being, yet we gladly enjoy them being the face of our country. Not to say the royal family does not come under fire for events (for example the most recent death of Princess Diana), yet still our Queen sits pretty.
I suppose in a sense, it helps that the royal family is essentially locked up. They're not wandering our neighborhoods at night and their activities are constantly monitored, yet to all intents and purposes, they do get away with murder. No pun intended.
So why do we continue to be proud of them? Treat them with reverence and make their history a part of ours? Because the human race is not perfect. As much as Rousseau and Wollstonecraft would like it and wish it to be. Suspected murders aside, the more common mistakes people like the Royal family make, bring them down to a more equal level. Wollstonecraft argues for equality, well hearing that one of our admired Princes showed up to a costume party in a wrong choice of outfit is not entirely unrelatable. It reminds us that they are just human beings despite winning the hereditary lottery.

For Wollstonecraft to argue that a more powerful individual rising above another is unnatural, just goes to show how little she understands of nature. The stronger lion becomes an alpha male, the eldest elephant with the most generations becomes a matriarch. It's the way of the world and if Rousseau's state of nature were to exist in reality, I'm sure it would demonstrate perfectly what I'm trying to say; or what is more commonly called; survival of the fittest.

1 comment:

  1. put surely the point of civilization is to overcome nature. Biology is not destiny.

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