"Evolution is what it is. The upper classes have always died out; it's one of the most charming things about them"
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Greer’s line is a small guillotine disguised as a shrug. “Evolution is what it is” borrows the voice of cold, scientific inevitability - the tone people use to justify reality as natural law, beyond argument. Then she flips it: the “upper classes” aren’t the winners of evolution, they’re its punchline. The breezy fatalism is strategic. It denies the elite their favorite story about themselves: that they’re on top because they’re better adapted, more refined, more deserving. Greer recasts class dominance as temporary and, crucially, self-defeating.
The barb lands in “charming.” It’s not merely that aristocracies fall; it’s that their fall is aesthetically pleasing, like watching a grand costume drama meet an unglamorous end. The word weaponizes politeness, the same etiquette culture that upper classes historically claim as proof of superiority. She turns charm into contempt.
Subtext: power breeds fragility. The insulated class tends to mistake inheritance for resilience, lineage for legitimacy. Historically, elites do “die out” in multiple senses: through demographic decline, political overthrow, loss of cultural authority, or becoming irrelevant as new money and mass politics reshape the hierarchy. Greer’s feminist and anti-establishment context matters here: she’s speaking from a tradition that treats “respectability” as a technology of control, especially over women. Her joke isn’t only eat-the-rich schadenfreude; it’s an attack on the myth that hierarchy is stable, natural, or morally instructive.
It works because it offers no moral sermon - just a grin and a historical pattern. The elite are mortal, and Greer finds that delightful.
The barb lands in “charming.” It’s not merely that aristocracies fall; it’s that their fall is aesthetically pleasing, like watching a grand costume drama meet an unglamorous end. The word weaponizes politeness, the same etiquette culture that upper classes historically claim as proof of superiority. She turns charm into contempt.
Subtext: power breeds fragility. The insulated class tends to mistake inheritance for resilience, lineage for legitimacy. Historically, elites do “die out” in multiple senses: through demographic decline, political overthrow, loss of cultural authority, or becoming irrelevant as new money and mass politics reshape the hierarchy. Greer’s feminist and anti-establishment context matters here: she’s speaking from a tradition that treats “respectability” as a technology of control, especially over women. Her joke isn’t only eat-the-rich schadenfreude; it’s an attack on the myth that hierarchy is stable, natural, or morally instructive.
It works because it offers no moral sermon - just a grin and a historical pattern. The elite are mortal, and Greer finds that delightful.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
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