In this post I was planning on refuting the phrase ‘survival of the fittest’ until I did a little reading and discovered that true scientists don’t even believe in it. Talk about taking the fun out of mocking something! Fortunately… or unfortunately, the concept of survival of the fittest has been adopted by popular culture as a truth, so I can still make fun of it… I’m sure it’s wrong I take pleasure in making fun of things like this, but if it feels good do it, right? Oh wait, that’s another pop culture phrase that’s really stupid because of the damage it leads to; oh well, YOLO… sorry, even I just shuttered writing that awful acronym. Originally, the term ‘survival of the fittest’ was coined by Herbert Spencer and was approved by Charles Darwin as a way to describe natural selection back in the 1860s. Who’d have guessed the idea would be different now 150 years later? Scientists apparently prefer to use “differential reproduction” because there’s more to it than just survival and being “fit”. Turns out, however, by the late 1800s capitalists used this concept to justify brutal behavior to others for success in business… ah the joys of capitalism… which soon escalated to justify criminal behavior, war, and racism. That’s fun isn’t it? Isn’t it crazy that something so dangerous is still so potent in our culture over 100 years later? I find this particularly hard to believe when it’s so obviously not part of the world we live in. If survival of the fittest was real, why did the public make such an uproar over a gorilla being shot and killed when the child fell in his cage at the zoo? The gorilla is a “lesser” being than us so who cares, right? If survival of the fittest was true, the people watching should’ve cheered on the situation: gorilla versus child; the fittest will survive. It’d be like a schoolyard fight; people would be screaming “Fight! Fight!” and others would be coming from everywhere to see the less fit be killed. But isn’t that a stupid idea? No decent person would want to see the child or the gorilla be hurt… yes, that was a jab at the zoo people who shot the gorilla. Sure there are people in the world who like to see people or animals tortured, but they’re sick. I remember being told on a tour of the SPCA that children who torture animals have a high percentage of being a sociopath and/or murderer when their older; awesome. Speaking of sociopaths and murderers, let’s take a moment to look at Hitler. A number of years ago I heard one of my favourite speakers, Tony Campolo, say that if survival of the fittest was true we’d be celebrating Hitler and what he did. Sounds pretty crazy doesn’t it? But if survival of the fittest is real, we wouldn’t have cared that Hitler was massacring millions of people. We would’ve just said, “Hitler’s killing a bunch of lessers, but it’s their own fault for not being fit enough.” But this idea is absurd… at least to decent to barely decent people it’s absurd. Survival of the fittest is a lie because we are people of love and compassion. There’s a reason why people at a funeral don’t start chanting “You’re a weakling and that’s why you’re dead!” and the funeral leader doesn’t say “Tim’s dead and we’re all grateful because he clearly was an emotional invalid who was bringing the rest of us down.” We don’t do this because people are generally loving and compassionate… or at least afraid of being judged.
Even animals can show love and compassion. If a lion attacks, the herd doesn’t say, “Hold on Mrs Lion; Tom here is the weakest, so we’ve done you the favor of tying him up so you can just finish him off.” In the documentary I Am, an excellent film by the director of all the best Jim Carrey movies like Liar Liar and Bruce Almighty, he shows a wildebeest pushing a lion off of a fallen comrade and then the two wildebeest run away together. Nature isn’t a free-for-all killing fest; animals aren’t in this Hunger Games kill or be killed event. Sure, there is a circle of life… nants ingonyama… sorry, Lion King moment, but even animals have a sense of connection and compassion. I remember when I was going through my brutal break up 10 years ago and my one cat suddenly was by my side when I was at home for several months until I met someone new. Animals care.
So why am I writing about this? Because how you see the world affects how you think and behave. If you think it’s survival of the fittest you’re going to be mean and not care and/or you’re going to be living in fear of being hurt by those who don’t care. On the other hand, if you see people as genuinely good and kind, that people want to love and be loved, you will be quicker to show love to others. I know this because I used to be afraid of what others would do to me, but now that I see people as genuinely good with some bad habits and selfish choices, it’s easier to forgive and to treat even the dumbest of people with more love and compassion.
This week may you see the love and compassion around you in an inspiring way.
Rev Chad David, www.ChadDavid.ca, learning to love dumb people