So I just saw a report on Sky News that one
of their own sports presenters is going to run 250 miles in seven days to raise
awareness of domestic abuse and all I can is, bloody well done and the best of
luck to her.
But hang on, is that all I can say? Err
no.
The cause to which Charlie Webster under
takes is admirable and heroic in my opinion, having been a victim of abuse
herself, I myself also first hand, this is clearly an issue in society close to our hearts as it should be
with everyone; however, it is the constant cause that never seems to be a means
to an end.
What do I mean by that?
Do we really need more “awareness”? Do
we really need to keep asking “why”? My answer to that is twofold, obviously awareness
and why is always in need of constant replenishment in the minds of us all, but
that is simply not going far enough.
Why? Because we have lots of awareness,
lots of people asking why, very few or else no one is providing answers and this is the real
issue here.
It is a very risky thing to say, “I
understand why that person raped you!” it’s a very risky thing to say, “I know
why that person beat you up at home!” it’s a very risky thing to say, “I
understand why that paedophile molested that child!” It is in fact, social
suicide and/or street cred annihilation.
If I was to say any of the
aforementioned statements; immediately, I would be seen as having sympathy for
the devil, simply because the word “understand” is anecdotally synonymous with
understanding and sympathy as well as care and allowance for the perpetration
of these criminal acts.
And here within lies the problem, what
if “understand” was synonymous with science, psychiatry, comprehension of the complexity
of individualism and above all else, education. For example, actor Patrick Stewart, whose
father beat up his mother on regular occasions, later discovered that his
father had undiagnosed shell shock or the modern equivalent of PTSD (Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder) and now he says he campaigns for both the awareness &
stoppage of domestic violence as well as the all important understanding as to the
cause of it, but Patrick Stewart is only one man.
It is not good enough to send a
perpetrator of violence to anger management classes when they may have, for
argument sakes, severe alcohol or drug addiction, undiagnosed psychosis or
schizophrenia (when voices convince the patient to abuse) or DID – Dissociative
Identity Disorder where the individual’s mind has created a violent
personality, or as was the case with Patrick Stewart’s father, undiagnosed PTSD;
is anger management or basic counselling really that affective in situations
such as this?
Every attacker is as individual as their
victims so thus, unless we resist this constant desire to use the paint of
generalisation and tar all with the same brush of convenience, we simply will
never be able to comprehend the answers
to “why” once we have the “awareness”.
Unfortunately, it is a social ill in the
mindset of society that the “awareness” and the “why” is acceptable but the
understanding of it, is seen as unethical thus written into law as well as the cut
backs, the lack of science and the embellishment into the psyche of the many
that “understanding” in these cases is a facade to evil; it simply isn’t, and
here within is a real problem.
Don’t get me wrong, under no circumstances
does this go in any way a direction of excusing
domestic violence or abuse of any kind; it is a violent act, due process
must take place and it must stop, but it won’t unless we answer these
questions.
So thus, I truly feel that we need to
enter a very uncomfortable and new dimension of thinking to ever truly answer
the question, “why” and to ever bring about real awareness and real change by
tackling the psychological determinants of abuse, the mindset of perpetrators
and the ultimate goal of all the aforementioned as a coming about of social
healing in the way of, a cure, imagine that? Would be nice wouldn’t it?
Thank you for reading
VisionGhost
