All societies are based on rules to protect pregnant women and young children. All else is surplusage, excrescence, adornment, luxury, or folly, which can - and must - be dumped in emergency to preserve this prime function. As racial survival is the only universal morality, no other basic is possible. Attempts to formulate a 'perfect society' on any foundation other than 'Women and children first!' is not only witless, it is automatically genocidal. Nevertheless, starry-eyed idealists (all of them male) have tried endlessly - and no doubt will keep on trying.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Heinlein argues that protecting women and children is the only true moral foundation for any society, calling all else secondary. He claims attempts to build perfect societies ignore this and become genocidal.
- In plain terms
- Societies must prioritize women and children to survive; everything else is extra and ignoring this is deadly.
- What can you take from it?
- Prioritize vulnerable populations as the core moral duty.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is survival the only universal morality?
- What defines a perfect society?
Another view
It reduces complex morality to a single biological imperative.
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