The Inevitability of Progress

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer

On Tuesday, Texas became the 19th state to vote to add the prohibition of same sex marriage to their constitution. Though this is a defeat in the battle for gay rights, I firmly believe that the forces against full human rights for all people will lose in the end. The pattern of historical precedent in the arena of human rights tends to back up my prediction.

At one time, slavery was believed to be a good thing; that some people were naturally suited to be enslaved and were better off that way. Not so very long ago, mainstream society believed that black people and women of all races were naturally inferior to white men in every way, and that their "place" in society was always meant to be a subordinate one.

When people first spoke out against slavery and against the unequal treatment of blacks and women, society reacted first with ridicule. Such notions challenging widely accepted societal attitudes and practices were considered to be so absurd as to not even be worth being seriously addressed.

When more people recognized the truth of the new ideas, the old guard, correctly sensing a serious threat to the old order, reacted with violent opposition, using every tool in their arsenal. But, by this stage, they'd already lost the war, and the best they could do, was to employ foot-dragging measures to delay the inevitable for as long as possible.

Once the lid is off Pandora's box, and new, truthful ideas spread, there's no stopping it permanently. This is the main reason why those who would turn back the clock on progress are for censorship and the gutting of public education; they know that knowledge is power.

Once an idea reaches "critical mass", that is, once a certain percentage of the population accepts an idea as true, then it is but a short time before the truth of the idea is accepted as self-evident by mainstream society.

And the acceptance of full human rights for gays is very close to reaching critical mass; which explains the stepped-up efforts in opposition by those who would turn back the clock.

The historical pattern has always been in the direction of progress, however slowly it evolves, and despite periodic setbacks. So it will be for gay rights and the issue of same sex marriage.

Thoughts?