RBG Eulogy - Cam Inventor-Jules

 RBG Eulogy - by Cam Inventor-Jules

I’m not an American but I knew who Ruth Bader Ginsburg was.  There’s no doubt she was controversial, especially with the current debate around her succession.  But the legacy she leaves will certainly reverberate down the years.  She was only the second ever female appointee to the Supreme Court, having spent much of her life fighting for civil rights, particularly equal rights for women, also having experienced much discrimination in the workplace.  

Other people will be able to talk more about her life, views and activism.  The thing that strikes me about her was her sheer intelligence; rather than taking a brutal, combative approach demanding everything be put right at once, she recognised that progress is a war of many battles and that not only must a few be inevitably lost, but that sometimes the best route to victory is a flanking maneuver.  

Thus, she would argue (such as in Reed v. Reed, 1971), that gender discrimination harms both males and females alike, even when that discrimination appears to favour males.  By arguing from the opposite position and proving that to be false, she would clearly win the argument.  She used, from a logic perspective, “proof by contradiction”. 

I believe the world needs more people who can see and argue in the way she did, for much truth is revealed by the exposure of the inherent contradictions of long-held beliefs.  As such, I was saddened to hear the news of her passing and I hope that her intelligence and insight can be a guide to us all in the future.  She will be missed.