Pros_&_Cons_of_Emotion

Are emotions truly necessary for our existence, or is it possible to have future generations possess no emotions at all' Emotions can be defined as a mental state that arises spontaneously rather than through conscious effort and is often accompanied by physiological changes (the free dictionary). There is also a strong feeling deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others. Taking these definitions into account, it is possible to look further into emotion and to place the aforementioned moods or feelings into real life situations. It is also important to explore not only advantages of emotion, but also the disadvantages. In recent years, media has informed the masses of the existence of honor crimes, or customary killings. Honor killings are usually murders by a family member, but also social groups who think that dishonor have been placed upon the community or smaller family groups. Honor is seen as a personal reflection on each individual family member (Plant 2005). The reasoning can be from refusal of arranged marriages to sexual abuse and infidelity. Although, in some cases it is seen as acceptable for what may be perceived as non-existent offences such as; socializing with a male, failing to serve a meal fast enough or even as far as a woman’s husband dreaming that his wife had betrayed him. The media usually refers to such cases with headlines explaining that ‘they had lost control’ and that the crimes were in the ‘heat-of-the-moment’. These quotes are linked with crimes of passion, which honor killing is connected with. With this, we can see crimes of passion as acts of emotion that lacks a rational reasoning as to why the crime is initially committed. Passion crimes can be seen to happen because the criminal is being put under severe strain from emotional and/or physical stress. These include family pressures and social norm expectances that affect their decision-making abilities and rational thinking. These impulsive actions derive from emotional situations, usually without rational thinking. This can potentially lead to a person committing murder, through lack of emotional inhibition for example jealousy (Weir, 1992). The murders through jealousy, insecurity or greed are rife mainly among particular sets of people who still have a tight control over their communities. It can be seen that the men involved in these killings, are not only emotionally wrestling with their feelings over a crime, but at the process of loosing control. Many people, who need to be in control, find that it is a desire that can lead to murder, as seen in the research above. Crimes of passion also have different significances, which depend on religion, culture and worldly location. Although it is thought that honor killings do not target men, there has been a recent wave of passion killings in connection to homosexual men. A report from Turkey (Birch, 2008) tells of the murder of a 26 year old man, shot dead for his sexual orientation. This is not a stand-alone case, many Islamic countries condone these killings, in order to avoid family dishonor. Another report (Tawfeeq, 2009), also speaks about the shooting and subsequent death of six men in Iraq, in two separate incidents over a 10-day period. It is believed from reports, that they were all homosexual men who frequented a café, known to be popular with homosexual men. The deaths came after a tribal meeting was held. Due to high emotional states, the members decided to follow and kill the victims. The café was subsequently set on fire. Although emotion based killings are seen as heat-of-the-moment crimes, this is not always the case. A candidate of the Supreme Court of Appeals 1st Penal Chamber, proposed that there should be a ‘family council decision’, regarding murders for motive of custom. Family members can form a family court, which mainly includes male members of the family deciding on the fate of the victims. Reports show that the perpetrator is usually a young male relative, such a brother, who would carry out the murder. Due to emotional blackmail, it is essential that the murder was committed, or the young relative would face being ostracized from the family, and in turn face the same fate. (http://www.stophonourkillings.com/'q=taxonomy/term/73&page=5) These honor killings of homosexual men, only seems to reinforce old theories that homosexuality is either an illness or wrong. With many peoples emotions taking over their logical mind it is clear why, still to this very day, segregation is still rife. The emotional feelings associated to homosexuality are apparent in many different cultures, it is only the policing in other countries that ensure these killings do not expand and lead people to lie about their intentions and feelings. From the aforementioned research, it can be seen that emotions have a substantial impact in the lives of all involved in honor crimes. It is important to note that not only are the deceased victims in these crimes, but also the participating family members. When a crime is committed for honor, it is the family members who must kill their own. Although these acts are followed through with anger, there must also be remorse and upset for the young individuals to carry out such acts of terror and pain. It would not only be ethically wrong to support these views in honor killings, but also morally wrong, which is why I believe that a world without emotion would be a more balanced social environment. Emotions are able to aid people in many positive ways, although the contrast is so vast in how emotions can harm, and alter family dynamics to such a degree that they will kill one another. It seems that the first steps to control these acts is through stricter laws and rulings. Although there are rulings, different in each country, the penalties are not substantial enough to deter people from these acts of violence. If the penalties for honor killings were that of a regular homicide, family members may be more reluctant to carry out these acts of terror. There are implications to this theory though, if the world were emotionless, then the human race would lose individuality and many positive emotions. For many people, existence is based primarily on love and positively reinforced emotions. Without emotions, the world’s population would, theoretically, act just as robots. Although the world based primarily on love is an idealistic view, with positive emotions, the negative emotions continue and hate crimes such as homophobic acts of terrorism and honor killings will continue. References Birch, N. (2008, July 19). "The victim of Turkey's first gay honour killing'". The Independent (London). Retrieved November 24, 2010, from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/was-ahmet-yildiz- the-victim-of-turkeys-first-gay-honour-killing-871822.html. Emotions. (2010) The Free Dictionary.com. Retrieved November 24, 2010, from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/emotion. Plant, V. (2005). Honor Killings and the Asylum Gender Gap. Retrieved November 24, 2010, from http://www.law.fsu.edu/Journals/transnational/vol15_1/Plant.pdf Supreme court: There must be a family council meeting for ‘honour’ crime. (n.d.). Retrieved November 24, 2010, from http://www.stophonourkillings.com/'q=taxonomy/term/73&page=5 Tawfeeq, M. (2009, March 5). Six gay men shot to death in Iraq by tribe members. CNN. Retrieved November 24, 2010, from http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/04/05/gay.deaths.iraq/ind ex.html Weir, S. (1992). “Crimes Passionnels: Gender Differences in Perceived Justification for Murder in the Face of Maritial Infidelity” in The Irish Journal of Psychology, 13, 3, 350-360