Points of View

The piece I'm working on right now is giving me some trouble in terms of opposing points of view. I don't want the characters to be entirely black and white, because that would bore the reader. So, I've been casting around among my friends on facebook to look at how their friends approach different issues.

What I discovered truly shocked me. I suppose by now I should be use to the idea that some people are blind to the problems of others, and so self-centred that they feel no duty to assist their neighbours, but I hadn't realized how far into the mind-set of centuries gone by some people had gone.

When pejorative epithets like "undeserving poor", "free-riders", "greedy unionists", "whiny women", "eco-terrorists", "lying scientists" and others spout unchecked in the posts of some who espouse unbridled capitalistic growth, and when these speakers are thick on the ground, there is true cause for worry. Even moreso when they love their wallets more than their fellow humans.

So many of these cardboard characters seem to be Evangelical so-called Christians, many of whom seem to have forgotten the original purpose of their religion. Not much about charity, sharing, and duty to others there. It's all about greed and preventing anyone outside their narrow circle from sticking their hands in the pockets of the chosen few. For such people, while they await the "Rapture" it doesn't matter a damn what we do to the planet and each other in the meantime. Magical thinking isn't thinking at all. But it certainly does appeal to some.

Evolved principles like justice and equity have no place in the closed minds of so many today. Whether they're radical religionists, political fascists, corporate graspers, or just plain greedy and selfish, they seem to be lacking in compassion, vision, empathy and love -- but the main characteristic they lack is a sense of humour! And surely the first and best trait of people is our willingness to see the ridiculous and to laugh at ourselves?  How has humanity managed to breed a whole generation of humourless sociopaths?

All this is very discouraging, and isn't getting me any closer to my original problem of character development. I suppose only reality can tolerate such flat characters as we see around us. For fiction, I'm going to have to blunt their edges with a few more palatable traits, and allow them a few glimpses of someone else's point of view.

It's certainly not going to happen in the real world.

what price honour?

A few weeks ago, there was a bizarre news item telling of the drowning deaths of 4 women, three sisters and their aunt, who were found in their car at the bottom of the Rideau Canal, near Kingston Ontario. It seemed especially odd since there were no signs of how they could have gotten there, past various barriers, without leaving so much as a skid mark.

Today, the papers are full of the arrest of the girls' parents & brother, supposedly while attempting to leave the country:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/family-members-charged-with-murder-in-submerged-car-case/article1228868/

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Family+members+charged+with+first+degree+murder+Kingston+canal+deaths/1820277/story.html

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/07/23/canal-arrests023.html

While the reports vary a little, it appears that the "aunt" was in fact the father's first wife, unable to have children & so supplanted by the second wife.

This is the kind of incident that makes many average Canadian citizens scratch their heads over immigration policies that foster a very broad interpretation of multiculturalism, in that this enables extremist views that would have been well left in the country of origin when emigrating to a country with clearly different mores & standards. Some of our own more extreme elements would have immigrants attest that they will abide by Canadian laws & social customs when living here, & given the above I'm sure there will be more calls for such. Tolerance can, after all, only go so far.

We don't tolerate polygamy, purdah, so-called honour killing or suttee. What makes some people think that they can bring such traditions here, or worse yet, start cults that do such things? This is not exclusive to Islamic extremists, although this particular case is illustrative of the reasons why sharia law will never be adopted here and there is so much resentment about the attempts to do so.

Canadians would, on the whole, are pleased to embrace most multicultural novelties. Food, literature, art, music, philosophy, & certain aspects of dress come to mind as crossing cultural borders. However, when it comes to systematic marginalization of women by extremist groups, whatever their origin, we draw the line. We tolerate headscarves, but not burqas. One may be a fashion statement, the other is clearly not. Adult women have a right to self-determination & independence. Children have a right not to be molested or otherwise abused by their families or others in the community. These are the compromises that OUR culture demands of immigrants. These are the things that should be left at the border of the country of origin.

Sadly, these 3 girls and their aunt/step-mother will never have the opportunity to benefit from Canadian culture, because the culture of their parents' homeland was applied to abrogate their rights.

As for the supposed honour, does the classification of one of the girls as "willful & rebellious" in any way justify her death? Not here. We have no room for such distorted conceptions of honour.