Equality (a persuasive speech)

Science has disproven the American notion of all people being designed equal by their creator.

In Charles Darwin’s revolutionary book The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,: or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the
Struggle for Life he says, “Natural Selection almost inevitably causes much extinction of the less improved forms of life” (Darwin 1897). In other words,
no two human beings are born equal. Even with twins there is a first and a last. Whether referencing specific genetic traits or entire species, Darwin’s
theory of evolution argues for natural bias and discrimination. There are those who adapt and survive and those who become extinct. Aristotle said,
“The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal” (Aristotle). Natural Selection, fitness, and survival all contribute to an
evolutionary ideology of inequality.

Natural Selection states that, “In the struggle for existence, those individuals with favorable variations would survive and reproduce, but those
with unfavorable variations wouldn’t” (Jurmain 2011). There are several elemental principles of Darwin’s Natural Selection. Some of them are, a
biological variation within all species, competition for limited resources, and that the environment determines whether a trait is favorable or not.

Darwin believed there was biological variation within all species. According to Darwin there is biological variation within Homo
sapiens. There’s not one person in this room who was born without biological variation relative to everyone else in this room. Some of you are of an
average height. Some of you are less than average. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prvention the average height of a man over 20
years old is approximately 5’8”, and the average height of a woman 5’4”. Would every man who is 5’8” or taller please stand up? Would every woman
who is 5’4” or taller please stand up? Some of you are above average. The same is true regarding your physical strength, intellectual capacity, your
ability to run fast, your ability to memorize a speech, and your biological uniqueness goes on and on. In fact, according to Natural Selection, you all
have very different biological abilities when it comes to adaptation. Each of you has a very personal biological time clock for survival. How long you
live and the quality of your life is also biologically unique. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Nature is an endless combination and repetition of very few
laws. She hums the old well-known air through innumerable variations” (Emerson). You were all born different. Each one of you is a masterpiece.
Each of us as individuals lives in a world of limited resources, and we compete with one another for survival. The more limited the resources
available for survival and the more intense our competition. Depending upon our environment our biological design is either more or less
advantageous in our common fight. Whether being tall or short is a more effective means of gaining favor depends upon the demands of our
environment. Those of you with greater cognitive ability to memorize a speech are more likely to survive a public speaking course than the more
cognitively challenged. The more intense the competition for survival in a given environment, the greater the need there is for adaptation. Reginald
Fessenden said, “No organization engaged in any specific field of work ever invents any important development in that field, or adopts any important
development in that field until forced to do so by outside competition” (Seitz 1999). If our lives depended upon memorizing a speech we would truly
see the importance of inequality and competition within this environment.

I’d like to ask everyone who has given their speech already to stand up please. Those of you, who did not memorize your speech, please move to
the back of the class room. Please, turn around and face the wall. Here are our survivors. Please turn around and return to your seats. Some of us
might be thinking how unfair it is, because we lack the cerebral ability of our class mates. It is unfair. However, it is also a biological reality. Imagine,
if this were a pass/fail class, but there were only a limited amount of slots allowed for a passing grade. If there were only 10 of us who would pass, and
one of the minimum requirements was memorizing a speech, well, some of us would be in trouble.

Darwin refers to favorable and unfavorable variations as fitness. The more favorable traits encouraging successful reproduction an individual has
the more fit they are. Every individual is measured more or less fit relative to all other individuals. All species are determined more or less fit relative
to all other species. Individuals are not equally fit. Every human being is the sum total of all of their favorable traits and their unfavorable traits.

Traits are inherited. Philip Kitcher wrote, “It is hard to hide our genes completely. However devoted someone may be to the privacy of his
genotype, others with enough curiosity and knowledge can draw conclusions from the phenotype he presents and from the traits of his relatives”
(Kitcher 1996). Unfavorable traits do not lead to successful reproduction and therefore become less common and extinct. In the same way, favorable
traits increase in a population over time.

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution depended upon his understanding of Natural Selection. Natural Selection determines what traits are most fit for
reproduction and for survival. Human beings born with traits determined to be unfit are less likely to reproduce and those traits are subsequently less
likely to survive. We are all born with unique DNA coding. Francis Crick, co-discoverer of DNA said, “It has not escaped our notice that the specific
pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material” (Crick 1988). We are all born with a variety of
traits. Those with the strongest traits live and those with the weakest traits die. We are not born equal.