Nosferatu-wannabe Stephen Miller recently said on CNN, “we live in a world, in the real world… that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world that have existed since the beginning of time.”
This is clear, unapologetic proof that Social Darwinism remains an ideological pillar of American politics and society.
Social Darwinism is a nineteenth-century ideology that applies Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution through natural selection to society. The idea of “survival of the fittest” supposedly provided scientific validation for class, racial, and gender hierarchies, imperialism, eugenics, fascism, Jim Crow, and cutthroat competition in the international arena. Darwin himself abhorred the amoral ideology that bore his name, saying, “Those communities which included the greatest number of the most sympathetic members would flourish best.”
Depending on your perspective, right now the United States is a Social Darwinist utopia or dystopia. Social Darwinism didn’t begin in the US, but it suits American tendencies toward aggressive competition, greed, and toxic individualism. Worse still, many Americans have become convinced that the disadvantaged are actually unduly advantaged.
To all you Social Darwinists out there, I say: there but for the grace of God go you. Strength easily becomes vulnerability, and most of us are a couple of bad breaks away from it. If that happens to you, will you expect the rescue and compassion you’ve denied others? Good luck with that, because by your owns standards, you’re not fit to survive.
I’m Taylor Atkins and that’s my perspective.
