People obey the law because they are know that if they are caught they will
be punished. It is only the law, that inane and arbitrary guideline of which
you speak, and the mechanisms we have created to enforce it, that prevent
the evil ones from doing whatever they choose.
I know what you're saying, but I don't believe that it's "only" the law that... etc., because we internalize our cultural/societal rules, and they become conscience. It isn't against the law to give your child turnips and only turnips for Christmas, but some evil parents have done it, and most of those who provide happy Christmases for their children do so not because the law makes them, but because they love their children and would feel not only sad, but immoral and socially ashamed if they didn't do their best by them.
I thought of turnips because I actually know a woman whose (Christian, though this is irrelevant imo) parents, who were broke at Christmas, told their little daughters, when they asked if they would have any Christmas presents, given that they had no money, "Oh, something will turn up.
Turn up = turnip. The little girls' Christmas stockings had in them only turnips. Her parents thought it a funny joke.
Isn't that horrid and bizarre? This woman is a very messed up adult, unsurprisingly.
Maybe you will say that in "and the mechanisms we have create to enforce it" you include conscience, shame, shunning, etc. Chickens and eggs come to mind, of course. |
