Who You Are Underneath And Why I Don't Care.

Mr Horsefry was a youngish man, not simply running to fat but vaulting, leaping and diving towards obesity. He had acquired at thirty an impressive selection of chins, and now they wobbled with angry pride. It is wrong to judge by appearances. Despite his expression, which was that of a piglet having a bright idea, and his mode of speech, which might put you in mind of a small, breathless, neurotic but ridiculously expensive dog, Mr Horsefry might well have been a kind, generous and pious man. In the same way, the man climbing out of your window in a stripy jumper, a mask and a great hurry might merely be lost on the way to a fancy-dress party, and the man in the wig and robes at the focus of the courtroom might only be a transvestite who wandered in out of the rain. Snap judgements can be so unfair.

- Terry Pratchett, Going Postal.

People are funny things. I frequently tell you that they are stupid and that I hate them. And I do. But right now, I'm thinking about this.

People frequently say things like, "He's a bit grumpy but he's nice underneath". I feel that "underneath" we are all pretty much the same. Animals. Base. I feel that superficiality is one of a person's most important features.

Unless I know you remarkably well, and the number of people I know remarkably well I can count on one hand, the way that I do know you is through my superficial interactions with you.

Take for example, a murderer. He kills people regularly. Underneath, he is a troubled individual, intelligent and discerning, enjoying science, philosophy and art. He is well read, and can speak russian, greek and spanish fluently apart from his native english. He has had a long life of hardship, with many people he loves being tragically taken from him, and recently his wife has killed herself after a long battle with depression. This sent him spinning into irrevocable madness and he is now a serial killer.

He is still a murderer. He is still bad. I don't know him, I don't care about him, he should be put in jail.

And take another man. He works in a charity, looking after orphans. He feeds them, nurtures them, and provides them with an education. All the children consider him their father and love him dearly. Underneath, he is a closet pedophile, nightly he masturbates to child pornography, and he is secretly aroused buy the children he cares for. He never, ever makes advances upon them, but he does none the less perform his duties because he likes to be around little children.

He is in my opinion, a good man. No one, not even his old mum, knows his dark secret. He dutifully and ceaselessly acts out his charity providing many many children with a life, hope, food, shelter, and a stepping stone in the modern world. He should not be put in jail.

We only know of people what we see of them, and I don't know about you, but I quite simply do not have time to get to know deeply and intimately every single person on the planet. I don't care if you are autistic, you're still a jerk. I don't care if your mummy never loved you, you're still a wife-beater. I don't care if you were abused as a child, you are still an asshole. We all have a choice.

To our own perceptions, people are only and always what we think they are. If you learn more about them then what they seem to be changes, and if you don't, it doesn't. Snap judgments are all I have to go on with brief encounters with people.

Prove to me what you are, and I'll accept it. But if you don't, then I have nothing to go on.

N.B: I in no way condone Pedophilia. It's disgusting and terrible.