The privilege of choice

For a number of years I have struggled to reconcile two beliefs: first, a conviction that a great deal of the social problems that blight many communities have far deeper roots than simple idleness, immorality and malice. This sort of thinking would seem backward to the Victorian philanthropists who first worked to alleviate the poverty and social oppression that was destroying working class society. Second, a refusal to allow these deeper causes to become an excuse, both for those involved in these issues and those who seek to understand them.

Recently, I managed to reconcile these beliefs.

It came from a simple realisation. Yes, there are a great many root causes behind such ills as poverty, crime, worklessness, social immobility and community breakdown that go beyond individual faults. Many honest, decent people are trapped in these vicious cycles through no fault of their own, and it is societies obligation to seek to understand these problems and help those who are afflicted by them. But that does not extenuate the individual from guilt for his own actions. We must all take final responsibility for what we do, or do not do.

This simple truth seems to be sadly lacking from much of the political discourse of our times. The coalition government often seems to regard the welfare state as solely the recourse of bone-idle job dodgers, drug addicts and criminals. But neither did Labour’s blind attempt to solve the problem by throwing money at it and smothering it in a blanket of beauracracy and pseudo-sociological excuses get us anywhere. 

Humans have evolved to become rational, thinking beings capable of great mental, emotional and spiritual complexity. This is not a right. As far as we know, we are alone on this planet in possessing this gift. It is a privilege. A privilege that, like most, comes with responsibilities. The fact that we can make rational choices based not (at least, not entirely) on our basic instincts or external influences, obligates us to make these choices and not shrink behind the cover of excuses.

For example, all these scumbags running around our streets attacking innocent people for no reason other than the way they look, or for easy cash, or whatever their reason. Over the last few years we have seen example after example of decent people who did nothing wrong having their lives ruined by meaningless violence. To stamp on someone’s head for a laugh is not a choice any rational being worthy of the privilege     should be making. It is a choice made by people who do not deserve to be treated with the respect of a human being, a respect they clearly give no other. It is a choice below that of a rabid dog. The dog does not have the privilege of choice. It is driven by a instinctual violence and aggression, magnified by the powerful disease into something that even a strictly train specimen cannot overcome. It does not make a clear, rational choice like we can.

We all have choices to make. Every single day of our lives we are presented with choices, some huge, many small. Whether we make the right choice or not, we should never forget that it is a privilege to make a choice at all.