Darwin’s ascent
Obey Natural Selection
Charles Darwin wasn’t the first person to propose the theory of evolution or natural selection, but he was the person who wrote the defining text (at that time) on the subject. Therefore he is the person we credit for bringing that theory of life into the public sphere. His book was the blockbuster of the time. Natural Selection has been misused and misconstrued through the ages, and evolutionary theory is only understood by a small percentage of Earth’s human inhabitants. But his books and theories are not what make Darwin threatening to some people. What is conveyed by evolutionary theory and evolutionary fact is a shattering of pedestals, the human pedestal. Evolutionary fact binds all life on this planet together.
The new film, Creation: The true story of Charles Darwin, gives us insight on how he wrote On The Origin Of Species. There is a defining scene in Creation and it isn’t about his book or his struggle with religion. It is the moment in the film that captures what a true understanding of evolution teaches us. The scene begins as Charles’ daughter, on her death bed, asks to hear the often told story of an orangutan captured in the jungles of Africa and brought to a London zoo to later die of an illness. As Charles describes the death of the orangutan to his daughter we see in flashback the orangutan die in the arms of the zookeeper. Annie herself is also in the process of dying, and these two deaths are inter-cut as simultaneous events carrying equal emotional weight. The film posits both Annie and the orangutan as fully conscious beings, aware of their inevitable fates and able to communicate that awareness and consciousness without speaking.
The underlying tenant of evolutionary theory explains that humans are not separate from animals. Since we (unfortunately for most creatures) dominate this planet, we have the important responsibility to recognize consciousness in non-human animals, and value that life which enables it. The film Creation does this with an orangutan, a cousin of Homo Sapiens, and that makes the equation more palatable. Our job is now to promote this understanding to encompass all animals. This won’t stop the exploitation of animals, nor will it solve our environmental problems; those issues will take lifetimes to counter. Witnessing consciousness in non-human animals is the initial step in countering the core of the animal welfare issues we face today.
If films like Creation can reach large audiences, like Darwin’s book, then perhaps this necessary shift won’t take as long. The shift isn’t that far away, at least legally. In Switzerland there were proposals for the government to appoint legal representation for animals. It was unfortunately struck down helped by tax fear-mongering. Sound familiar? Similar legal actions have taken place here in the past. Opponents talk about a slippery slope whereby they fear rights being given to “farm” animals. Yes, that is the goal, but the slippery slope is actually our ability to survive because of the environmental destruction the so-called meat industry causes to the planet. Add to that the loss of habitat for and poaching of our closest relatives and this slope becomes very slippery. Opponents say animal activists hate humans. I can’t speak for activists or claim a knowledge of every person’s possible misanthropic feelings, but what I hate is the wanton destruction of the natural world for the sake of humanity.
Comments
9 Comments on Darwin’s ascent
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Philip Steir on
Tue, 16th Mar 2010 9:13 am
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RALPH on
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PEDRO on
Tue, 7th Sep 2010 11:58 am
AWESOME!!!! This is great!!!
Darwin made a claim that in his day and time was so dangerous that he literally sat on his discovery for nearly 30 years before he published it.
Not only did Darwin argue that we humans belong with other animals and that we were risen apes not fallen angels but that everyone was connected to each other from the same single living organism. Wow!
Imagine what that sounded like in 1859?
That we all evolved from a common ancestor. His tree of life is a beautiful analogy that is really a mere graphic design for animal liberation.
In 1871 he published “The Expression Of Emotions in Man and Animals” which he proved that animals and humans shared the same emotions.
This was really the first book of it’s kind.
Everything he claimed has been nearly proven correct. Remember he had no knowledge of DNA or genes but his ideas about them have now been proved correct.
People forget Darwin was an abolitionist (for humans) and was disgusted by human slavery. When he discovered the origin of the species he became an athiest….which at the time was nearly unthinkable. I believe he would have opened his mind to animal rights as well and maybe he did…when he discovered all living creatures have the same mother.
When Darwin proposed the idea that all humans evolved from animals from the oceans…. he was correct and found it all in researching human embryos….where he discovered that all humans have gills which slowly disappear as we grow in the womb. Embryonic science is now one of the ways we can leave vivisection behind forever! People forget how many brilliant theories of his changed the world….
more than any other human who has ever lived.
And to understand…it was that all connected to the idea…that humans were animals and that we are all connected.
Darwin showed that humans are animals and yet still today many people behave as if we’re not. People who feared Darwins dangerous idea were afraid that evolution by natural selection made humanity look insignificant. Darwin merely discovered a truth…that we humans are animals like any other and our fate and all the rest of life on earth… the same.
We share an incredible link to one another.
We are all distant cousins and we are all related.
We divide ourselves into different races and even species yet our intermediates (the animals who connect us) are merely extinct. They once lived as we do now.
The way our minds divide us all is not only horribly deceptive but brings about oppression and destruction.
We humans are only a tiny part of a great chain and we are all linked to one another.
We could stand hand in hand in unbroken unity with every other animal who has ever lived before.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk
If Darwin was right about genes…
then Dawkins is probably correct about memes.
We can do it….it’s happening it’s starting….let’s all make animal liberation/veganism…memes that are unstoppable!
I agree with the spirit of your post 100 percent! Minor correction, though; Darwin WAS the first person to hypothesize evolution by natural selection.
I’m really looking forward to your movie! 
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