Perspectives

What matters most to me, is likely an afterthought to you. What matters most to you, is probably something I would touch on for a minute at most.  

Whilst that may be wholly exaggerated, perspectives influence nigh-on all of our unconscious and conscious decisions every day. For without perspectives, often based off instantaneous reactions that are a product of one's particular environment, we have little. We may as well be robots without them. 

You might think this matters little. Obviously, it depends on our viewpoints, our loved ones, our desires and most of all our circumstances, so shouldn't that just be put down to humanity? I disagree. If we are to understand why anyone does anything, we must examine their perspective and what causes them to act in the way they do. 

I write this just days after the tragic terror attack on a mosque in Christchurch, resulting in the massacre of 49 people. It is hard to understand just why the attacker, a man from Queensland in nearby Australia, would want to wreak so much havoc. Many will put it down to simple racism, but it runs deeper than that. 

Racists, paedophiles, mass murderers, terrorists and all of the kind act for a reason. Often it is based upon impulse, but this unhumanitarian impulse never gets shown without all the underlying factors. To ignore all of these would be a callous misunderstanding of humanity as a whole. 

The environment of an individual plays a huge role in their understanding of the world. In an ever-changing society, where racist views have only in the last century become correctly outdated, it is easy to paint a picture of the Christchurch murderers' intentions and understanding of the world, as horrific as it may be. Many Islamic terrorists act in the name of religion, sometimes coerced into that way of thinking by their upbringing and environment. But the single most significant example of the influence of environment is that of Rose West.

A convicted murderer and rapist, many of the victims being her own children, in conjunction with her husband Fred West, West's unlawful life again began with her environment. Her father repeatedly sexually abused her and her sister, leading to her raping her two younger brothers. Her life was dominated by this sort of abhorrent behaviour, so much so that she actively encouraged Fred to rape her daughters, participating herself, and all the whilst was sexually active with her father. 

Apologies for the graphic portrayal, but it is necessary to shed light on her perspective. Through her childhood, that behaviour had become normalised to her, due to the circumstances of her family. Likewise her dad suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, somewhat explaining his actions. To look at anything from a purely "he's a rapist, she's a murderer" without going on to understand the wider circumstance, misses the point of human nature as a whole.

Naturally, I am not condoning any of this behaviour, and in fact these are some extreme examples, but it is in part why I am so opposed to the death penalty. Criminals commit crimes not because they want to be isolated in society, not because they want to be in prison - but because they think it is right. They rationalise it, due to their environment and wider perspective of the world. 

Ignoring these exaggerated crimes, smaller crimes pose a more ethical issue and as a society, I still believe we fail to offer sufficient rehabilitation. We often isolate criminals that serve their prison time, so much so that they cannot get a job or live peacefully after they leave. By doing this, we only push them further down the inescapable hole at which point they will likely re-offend. Surely we should be offering them support to try and change their perspectives?

In all those examples, a split-second, a first reaction can influence wider perspectives. It can fuel prejudices, hatred and dislike, but similarly humour, happiness and togetherness. 

Even this blog might annoy people, it is often quite-self centred after all. But that is out of my control, and is certainly not my intention. It contains an outpouring of my emotions fuelled off of my own experiences, leading to perspectives that I will always find it difficult to change. Nevertheless, negative reaction to that may illustrate how something I place close to me as something that many of you may only recall when it appears on social media.

And that is through an instantaneous reaction, a judgement based on circumstance that one may be in. It may be a bad day, or a good day that develops the opposite emotion; or it could be underlying emotions that are related to the writing. But it all depends on experience. 

That goes for literally everything to be honest. Social media often blows up in times like the Christchurch massacre and I see views that I think can incite violence, some that I wholly disagree with, and some that I totally agree with. 

But in recognition of these writings, I am going to try and ignore those I disagree with, and instead recognise where those views are coming from, whilst recognising my own experiences shape my view of the world. Recognising what experiences, events and relationships have shaped those views, be it political, social or the like can help us all develop a similar understanding, that goes not only for those extreme examples, but simple disagreements.

We have to understand that no one is purposefully violent, hateful or despicable. We only make preconceptions about them because of what society tells us is right and wrong, we are all guilty of it. But to make these assumptions without examining their causes, that is rash and it helps nothing. In fact it incites more division in the world we live in. 

Built on experience, perspectives make the world go around. It sounds idealistic but understanding and empathising with everyone's can help us develop and change to be more compassionate. 

And only that will create a better, more progressive and accepting society.