Sometimes it's amazing when you see articles that are relevant to society being offered for readers to view. Sometimes they're more relevant to what's going on than we realize. As you read any items between apostrophes are quotes from the essay. I know some of my thoughts may be garbled, but I enjoyed this essay and it really made me think.
The Revolt of the Unfit
Nicholas Murray Butler
11 pages
This is an essay that I received from the WOWIO websites Brain Byte section. It's a piece extracted from the authors book entitled Why We Should Change Our Form Of Government that was published in 1912. It is interesting to think they note some facts before readers go through the piece. But they include a note that the writer received the Nobel Peace Prize.
The essay itself gives a comparison of the Laws of Nature and the Laws of Men. It questions the reasoning behind man kinds insisted dominance over nature, as well as the negative results of insisted individualism and nonacceptance. Perhaps my interpratation or understanding of the piece seems a bit broad, but I believe the Brain Bytes are presented to intentionally provoke thought.
When it comes to the struggle for survival of the fittest there is a simple quote in the essay that makes sense when said clearly and simply."Nothing More is meant by it than a measure of adaptation to surrounding conditions". Meaning to my understanding that surviving is merely a matter of looking at what you're up against and figuring out how to adapt to survive the troubles.
"The struggle between the laws of nature and the laws of man is in reality a mock struggle." If anything, if we are to survive as a species we need to look at ways to evaluate the differences between the laws of nature and the laws of men and find a happy medium between them.
After all, most of the negative change on the planet has been caused by man kind. If the earth itself attacks us like the plague we are acting like, there may be no chance for us to fight back. I love the simple reasoning that's offered about individuals giving to each other to create interdependence and a lasting society.
It speaks volumes that these words seem so factual and almost echo thoughts many have today. But another note of truth hidden in these pages is that "man is not ruled by thinking." We tend to be creatures of feelings, we have fears and we have insecurities. These tend to cloud our thoughts and keep us from acknowledging the things that are around us.
"The purpose of the revolt of the unfit is to substitute interdependence on a higher plane for the struggle for existence on a lower one." To me this statement implies that there is a lack of balance. There is no real balance between the higher plane and the lower one. There needs to be a sense of equality instead of a divided balance.
The Author Quotes a fable written by Robert Louis Stevenson entitled "The Four Reformers". I'm going to put it out here, so you can understand why I was amused. I figured you might be interested in this.
Four reformers met under a bramble-bush. They were all agreed the world must be changed.
"We must abolish property," said one.
"We must abolish marriage," Said the second.
"We must abolish God," Said the third.
"I wish we could abolish work," said the fourth.
"Do not let us get beyond practical politics," said the first.
"The first thing is to reduce men to a common level."
"The first thing," said the second ,"is to give freedom to the sexes."
The first thing," said the third, "is to find out how to do it."
"the first step," said the first, "is to abolish the bible"
"The first thing," said the second, "is to abolish the laws."
"The first thing," said the third, "is to abolish mankind."
Laughably, it seems even then, about a hundred years ago, there were men who could see that solutions are all a matter of perspective and intent. Because, if the true solution of all problems is the extinction of mankind, clearly the world has far more issues than people are trying to solve.
I don't recommend this essay for young readers, but teens and adults may find some insight in it. It's scary how the ideas of the past are still relevant today.
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