True Strength

There is a misconception out there that echoes through common perception, finding a home and resonating with great intensity in minds sick with hatred. This belief has reared its ugly head and caused humanity to enact tragic evil upon ourselves throughout history. Many of our worst attributes, from violence, hatred, and greed, to such lengths as war, genocide and eugenics can be attributed to the adherence of this dogma. The idea I am speaking about is a perversion of the general evolutionary principle of natural selection commonly referred to as survival of the fittest. This mentality has led people to believe that strength is best used to dominate the weak, and that society betters itself by encouraging the betterment of the few over the many. It is time we see this fallacy for what it is and start realizing that true strength means using your abilities to help those less fortunate than you.

After Charles Darwin’s studies on natural selection, many people took the revelations as a sign that human society could better itself by following these natural laws that benefited the most skilled, smartest, and strongest among us. Of course, this not only means to allow unchecked greed and the  accumulation of wealth and power but to also accept the subjugation of those that don’t adhere to these principles or are not gifted in the abilities (or luck) that allow one to win in this competition. These sets of beliefs were grouped together in an idea that became known as Social Darwinism, or the idea that these natural laws provided the ethical justification for class separations, racism, colonialism and imperialism. In their view, the strongest were those that could dominate, subjugate and withhold resources from those not as able and would therefore improve the population by benefiting those who are more able and weeding out those not as gifted.

This theory declined in popularity due to some glaring flaws in its argument. Ones ability to rise to the top of the social ladder in a capitalist society is not completely based upon ones genetics or inherent fitness. The fact that someone can be born into a family that can afford to send them to the best schools, give them proper nutrition throughout life, and then provide them with not only multiple contacts within established business and societal groups but also access to large monetary loans or inheritances in no way proves that they are genetically superior to someone born into a poor area without access to any of the above. Even though this theory has lost its vogue status, it caused some horrifying atrocities on its way out and is now rearing its ugly head back into mainstream thought.

We see what happens when we let this theory go unchecked. From slavery, to the subjugation of millions under colonialism, to the ongoing imperialism of today, this idea allows people and governments to justify their domination of others. Nowhere is this seen in such horrifying brutality as in the case of ethnic cleansing and genocide. The very fact that several times throughout history, and even still today, we see this mentality result in the wanton slaughter of innocent people, shows that this isn’t just an innocent idea purporting competition. It is inherently evil, and needs to be rooted out and removed in the same way an infection must be stopped before being allowed to spread.

These days we are seeing the mentality rise again in western culture. With a concentrated effort at re-branding, this belief structure has been labeled far-right populism, or alt-right. While it may seem on the surface as a movement rooted in conservatism and a backlash against global elitism by the common man, the undercurrent of Social Darwinism in this movement should concern us all.

In Europe, it’s rise can be directly linked to the influx of Middle Eastern refugees. In America, it can be seen in the ultra-wealthy convincing lower and middle class white Americans that our economic decline is the fault of immigrants and global cooperation. I can’t think of anything more indicative of the ridiculousness that Social Darwinism can create in a society than the recent 2016 presidential election. Poor and middle-class Americans elected a billionaire trust fund kid whose political rise was completely based upon racism and xenophobia because he falsely claimed that the deportation of immigrants would somehow fix the fact that leaders of industry (including himself) have closed down American factories so that their products can be manufactured by near slave-labor overseas. We are so addicted to the idea that anyone who is wealthy is inherently superior, and that any nationality/ethnicity that is poor is inferior, that we are allowing our own subjugation as well as the discrimination and subjugation of those less fortunate than us.

Even beyond socioeconomic policy, we see the hatred this theory is brewing in our streets. We have people marching, torches in hand, yelling “You will not replace us, Jews will not replace us” as well as an ongoing debate on whether we should have civil debate with people who want to create a white ethno-state in the US. We have seen a rise in hate crimes and are watching families get torn apart by a broken immigration system. We are seeing a rise of hatred, ethno-nationalism, white supremacy and bigotry in this country. We are being led astray by Social Darwinists to believe that society betters itself by allowing a constant funneling of resources to the top and constant warfare between those of different ethnicities and other petty differences at the bottom. We need to see these trends for the dangerous things they are, and work to destroy this ignorance and hatred through education and love.

The truth is, society is better when it works together instead of against itself. Most of the successful species on the planet survive through cooperation instead of competition. This includes humanity. Through working together we created agriculture. By sharing knowledge through writing we have expanded our understanding of the world. With technology we have increased the standard of living to amazing levels for so much of our population. The truth is that immigration helps our economy; our chosen religion or the melanin levels in our skin are ridiculous reasons to create division in society, and allowing the massive allocation of wealth into fewer hands while also supporting the destruction of social services and the fair treatment of the worker class has led to societal strife and revolution rather than the betterment and progress of society.

We need to realize that we are one species. Beyond that we need to realize the connection we have to all life, this planet, and the universe. We need to see that we are stronger together, and that the true sign of strength is using your abilities for the betterment of everyone instead of just yourself. Real strength is not in domination, but rather in cooperation.

“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” -Ryunosuke Satoro