Tag Archives: SOCIAL JUSTICE EDITION

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FQL: Social Justice Edition

Lestat here. I want to answer this question from Mike Chandler: “Lestat, my question is simple. What would you do to fix the world?” —- Mike, I would not do anything because I don’t believe the world is “broken” or in need of fixing. I am aware of the age old belief of many that this is a “fallen” or “broken” world, but I’ve never accepted those ideas. At the present time, more than ever, I’m convinced the world is evolving. There never was any Golden Age or Garden of Eden. We are all evolving, physically and morally as the universe unfolds according to discernible scientific laws. And I’m fascinated by the process. As I explained earlier in another answer, I am by nature optimistic and confident, convinced that we can do much to make this world better for us and others. We vampires face essentially the same challenge as humans: how do we live with our own fallibility, our own greed, our own ruthlessness, yet co-exist with other creatures? That’s why just about every vampire story is essentially a human story. We acknowledge the same dilemma.

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FQL:

Lestat here. I want to answer this question from Amanda Rice: Lestat, is it hard for you to watch humankind tear each other apart over social issues such as marriage equality or freedom of religion? After living so long, I am sure you realize that most of the fighting between us mortals is absurd and pointless, but I am curious to know what you make of all of it? Do you think humans will ever learn to do better?—- Amanda, you’re assuming we vampires, due to our long lives, are somehow emotionally and morally superior to humans and wiser than humans. I’m not so sure that we are. We are after all monsters with human brains and human hearts. We engage in a lot of struggle ourselves that is “absurd and pointless.” —- Actually when I witness humans struggling over social issues and religion, I marvel at their courage and stamina and determination to live meaningful, fruitful and compassionate lives. I marvel at their patience as they struggle to persuade others through reason and reasonable argument, rather than violence. And yes, over the centuries, humans, in my opinion, are certainly doing “better.” They are making great progress, particularly in the West, towards maintaining a secular humanist society in which no blood is shed over race, color, or creed. This is historically remarkable. I can understand your frustration, Amanda. But history, as I’ve lived it, supports a steady advance in human rights in the West that is not only inspiring, but beyond the wildest dreams of those born when I was born. Thanks for a marvelous question.

Lestat here. My question today is from Heather Malone: “Lestat! What are your thoughts on gender? Does it matter? Do you think you would have lived your life the same way had you been born female? Best regards, H.” Thank you, Heather. Gender matters only because it matters to biology and society. I can’t imagine how I might have lived my life as a woman, simply because society in my time and even in the present sees women so differently from the way it sees men. I would have been restricted by law and custom in ways as a woman that I was never restricted as a man. How would I personally, the irreducible Lestat, have responded to life had I been a woman? Impossible to know. But I can tell you how my mother, Gabrielle, responded once she became a vampire. She put aside women’s garments and lived as a genderless being, ignoring society entirely and taking full possession of her superior vampiric strength with genderless impunity. She discarded feminine limitations with her feminine garments. She reveled in her new invulnerability. I admire her for it. — Now when it comes to loving others, caring about them, respecting them, becoming involved with them, no, gender means nothing to me. Almost all vampires ultimately transcend gender concerns in their social and emotional relationships. —- That being said, I would say how we personally respond to gender in all our dealings remains a mystery; some individuals no matter how long they walk the earth, may have deep biases based on gender, biases developed in them during a mortal lifetime. These might be so subtle as to defy qualification or analysis. I pride myself on having none, but I’m not sure that I’m right about myself in this. I have respect for the fact that this is a mystery. — I’ve certainly lived long enough to see that society’s assumptions about gender in my time were all proven false and foolish. On the other hand, there are aspects of gender difference that never change for human beings, no matter how much we would like them to change. —- Gender, it matters and it doesn’t matter. Thank you, again, Heather.

Anne Rice’s FB. Another Fan Question for Lestat answered.