Nurture vs Nature – Are We all Born Good?

I firmly believe that all humans are born good.  I know the nurture versus nature debate has been going on for ages, but I really do believe that the nurture element plays a much bigger part in whether or not someone stays “good” or becomes “evil” than birth.  I have had this same debate with people over and over again.  People who say that there are some people who are born evil.  Psychopaths, serial killers and paedophiles for instance.   Then, there are those that say it is all to do with the way you were raised, putting the blame squarely on the parents.  So is that it?  Let’s take a look at some of these issues.

Paedophiles, Psychopaths and Serial Killers

The people above, and some others, have a malfunction in their brain that makes it possible for them to do the horrific acts they commit.  That still, to me, doesn’t mean they are born evil.  What makes them evil is the fact that they act on these feelings.   We all have the capacity to kill and do unspeakable things.  This stems from the lower part of our brain, where we still have primeval feelings.  It is from here that our impulses come, but the rest of our brain stops us from acting out those impulses.  Imagine yourself in traffic and someone cuts you off.  The lower part of your  brain fuels your anger, making you want to get out of your car and smash the other person’s face in.  But you don’t do that.  Some of us have such well-functioning brains that we don’t even notice that impulse anymore.  What goes wrong in the people above is that their impulse control is not working.  They get these feelings and actually act on them.  And here’s where the nature versus nurture debate comes in.  Why do they act on feelings?  Because that is what they have been taught.

Blaming the Parents

It sounds so easy to blame the parents, doesn’t it?  Maybe the way you should look at it, however, is not as a question of blame.  It is a question of responsibility.  Parents have the responsibility to teach their children the right values and norms, to teach them how to behave, to teach them what is and isn’t acceptable.  Unfortunately, many of us go wrong in this.  There are a lot of things that ultimately boil down to personal choice.  Do you raise your child religiously, politically, freely?  There amount of parenting styles are all documented and well known and although there will always be parts in there that you don’t agree with, the basis of these theories is about giving children the best values in life.

With the paedophiles, the psychopaths and the serial killers, it is very rare to find one that has been raised in a loving, stable home.  I don’t mean to say that a single parent is unable of raising a child.  I don’t mean to say that someone who moves from one place to another is unable to raise a child.  The stability is in the love.  A child that knows they are loved and respected, a child that is guided to make their own decisions, that is the child that will turn out well balanced.

So Is It all Down to Parenting?

No, I don’t think so.  There are a lot of factors at play, which brings it back to nature versus nurture.  There are known factors, such as brain injuries, that can play a big role in how children grow up and whether they end up being “evil”.  You can’t dismiss this out of hand.  However, do brain injuries fit in with “nature” or with “nurture”?  I personally believe they are external factors, hence most certainly not nature.

There is also the fact that people from the exact same household, with the exact same parents, can turn out to be completely different.   I think, here, intelligence has a big part to play in it as well.  It is about being able to recognise when you have a choice to make and having the tools to make that choice and to choose the right decision.

So is anybody ever born evil?  I don’t think so.  Does that mean that anybody that had the exact same life as, say, John Wayne Gayce would end up being John Wayne Gayce?  No, it doesn’t either.  It is a culmination of lots of different factors and it is bringing all these factors together that determines whether someone chooses to be good or evil.

Interestingly, I believe, looking at it from that perspective could suggest that someone who is “evil” could also once again become “good”…

Can You Change the World?

Have you ever wondered whether there is anything you can do to change the world?  The answer to that is that yes, you can.  In fact, too many people right now sit on their sofas and do nothing but complain about today’s world.  They complain about the economy, they complain about the government, they complain about their lives.  But they do nothing about it.  These people, really, have no right to speak.  Tell them that they can make a change and they will say no one will ever listen to them anyway.  They are just one person, so what difference can they make?  In fact, they – and you – can do a lot!

Using Social Media

One great way to get any message that you want to convey across is to use social media.  Facebook is a fantastic medium to reach a really wide audience. There are loads of pages and groups you can join where you can get inspiration.  Not just that, you are instantly not alone.  A word of warning: you will find out who your friends really are.  Many will say that they grow tired of your ideologies, hide your picture feed (at best) or remove you from their friends list (at worst).  If that is the case, don’t change what you are doing.  Be happy for the fact that you got to know that some people find it more important to tell the world what they had for breakfast and that you no longer need to associate with them.

Sign and Create Petitions

There are lots of online petition websites.  You can go here to sign petitions for causes that you agree with and know that they will be sent to the right people.  Sign up to their newsletters, so you receive an email when a new petition is made available or when action is taken on the basis of a petition that you have signed.  There are also a number of websites where you can start your own petitions, the UK Government’s e-petitions website being a good example of this.  These petitions are all viewed and although action may not be taken, your message will at the very least be heard.

Change the World by Focussing on the Nice Things

You can change the world by telling everybody what you think about the economy and the government.  However, rather than fighting the bad, you can also support the good.  The book 365 ways to change the world, for instance, will show you a day by day idea that you can do to change the world.  Most of these ideas are free, which is great as well.  The ideas are about raising awareness about the goodness that is out there and you can contribute to that.

So, at the risk of sounding like a horrible politician myself: change starts at home.  You, as an individual, can change the world.  You can do things that make a difference and your views can be heard.  I would love to hear ideas you have about how to make the world a better place, please share!

The Westboro Baptist Church

Oh dear the Westboro Baptist Church…  I am an outspoken atheist myself.  However, I don’t try to preach.  I hate fundamentalism, but if you find solace in a religion – any religion – and you do good with that, then good on you.  If you don’t try to convert me to your religion, I won’t try to change your mind either.  But the Westboro Baptist Church is a whole different story.  If you are a member of that particular cult (let’s not call it a religion or a church, please), then you really have something wrong with you and I will do everything I can to change your mind and make you see the err of your ways.

What Is the Westboro Baptist Church?

I’m not going to actually link to their website but it’s easy enough to find of course.  You can Google their names, or you can simply go to “god hates fags”.  That’s right, god hates fags.  That is their first message.  Nothing to do with do good, the ten commandments, love, compassion, god is great.  No, simply, that god hates fags.  Fags, not gay people, homosexuals or anything else slightly more respectful.  Fags.  Wonderful…

They have other beliefs as well, all equally disturbing.  Let’s take a look.

Westboro Baptist Church Beliefs

One of the things that really annoys me is that these people are seriously in your face.  They picket!  They picket funerals of soldiers (god killed them in the war because they were evil) on street corners, bringing their children with them.  They have statistics on their page about how many people have died due to god’s will since you browsed to their website.  Basically, anybody that dies does so because god deemed them not worthy.  They will all be going straight to hell.  And just in case you didn’t know that, they will make sure that they picket your funeral with their bizarre messages.

They proclaim violence and hatred.  They look at hateful messages in the bible and use these to show that god hates everybody.  Except them of course.  They are pretty much the only ones who will be going to heaven.  Now, there are some seriously freaky things in the bible.  Like if one person is a sinner in a village, that whole village should be exterminated.  And they preach this!

Their basic quote is “obey or perish”.  Oh and, if you think you can change their mind, don’t bother.  They proclaim that they will spend exactly 0 nanoseconds worrying about your “feelllinngss”.

What is really scary is not so much that this cult exists.  Cults promoting hatred have always been around.  It is the enormous amount of publicity that they have gotten (and I suppose I am guilty of this now too).  Is it necessary to publically announce that these people are evil?  Probably yes, but then you also run the risk of some brain dead idiot looking at this stuff and thinking they’ve got a good point.  Let me make one thing very clear: they do not have a good point.  They have no point AT ALL.  They are full of contradictions, picking and choosing what they like and ignoring the bits that prove them wrong.  Sure, this is what every religion does, but these guys are particularly evil.

So why am I writing this?  If you see anything on Facebook or other social media promoting the Westboro Baptist Church, report them.  If you hear they are coming to a place near you, picket against them.  Speak to their children (they bring the kids to their pickets).  Hopefully, you will be able to save at least one of their kids.  Just do something to show the world that this sort of hatred is not ok.