10. Opening on a Religious Holiday
Why should Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, the non-religious, etc. close their businesses for Christmas and Easter? This goes against separation of church and state, and freedom from religious discrimination.
9. Jaywalking
If there are no cars, who cares what color the light is? If the light says walk, but a car runs the red light, knowing you had the right of way won’t take away the pain from the broken legs you end up with. If you don’t want to get hit by a car, you ought to watch cars, not lights.
8. Legal Age
to vote, drive, drink, gamble, buy cigarettes… take your pick. They’re all equally stupid. Using age as a surrogate for maturity is about as valid as using height as a surrogate for leadership qualities. How is a 13-year-old genius less able to vote than a 30-year-old moron?
7. Possession of Marijuana
Given the absence of evidence that marijuana is dangerous, throwing people in jail for possession is just plain stupid.
6. File Sharing
I have dealt with the stupidity of prosecuting file sharers before. In summary, downloading music or movies is no more stealing from the music/movie industry than building your own rocking chair is stealing from the rocking chair industry.
5. Gay marriage / Polygamy / “anti-sodomy” laws
Who you marry is none of the State’s business. Marriage is not on official designation managed by the government, it is a bond among people. If a man wants to marry another man, or two women want to marry the same man, or two men the same woman, who cares??? Unless you are directly involved, it’s none of your concern, so if you don’t like it, you can piss off. And using “anti-sodomy” laws that are intended to protect children to throw people in jail for consensual acts among adults is bullshit.
4. Freedom of Speech/Assembly/Association in Schools
Students in public and private schools are not entitled to the basic freedoms enjoyed by adults in most civilized countries. If you are in high school and you tell your teacher that s/he is wrong, incompetent and ought to be fired, you will probably get detention. That’s because you do not have freedom of speech. When a teacher gives an entire class detention because a few students cause trouble, this violates freedom of association, and the association isn’t even voluntary! Why is this a big deal, you may ask? Well, the fact that so few people understand the importance and genuine meaning of individual freedom might have something to do with being educated in a dictatorial, collectivist, freedomless system.
3. Public Nudity
If someone decides to wander around the beach, park or streets naked, how is that hurting me? It’s not. It’s not hurting anybody. Just because something is taboo or unusual in a particular society and offends some people, doesn’t mean it should be illegal. If we made everything that offended people illegal we would no longer have anything approaching a free society.
2. Drinking in Public
This one, I have never understood. If someone sits next to me smoking, that bothers me. It smells bad, it makes my clothes smell bad, it’s poisoning me, it’s polluting the environment, yet it’s legal. If someone sits next to me drinking, it does not bother me, there isn’t much smell (most of the time), it doesn’t poison me and doesn’t hurt the environment. So what gives? Why can you smoke in public but not drink? This just doesn’t make any sense.
1. Prostitution
Why is it that paying someone to have sex with you on camera is legal, but paying someone to have sex with you off-camera is illegal? The common response is that pornography is protected under freedom of expression: that it is not about the sexual gratification of the actors. First, this is complete bullshit, as should be obvious from the recent trend toward “reality porn,” where a bunch of jackasses pay some amateur actress (i.e., call girl) to bang someone, or several people, while somebody takes a home movie. The division between porn and prostitution is much less clear-cut than it was years ago. Second, what exactly is wrong with paying someone for sexual gratification? Isn’t this what strip clubs and peep shows are all about? Criminalizing prostitution is yet another symptom of amoral, groundless religious influence in our society.
I simply cannot find any good reason for prostitution to be illegal. People argue that keeping it illegal protects women. This is manifestly false. If prostitution were legal, the prostitutes would be able to seek legal action against pimps and johns who assault them or steal from them, and police would not be able to extort sex from them in return for overlooking their indiscretions. It has Also been suggested that prostitution is inherently demeaning. Bullshit. The idea of prostitution being demeaning is inherent to our misogynistic, sex-demonizing, evangelical culture, not to the act itself. It has further been suggested that prostitution contributes to the modern slave trade. Since the penalties for slave trading ought to be significantly stiffer than the penalties for prostitution, people involved in slave trading should be prosecuted as slavers, not as pimps. Guns contribute to gun violence, but we don’t make those illegal. Corporations contribute to embezzlement, but we haven’t criminalize those yet. It’s a stupid argument. Prostitution is illegal because it offends the religious right. For me, that is not a good enough reason.
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I agree with some of your points and disagree with others.
Public intoxication is illegal because drunk people are a danger to society. End of story. Someone with reduced motor skills, inhibitions and problem solving skills should not be walking around in public, that’s why you can’t drink outside of bars and private residences.
marriage issues: While I agree that polygamy laws and homosexuality laws are wrong your argument that the govt. has no stance in marriage is absurd. There are a number of legal papers and tax benefits associated with marriage as well as the issue of legal divorce proceedings. There are plenty of legal issues involved with marriage.
File sharing: Yes, it is theft. End of story. If I buy a book, rewrite it and then sell my copies I am stealing money from the author and publisher. Same with file sharing. Your chair analogy is faulty. If you wrote your own cover of a song that would be equivalent to making your own chair.
Legal Age: while your argument is somewhat valid there are flaws in it. A child cannot be expected to understand the nuances of the political system. I don’t want 9 year olds voting and neither do you. While the system is not perfect we need some cutoff point for when people can do things. Whether a thirty year old idiot should be allowed to vote doesn’t affect the fact that the average 13 year old lives at home and understands nothing of earning money and paying taxes therefore is cannot be assumed to understand the implications of various political actions.
Hey, look at me. I’m going to write a blog about how everything in life I find inconvenient is stupid, because blogs are great and everyone on the Internet cares what I think about jaywalking laws. Why shouldn’t 13 years olds be allowed to get drunk and run for president naked?
Before you actually get your Pulitzer for this stirring op-ed, and rather than hiding behind the Constitution, organized religion and statistical outliers, why not instead: grow up, lead by example and accept the fact that you can’t do whatever you want whenever you want to do it. The above laws exist for fairly explicit reasons, and no amount of false analogies or misinterpretations of those laws changes their legitimacy.
“hiding behind the Constitution” … do you not realize that the Constitution is the LAW that governs other laws … so you want him to ignore the big one in favour of laws that are more attuned to your taste?
On your argument about establishment closing on religous holidays:
It is completely faulty. You state the Muslims, Hindus, the non-religious etc. close their establishments on Christian holidays. If they do, nobody is forcing them to. Under the eyes of the law, companies and corporations have nothing to do with the state either since they are not parts of the government. If a Muslim shop owner doesn’t want to close his shop on Christmas he doesn’t have to. Those establishments that DO close on these holidays do it so that their employees may have time with family. I am an Atheist so don’t think I’m some hellbent Christian. If I owned a shop and my employees were Christian, it would be horrible of me to force them to work. If most of my employees were Hindu, I would give them off on their holidays as well. This argument is so ludicrous that I’m not sure what you were thinking when you posted it.
Your argument on age laws are ludicrous too. In order to enforce your opinion on voting there would have to be some sort of standardized test in order to judge intelligence for voters. Those who got a certain percentage would be able to vote and those who don’t make that score wouldn’t be able to. In no way is that a free system seeing as only the “elite” would be able to vote. That is not democracy and would be a system were the govt chose who got to vote. Before you know it (under that system) the only certain people would be able to run for office. What you are suggesting would put a country on a straight line to dictatorship. Also, a 12 yr old should NOT have the right to drink seeing as drinking is very harmful on the brain and children’s brains grow rapidly. The brain reaches what they call “maturity” at the age of 21. I know of NO 12 yr old who is mature enough to make life altering decisions such as drinking, voting, smoking, and gambling. Looking back at myself when I was 12, I wouldn’t be able to fathom the shit choices I would have made.
As for the guy above me, file sharing is perfectly fine. Tearing down huge corporate record industries is not harmful at all. Bands who honestly care about music can make enough money to get by off of playing life shows and selling merch. File sharing has allowed those who are rich and poor to be able to have access to the music they desire which is great to me (as a communist)
Drinking in public is illegal because you are a danger to everyone who is around you when drunk in public. As far as your “smoking” argument, would you rather they smoke inside in a non-venelated room so that the fumes trap anyone who is around them. If smokers can’t smoke OUTSIDE in the open air then they can’t smoke anywhere. The thing about smoking outside is, if you are around someone who smokes and you don’t like it, THEN LEAVE. Unless you would rather stand next to them inside whilst they smoke, then shut up.
This blog sounds like it was typed up by an ill-informed 12 yr old. Write another blog in about 5 yrs.
Wow, good topics to debate upon, reading the comments will show how the authors words have flaws, but for the everyday person who does not posses the common knowledge to discriminate between the right and wrong, these topics can be used to influence in a negative manner. I believe that both arguments (the authors and the commenter’s have their point) but seeing as the world has … well changed for the worse, a change is necessary. (speaking as a true democrate on the radical side)
Come on, do you really want 8 year olds voting? As for 10 year old geniuses, I don’t know of many, and I doubt that you do. Just because there are a handful of genius kids out there does not mean all (or even most) children are capable of voting. Yes, there are a lot of stupid adults, but we have to draw a line somewhere. And to prevent stupid people from voting is undemocratic. If you don’t believe me, pick up a text book about basic democratic theories. I recommend Robert Dahl’s “On Democracy.”
Ha Ha you ignorant imbeciles above me. Quit using big words in an feeble attempt to look educated. The author of this post was merely trying to prove how utterly retarded some legislation is.(imo) With all that is going on in the world, and in the USA in particular, the governments have FAR MORE IMPORTANT things to worry and spend time about, but they do not. They meddle and stick their big brother fascist noses in business that is none of theirs. Whilst I agree that SOME laws are for our protection, most are on the books to enforce whenever and for whatever the governments decide is in THEIR best interests. (just like holy roller religon)
@ Batman
>>>> File sharing: Yes, it is theft. End of story. If I buy a book, rewrite it and then sell my copies I am stealing money from the author and publisher. Same with file sharing.
So what if you recopied the book and did NOT sell it to anyone. Then who is losing money? Nobody. Also, people who download will not purchase what they download otherwise. So either way, nobody makes or loses any money. Nobody loses any property either as a digital file is simply being duplicated. The original owner still has their copy. That’s the definition of theft: depriving the original owner. It is copyright infringement, especially if you give it to others, but it is NOT theft. Anyone who thinks so is delusional.
@Molotov Everything
>>>If I owned a shop and my employees were Christian, it would be horrible of me to force them to work. If most of my employees were Hindu, I would give them off on their holidays as well.
It is YOUR shop, therefore you should be allowed to run it as you please. If your employees don’t like having to work when YOU say (it’s YOUR business after all) they can find another job. It should be up to YOU as the business owner, not the government, to mandate when people work. If it’s to your benefit or if it’s to your disadvantage to force people to work on holidays is YOUR decision and nobody else’s.
@ people who argue for legal age
I have a scenario for you to consider: Two 17 year olds in love. perfectly normal behaviors, sex, kissing, cuddling, etc. Now one of them has a birthday. Now what was fine yesterday is now such a heinous atrocity upon humanity that the offender’s life should be completely destroyed for the sake of humanity. Chew on that one for a while and get back to me.
@ people who think public smoking is OK
It is not OK to poison people against their will. That is precisely what you people do. You are not in any position of authority to tell others to get away if they don’t like your smoke. Period. Want to kill yourself in your own home? That’s fine. Keep that shit out of my lungs.
As for public drinking. DRINKING by itself should be fine. But when you get drunk that’s different.
How can people defend the music/movie industry in their futile war against piracy when every year they report record profits? How can anyone in their right mind take them seriously?
Thanks to everyone for the healthy debate. Here are my responses.
@ Batman, public intoxication is not the same as drinking in public. I agree that public intoxication is dangerous, but how are people supposed to get home from the bar without walking out of it? The legal issues related to marriage are you refer to are tort law. I’m talking about criminal law. File sharing is not theft and saying so doesn’t change it. Read the linked-to post for the full argument. I agree completely that “A child cannot be expected to understand the nuances of the political system.” However, neither can many adults. Where does this leave us?
@Robbie, if you disagree with my arguments, try raising some counter arguments or presenting some evidence.
@Molotov Everything, I don’t know where you live, but where I live, most businesses are not allowed to open on statutory holidays (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holidays_in_Canada) including Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving. This is specifically what I am taking issue with. My arguments about legal age are not invalid simply because their implications are pragmatically troublesome. How does drinking (as opposed to being drunk) make you dangerous to the people around you any more than skateboarding, playing catch or taking the bus when you have the flu? You can’t just leave everywhere that people smoke, like bus stops for instance, and shouldn’t have too.
@harshdeabter, interesting comment — so what do you suggest?
@ThinkAMinute, you say, “we have to draw the line somewhere.” I agree, I’m just saying that age is not a reasonable basis on which to draw the line.
@formeramericannowacanuck, no surprise that a fellow Canadian understand my point…
@H, great points. Just one question: why shouldn’t a society impose holidays? People like having an extra day off. I have no problem with statutory holidays, I just don’t think it’s fair to make Christian holidays statutory while ignoring the other religions. To be fair, either the holidays of all religions must be statutory or none of them.
@ Kavan Wolfe
In America no business is FORCED to close on a holiday because the Federal govt does not officially recognize any national holiday. I’ll post some quotes off of wiki:
“Strictly speaking, the United States does not have national holidays (i.e. days where all employees in America receive a day free from work and all business is halted). The U.S. Federal government can only recognize national holidays that pertain to its own employees; it is at the discretion of each state or local jurisdiction to determine official holiday schedules.”
“In the U.S., most retailers are closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas, while they are open all other holidays. Private businesses often observe only the “big six” holidays (New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas). Some also add the Friday after Thanksgiving, or one or more of the other federal holidays.”
In no way are they forced.
You are trying to compare someone who is intoxicated to someone who is skateboarding. Someone who is intoxicated has very impared judgment where as someone who is skateboarding in public is probably very aware of their surroundings. The only way somebody who is skateboarding could be dangerous to those around them is if they were doing it in a fairly populated area and they were shit at it. Otherwise someone who is skateboarding is of little danger to those around him and only to himself. Someone who is drunk can’t make decisions and is therefore a danger anywhere there is people. Someone who is skateboarding must of their wits about them. I don’t see how you can defend those who choose to publicaly drink. I understand that you feel that these laws are put in place so that the govt can exert its power and keep us under its iron fist, but keeping drunkards off the street is for everyones safety.
@Molotov Everything, regarding holidays, fair enough. I don’t live in the United States, and if the US does not have statutory holidays, my comments on them don’t apply there. Regarding intoxication, I agree with you in principle, however, let me point out that having a beer in a park does not make one drunk, that if skateboarders were so aware of their surroundings, they wouldn’t crash into people so much, and that you didn’t address my point about getting home from bars.
@ Kavan Wolfe
Drinking in public is not the same as public intoxication in the same way that getting into the drivers seat of a car is not the same as driving it. But if you do one it’s a reasonable assumption the other will follow and since many people do not know their limits even if you don’t mean to get drunk you still might.
I did not address the sodomy issue, because I agree with you on that. Therefore all I’m talking about is tort law. Anyone can say they’re married to anyone else and the govt. can’t do anything about it. All the govt. regulates is LEGAL marriage, ie the tax and divorce issues. It’s not like the police are going to knock down your door for living with another man or 2 women.
I disagree with you that file sharing is theft. But that’s an issue of somantics so I have no plans to persue it. I have nothing against file sharing, but I do consider it theft.
As for the voting age, where it leaves us is putting an age and IQ cap on who can vote so that the very young and mentally deficient can’t vote. We did that. That’s why mentally retarded people can’t vote.
@ H
To say that people wouldn’t buy a program or CD that they download is ridiculous. Sure, you wouldn’t but EVERY CD you download but people who don’t buy ANY music ever and just pirate would buy at least a few if P2P didn’t exist.
@formeramericannowacanuck
You’re a dick. The first line of your post establishes this when you claim to be somehow better than the rest of us for no good reason. You’re also a presumptuous cock. Pretty much everyone who replied is not saying “LOL ALL LAWS ARE GOOD” we are simply arguing certain points we disagree with. Yes, the govt. does meddle too much but we aren’t saying they don’t, but we disagree on where they should and shouldn’t and so are having an intellectual discussion, thus far pretty civily, about it. Troll harder.
>>> Just one question: why shouldn’t a society impose holidays?
I just think it should be a CHOICE between the business owner and his employees. Maybe there will be a few who would be willing to work. Why shouldn’t they be allowed to work if they so choose?
@ H: Look up the laws dude. 18 year olds are allowed to have sex with people younger than 18. It’s the age gap that matters.
@Public Nudity: I don’t want 5 year olds seeing naked people running around in public. And to be honest neither do I. Neither does most of society.
@ oSc:
First off, its not the age gap that matters. Its the legal age of consent that varies depending on which area you live in. Where I live, the age is 16 (they are thinking of raising it due to too many teachers having sex with students. No joke.) Secondly, if someone as young as 5 sees people naked often, it will become second nature to him. It wouldn’t fuck him up mentally at all, its when young children see things that aren’t common in their society that fucks them up.
The comparison of filesharing to building your own rocking chair is stupid. Writing your own music is comparable to building your own rocking chair but is in no way similar to filesharing.
@Molotov: Yes, there is an age of consent. IN my area it’s 16. However there is also a law that permits 13 year olds to have sex with anyone up to the age of 17, or something along those lines. It might be different in your area. That was the age gap I was talking about.
As for public nudity, fine it may just be my moral opinion even though I think the attitude of public nudity being okay is a step in the degradation of society I will concede it as opinion. But, public nudity is also a health hazard, which is not opinion.
@oSc
Really? a health hazzard? are there studies on that? are nudist colonies more prone to infection than regular society? I’d like some verification on that.
Biologically speaking, going nude is a health hazard and must be controlled. Especially those who live in Texas, or Florida, New Orleons, etc where mosquito’s that carry malaria and other infectious diseases can be easily spread to endemic proportions without clothing.
Also, there would be the spread of pubic lice to contend with.
@oSc
I’ll concede your malaria argument, but lice can live in clothing and since the human body has relatively little hair you’d actually be safer WITHOUT clothing. It’s why they burn the clothes of people who have lice. I didn’t realize malaria was an issue in North America. I’m in canada, we just have to worry about SARS. However, unless you’re covered from head to toe wouldn’t the mosquito protection be ineffective? I mean, I’ve gone camping dressed pretty well and used repellent and still gotten all sorts of bites on me.
Either way in most areas clothing is only a health issue when it’s cold out.
WOBTNP:
Your statements (not arguments) sound high-schoolish but not quite edgy enough to be coherent…like between frosh and soph or maybe an elitist 8th grader.
What’s your problem with laws? You characterize 10 of them as “stupid” yet you don’t give any support for your conclusion.
You’ve only proven that you don’t like to do homework…because it’s work and who can make you do that?
Why not research the fundamental reason for the jaywalking law? You might be surprised at what you find.
@Dave
Your statements (not arguments) sound elitist and stupid.
What’s your problem with someone stateing their opinion backed with their logical arguments (yes, he provided reasons for his claims so they are arguments) on their personal blog?
The reason for jaywalking laws is to prevent traffic accidents. It’s not really that surprising. Have YOU researched the reasons behind these laws? Try the pot laws. Here’s a hint, it has nothing to do with public safety and a lot to do with racism and antisecularism.
It’s been great but I’m done with this blog. We’ve all had some good opinions but I think we’ve run the gambit.
I just don’t understand what is wrong with Jaywalking…
A**hole #1-5 say in the comments that someone can get hurt! LOL!!!
Coming from India, I know that with the most horrible traffic conditions, people that jaywalk still get by without getting killed by a car. If then A**hole #1-5 say that Jaywalking causes these problems, my answer to this is simply the fact that the roads are really crappy with ditches everywhere! And yes, Chinese people know what i am talking about! So to all those retards that think their “Common SENSE” on Jaywalking is better than that of people that actually know hat they are talking about, SCREW U. Last but not least, someone will bring up the topic on how India and China have nothing to do with American policies, India being the BIGGEST democracy in the world, and China a major manufacturer; to them i say this, Stop Being Isolationist, Because of you people USA is having its bad reputation and is in the major debt it is in. Study world history to know what i am talking about, The part where Europe beats everyone-else because they did not isolate themselves (around the dark age).
And to close off, Batman, Dave… all the a**holes against Jaywalking, sigh… TALK to people that actually live in the fricken conditions. When researching communism, i thought it was a great idea, so did everyone else, and look what a great thing it turned out to be?!(Note the FORCED SARCASM). Research aint always rite!
That is all.
A**holes 1-5 are random people that oppose Jaywalking, they are not nesesarally in the range o 1-5 more like 1-INFINITY (not that there are that many A**holes)!
@dude 2
When did I say anything against Jaywalking? When did anyone? the authors point seemed to be that if there are no cars coming they shouldn’t ticket you for crossing a red. He said to watch the cars, not the lights. I live in a small town in Canada, there are times when streets are completely deserted and cops are patrolling for jaywalkers. Take your own advice and remember that conditions are not always the same as they are where you live.
@batman
what do you know of elitism or stupidity?
no problem with anyone stating their opinion; why do you think i have a problem with it? but it wasn’t an argument and it certainly wasn’t logical. providing reasons doesn’t make something an argument or logical…certainly not those reasons.
you’re a white guy. what do you know about racism? anti secularism?
get a clue: there’s one human race and the race card players are disingenuous and that’s what you get for not doing your homework.
oh, one more thing: before you start in on pot, don’t.
@ Dude #2
jaywalking’s not about right/wrong; it’s against the law. re-read my post, not too difficult.
i can’t believe that you actually “researched communism” and came to the conclusion that it was a great idea. only the refusers to learn from history would conclude that.
@Dave
An argument is a fact or assertion offered as evidence that something is true. Providing reasons, any reasons, make it an argument. That’s what an argument is.
As for your whole racism thing? It’s related to the pot statement. I’ll explain. Pot has existed and been used for over 1000 years. However, around the turn of the 20th century when RACISM was very prominent pot smoking was assocciated with blacks and mexicans, because of this several important US agents began releasing propaganda that it was associated with terrorism and lower income bullshit. Then, the catholic church found out that Mormons were all pretty big potheads, because of this they made it church law that you couldn’t smoke pot. At that time anything that was church law soon became US and state law. It was a similar scenario in europe. So within the next 10 to 20 years pot became illegal pretty much everywhere.
I don’t smoke pot. I just did a case study on it for grade 12 law a few years ago because it was an interesting case.
I’m not “Playing the race card” I’m stating that racism had a lot to do with the criminalization of hash and marijuana.
What do I know about elitism and stupidity? I work in retail and spend time between classes on the internet. I’ve seen plenty of both. Saying someone must be in grade 8 because you disagree with their opinions is elitism, and it’s pretty stupid too… as is not knowing what an argument is.
@dave
>>>>> jaywalking’s not about right/wrong; it’s against the law.
Way to miss the point completely.
The law is infallible, right? There’s no such thing as an absurd or unjust law, right Mr. Professor?
@H
What “law is infallible”? There is one that is and it’s not beyond your intellectual grasp; however, i think that you’ll reject it (but you might surprise me).
@Batman
your definition of “argument” isn’t quite what i had in mind; however, i can see how it would be “ok” in yours.
ARGUMENT: a coherent series of statements leading from a premise to a conclusion
Please find an argument in the 10 stupid laws…no arguments: only conclusions.
let me help you a little.
PREMISE: “There is a jaywalking law.” (here, the premise is also a fact and is closely associated with the)
ASSERTION: “What possible usefulness or non-usefulness could such a law provide to the community and to the individual?”
COHERENT SERIES OF STATEMENTS: (this is where you and others do the work of gathering evidence…facts, not supposition or drawing conclusions, etc…of usefulness and non-usefulness). This often leads to the
DISCUSSION: (this is where you and others compare and evaluate the evidence that you worked so hard gathering and is often confused with argument). Now, you’re ready to form your
CONCLUSION: (all of the work that you did above must lead you, inevitably, to this place)
Dave’s trying way too hard to sound smart.
@H
I was asleep during all of what I wrote. What did I say?
d.
Am I right in thinking your government doesn’t trust you to cross the road? That’s absolutely fucking ridiculous!! We have some pretty BS laws here in the UK, but that’s mad. What about roads with no foot paths or lights? The conclusion I have reached after an awful lot of reading into the problems of resources and human diet (we’re really being conned, fobbed off, and lied to there) is that a lot of people are employed in unnecessary jobs. Sounds like the police justifying their own existence to me, after all what other useful job might they actually do?
Actually, I just read some more of your site and found you think about food in a very similar way
Oh, goddamn it, I’m late seeing this, and I want to make a nice long comment, even though I’m probably too late to say anything original. I’m in the middle of essaying now but if I haven’t commented in a few days’ time, poke me. Off topic, did Jeff tell you about how his talk went? I think I need to do that as well.
Hey james, we call footpaths “sidewalks” here. I’m just kidding around. No offense :p
You’re right though, a famous person (i forget the name) said something along the lines of “The only power the government (police) have is against criminals. When society runs out of criminals, the government makes more. So many things become crimes it’s impossible for people to live their lives without breaking some law.”
So yes they are trying to justify their existence. Very few real crimes happen. So many cops would have no job if they were restricted to real crimes.
@ H
try being a cop, then come back and give us a report.
Thanks to everyone for the lively discussion.
@Batman, regarding the relationship between drinking and being drunk, you’re messing up necessary and sufficient conditions. You have to drink to get drunk, but drinking does not necessarily lead to getting drunk. By your logic, buying axes should be illegal because axe murderers use them. Regarding voting age, I’m suggesting we think about alternative criteria. Intelligence is one possibility, though not a very good one. Re: reasons behind laws, I agree that it seems like laws are written and voted on without much understanding.
@H, businesses are not democratic. The owner does not choose things with his/her employees, but chooses for them. That’s why there are so few holidays.
@Publius, my point about the rocking chair was that when you share music, it’s not stealing because, although you get the item for free, the person you ‘took’ it from still has it. I’ve explored this issue much more thoroughly in a serious of posts on the RIAA.
@osc, I agree that it’s reasonable to restrict things that pose health hazards. However, there’s no evidence that public nudity is any more dangerous than going shopping while having the flu or swimming in a public pool. At what level of danger do we make things illegal? Going nude does not increase your risk of malaria compared wearing a skimpy bathing suit. Since head lice seems unproblematic in our society, I suspect pubic lice would not pose much problem.
@Dave, these are brief illustrations intended to provoke a thoughtful response. They are not intended to be bulletproof arguments, like some of my previous posts. Sometimes it’s more fun to let the arguments come out in the discussion, as has happened here. You’re right, I have not researched the fundamental reason for jaywalking laws. Care to enlighten us? BTW: have I mentioned how helpful it is to have a cop for a reader when you write about law all the time? I appreciate your perspective, even when I disagree – no, ESPECIALLY when I disagree.
@Dude #2, it’s ok to swear on my blog if it’s how you feel, but try to be a little more coherent. This isolationist stuff is totally off topic.
@James, I don’t know if you can infer much about government intentions from laws because the system of law making is an uncontrolled, ambiguous, poorly stuctured, amoral, dialectic boondoggle where nobody seems to have a fucking clue what’s going on. More on this in a later post.
@Dave and H, I give cops a lot of shit in this blog because there’s so much abuse of power out there, but this isn’t an enforcement issue, it’s a there’s-too-many-stupid-laws issue. There’s plenty of real crime going around to keep the police busy if we stopped wasting their time with all this piddly bullshit. For instance, in many parts of Canada, it’s become difficult to prosecute shoplifters because the police don’t have time for it. Shoplifting is a genuine crime, unlike the items above.