2 Votes
RE: My answer is "HELL" NO"!
What ever happened to common sense and respect?
1) I think the notion of "common sense" is a myth.
2) However, the idea of common sense, whereby there is a shared, mutually understood decorum by which persons conduct their selves is valid. And your comment led me back to something I (surprisingly) heard on TV (by whom and on which station, I can not remember): People are unable to govern themselves. This is not a new concept by any means. Some say that it is for that exact purpose that the Electoral College was instituted: to buffer the will of the people.
My point is that scenarios, like the one described above, call into question the abilities of some to govern themselves.
Also, this scenario elicits some question a) how do people have order without government? and b) how quickly can I set up a Cafe Press account?
RE: My answer is "HELL" NO"! by anthonyanthony
My answer was also "No".
But after further consideration, I do not think it should be explicitly illegal.
There was a time in Western societies when no one would have done such a thing because the social ramifications would have meant total ostracization and embarrassment for the offender and his or her family: this is perhaps the softest of what Louis Althusser called Repressive State Apparatuses. RSAs keep individual members of a society in check by invoking shame or (in some religious corners) the threat of damnation when that individual goes against prevailing ideology.
Of course going against prevailing ideologies helped end segregation (to some degree) and slavery, aided in establishing women’s suffrage; surely other moments of Good remain unmentioned here, but have been born from ‘going against the grain’.
However, the trend of rebelling against these invisible and undocumented social institutions governing U.S. society brings with it those who would rebel against the more helpful aspects of our ideology: for instance, considering unacceptable the notion of profiting off of a soldier’s death.
RE: My answer is "HELL" NO"! by NomadSoul
a) how do people have order without government?
I think you’ve sort of answered your question in each of your posts… common sense and social pressure. Before we had mass government, mass religion, and even "masses" at all, people lived in relatively small groups (practically extended families)… So, people were able to govern themselves and each other with the help of a few traditions and a lot of good people skills, but no need for permanent leadership or institutionalized government. Those who wouldn’t or couldn’t get along were simply excluded until they could get along, or until they found someplace else to live.
This sort of thing kept people reasonable and responsible, but also fairly free. Now, with our political groups numbering in the hundreds of millions, keeping everyone on the same page seems to require some form of government. We also have a problem because individual freedom is prized so much that responsibility is almost totally forgotten, and it’s easy to get away with being irresponsible or disrespectful because you can just disappear into the crowd.