Monsters and other animals
Every serial killer has been described as a
monster. They’re not the only ones: Hitler was a monster. Stalin, too. Sadistic
criminals are monsters. Even mis-behaving children are little monsters.
And when a gang attacks somebody they are
said to be behaving like animals – often ‘wild animals’.
By describing criminals as monsters or
animals we make life easy for ourselves. They are in some fundamental way
different to us – not human. How easy, then, to believe that we could never
commit such a crime.
This has two effects:
First, we don’t need to examine the dark
parts of ourselves.
You think that you could never commit such
an act? You’re wrong. Whatever somebody
else can do, you can do as well. Given
different circumstances, another upbringing, a subtle shift in brain chemistry,
and you could be them. They aren’t monsters. And there’s a part of you that is
shared with them. Denying them humanity
lets you deny yourself your darkness.
Instead you should embrace your shadow, shine light on it.
“I am a human being, I consider
nothing that is human alien to me.”
- Publius
Terentius Afer
Second, we don’t need to look at the social
and societal circumstances that led to them behaving as they did.
Some suggest that criminals are a different
breed: that they were born different, and the way they turned out was
inescapable. This is delusional. Human development is dependent upon
biological, social and psychological factors. To look for a ‘criminal gene’ is
at the same level of scientific enquiry as looking for evidence of geocentrism
or creationism.
By basking in the comfort that criminals
are genetically different from ‘normal’ people, we can look away from the
inequalities and social pressures that lead to the development of
criminality. This short-sightedness does
the world no favours. The milieu of
influences that lead one person down a dark path can be illuminated, even if
not immediately addressed. A fairer
society is a society with less crime.
Don’t cast out criminals into the realm of
monsters. By doing so we only stifle our own growth.
No comments:
Post a Comment