Yes, there are monsters from middle-class backgrounds, people who've apparently had loving and devoted parents, but their childhood might not have been as healthy as it seems. Their parents may have been so wrapped up in their work or otherwise self-absorbed that they never gave their children the attention they needed.
Like 16 year old William Cornick from Leeds, who murdered his teacher in 2014, and came from a respectable middle-class home. His mother was a human resources manager and his father was a council executive. All those who knew him were baffled that he could have done something so dreadful.
But if you look closely at the background of hardened criminals, you often find a history of ill-treatment. Many serial killers are abused - physically, psychologically, sexually - as children by a close family member.
Children can easily be damaged by their home life. Years of poverty and deprivation, squalid housing, or parents with drug or alcohol issues, can leave a child with a deep-rooted bitterness about the unfairness of life, and that can lead to them lashing out in unpredictable ways.
I just can't believe that some people are inherently evil. It seems like a very cynical and negative view that ignores the huge influence of childhood experience on impressionable young brains. I'm sure good-natured children can easily become vicious and destructive if they're exposed to uncaring parents for long enough.
But perhaps I have a slightly rose-tinted outlook that defies reality.
And yet far more people are psychologically or sexually abused as children, or suffer other such deprivations, or even are positively indoctrinated in hateful ideologies -- and yet don't up to be violent or criminal or abusive themselves. Something must explain the difference between them and the small minority of abused people who do go on to do evil things.
ReplyDeleteInfidel: Yes, why some people thrive despite a wretched childhood is a good question. As Linda says below, they maybe found one positive and powerful influence that spurred them on.
DeleteI think most of those who don't go on to do evil things probably found one positive influence who had an enormous impact on them.
ReplyDeleteLinda
Linda: I think that's a very likely explanation.
DeleteI doubt people are inherently evil. They may become evil if their upbringing fails them.
ReplyDeleteJoanne: Yes, that's the way I see it too.
DeleteI do think it’s possible that there’s something deadly in their DNA, similar to what we have learned about mental illnesses over the last 50 years.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: Perhaps as we learn more about DNA we'll find out more about possible links with mental illness and criminal behaviour.
DeleteYou don't mention Nick that most of these violent crimes are committed by males. Only a tiny percentage by females who are often (very) victims of abuse. So your theory doesn't really hold water. In my circle 90% of the women I know were abused as children.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
www: You're right, most violent crimes are committed by men, and they're clearly influenced by their upbringing and their desire to conform to violent "masculine" stereotypes.
DeleteMary: I'll trust strangers until such time as they do something that undermines that trust.
ReplyDeleteColette says "I do think there are a few people out there who were born evil, just the way they are wired I guess. But like you say, most have reasons for being the way they are."
ReplyDeleteColette: I guess some people may have some kind of brain deficiency that prevents them behaving like normal considerate human beings.
DeleteAnonymous Fly, I'd like to believe that everyone starts off good...and most people remain so, but there are always exceptions. Why? I suspect the low moral tone of society has a lot of influence....the spread of pornography, violence glorified in films and videos, what used to be called 'family values'... If you are weak you were once held to be in need of help...now you are a ready made victim, while the perpetrator's support mechanisms claim that his problems spring from a deprived childhood. There is a whole industry finding excuses for vice.
ReplyDeleteFly: I don't think criminals get very far with the deprived-childhood line. The prison population is growing all the time. But yes, violence is commonplace in films and videos and a lot of men see it as normal male behaviour.
DeleteThey get away with it for the small offences, and then continue their career until finally ending up in the jug. All too many people with mental illness in the jug who should have been given care early on in their lives...illiterate failures of an education system too...
DeleteAnonymous: Indeed, many prisoners with mental health issues and/or drug addictions who need treatment rather than incarceration. And yes, educational failures whose job opportunities are limited.
DeleteWhilst I do agree that many criminals have suffered horrendous treatment from parents/carers, I also believe that some people are born evil. On a lighter note I wish you a Merry Christmas Nick, and very best wishes for 2024.
ReplyDeletePolly: I still find it hard to believe that anyone is evil from the day they're born. Anyway, wishing you too a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2024.
DeleteNick, you have raised some very good points and I agree with you on this issue. I don't believe anyone is "born bad" but that environment nd upbringing can shape their personality over time.
ReplyDeleteSending you all best wishes for a wonderful Christmas and all the best in the coming New Year.
Beatrice: Small children are very sensitive to what their parents say and do and they can very quickly pick up harmful ideas and behaviour, however "neutral" they were at birth.
DeleteA Happy Christmas and a wonderful 2024 to you too.