The biographical documentary RBG (2018) tells of the times of current Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, her life from college until today, and of the actions which she took which have cemented for her a prominent place in history with regard to women’s rights, which she distills to a simple, strong quote of one of her predecessors, Sarah Grimké, who I will quote in full (rather than Ginsburg’s abbreviated version):
The sheer drive it took to move society from hardly admitting women to Harvard Law School to multiple women occupying seats on the SCOTUS is illustrated in devastating fashion in this documentary, and serves, in a way, to enlighten us to the extent that high-achievers must shut themselves off from the more common facets of today’s society in order to pursue their dreams, as her own children comment that they believe their mother actually does not know how to operate her own television.
By turns charming, horrifying, opaque, and delightful, I believe it’s important to see just what it takes to pursue the proper implementation of the greatest organizing principle of American society, that without justice, our society is unstable and even dangerous. This realization should upset the current movement towards replacing government functions with private sector functions, as the latter have no inherent attachment to notions of justice, but rather to self-advantage; and, more importantly, the notion that justice necessarily limits freedoms should once again be acknowledged and examined, as perfect freedoms can be shown to lead to disaster.
Thought-provoking and inspirational.
Recommended.
