This page is not illegal
Am I the only person who sees what is going on?
Am I the only person who is questioning the way society is going?
Everywhere I look these days, I see signs of civilisation being dehumanised and being reduced to the status of mindless zombies.
Take a small example. I was driving along a good straight road yesterday, with a couple of cars in front of me. We came to a small spot of roadworks, and of course there were the ubiquitous temporary traffic lights. Nothing wrong so far? You must realise that this road is straight, with no junctions, and visibility is excellent. The lights covered a fifty foot stretch of road, and in fact there was no need for them at all [there rarely is]. The lights changed red as we all approached, and here is the scenario which has me rather worried. The lead driver just sat there staring at the red light, and wouldn’t move until it changed green. Can you now see what I am getting at? Here is a [presumably] sane and reasonable individual, who is being dictated to by a fucking light bulb. He [or she] has been brainwashed into a meek subservience to the rules and laws that have crept into every corner of our lives. There was no danger whatsoever in proceeding through that red light, but the conditioning is too strong.
Society used to be governed by logic, responsibility and morality. Now it is governed entirely by the rule of law.
Because of the dominance of law in our lives, we are no longer capable of making a decision for ourselves.
What is worse, the law is being used to excuse acts that are not logical, responsible or moral.
Take for example the salaries being paid to our government and our judiciary. Our judiciary are the highest paid in the world and our government are close to the top. In a country of four million that is facing bankruptcy, is this moral? No. Is it logical? No. Is it responsible? No. Is it legal? Yes. No only that, but it is protected by law, and in the case of the judiciary, by the constitution.
How often do we hear on the news that a new law is being introduced? How often do we hear that a decision can’t be taken until the legal ramifications have been sorted first?
The main problem with our legal system [apart from the fact that it encourages litigation at every corner] is that we as a people no longer take responsibility for ourselves. We have reached the stage where we do the most idiotic things because ‘it’s the law’. What is worse, we do them without question. We see signs everywhere saying that this, that or the other is illegal. Why can’t they say ‘not allowed’ or please don’t’? Because the fear of illegality strikes terror into our hearts.
It is time we questioned and examined our own actions.
This country [and most other countries] would be far far better off if 99% of the laws were scrapped. The law should be the final arbiter, not a system of rules that govern virtually every aspect of our lives.
Open your eyes.
Ask yourself if it is moral or responsible before asking yourself if it is legal.
Think for yourselves.
That isn’t illegal.
Yet.
The law is an ass. But not a nice ass. I’m partial to a nice ass myself.
Sneezy – You fancy donkeys? That is weird, if you don’t mind me saying so?
It’s time you started the Wicklow Seccesionist Movement. Come on, you know you want to.
Having a bad day are we ?
TT – No. Why? I think it’s a perfectly reasonable topic to bring up? Herself has the radio on at the moment, and there are people on complaining that they were on holiday and contracted Swine Flu. They are bitching because no one told them what to do. What the fuck???? Has society sunk so low that people have to be told what to do when they catch a wee bug?
Bravo Grandad! Once again well written and thoughtful. The sad part is all the folks who may read this and think, “What’s he on about?”. I personally couldn’t agree with you more. We need to get back to being a moral and responsible people. I mean everyone. Imagine the idea of an honest politician!
Many years ago I read a book on Crime in America. In the chapter on the Irish in American crime it said that after so many centurys of being criminals back home, the immigrants brought a mantra to our shores that I beleive was followed religiously for many years and became ingrained in our USA DNA. “If you cant live with the law, become the law, failing that, live the Outlaw.” Indeed, my family did very well living the Outlaw and I still beleive we should continue to embrace this ethic as the politics of Law become more unethical. After all when you look at the number of Irish cops, judges, lawyers and legislators in American is it any wonder we are smothered by Big Brothers and Sister Mary Whoevers.
Have a cool day, it was 116 in the shade here in Arizona and we’d love some of your rain…
RWG
Illegle, isnt that a sick bird ?
Feared by the bad, loved by the good, Robin Hood…………
everything is so over regulated…you cann’t even get a job washing dishes now but you have to do a course…
Guess the missing word….!
On occasion large groups of ‘……..’ will reach a cliff overlooking the ocean. They will stop until the urge to press on causes them to jump!
Thrifty – Sorry. Forgot to welcome you to Free Wickla.
Brainf – There is always the faint hope that someone will read this and it will make them think, but I doubt it. No harm in trying?
RWG – I am rapidly learning to live the Outlaw. As I write, the news is on – new laws here, amendments there. Madness. Pity you had to stick that joke in though. 😉
TT – Are you applying for the part of Maid Marian?
Cooper – If it isn’t laws, it’s regulations. Fuckit. I have had enough. From now on I’m doing my own thing, and they can go whistle.
Mick – The Missing Words do it through some weird natural instinct or something. We are doing it becasue we have been conditioned to obey, whatever the cost.
I think its partly a result of having too many lawyers in government and partly a complete misunderstanding of the function of the law.
Lawyers naturally think making a law makes a perceived problem disappear. That is nonsense of course as for example abortion is illegal in Ireland but 6,000 Irish women a year go abroad to have one.
This is using the law in Ireland to ‘pretend’ that no abortions happen. Similarly a lot of laws get passed on drugs or alcohol or example because people disapprove of them, not because the laws will make the problem disappear.
My theory is that an awful lot of laws get passed every year and its purely so the government can look as if they are doing something about a problem when people see the laws passed in the newspaper. Doesn’t make a blind bit of difference to the problem but just pushes it into the shadows where the middle class won’t see it.
Its just a gigantic PR trick and its been going on for decades now. I’ve never yet heard of a law successfully quashing any behavior the middle class doesn’t like but it never stops the clamour for more laws.
Ban it. If that doesn’t work ban it twice as hard. Gah.
We’re singing from the same hymn sheet on this one Granddad.
Is it a crime to take responsibility for one’s actions? Is it a crime to think for oneself every now and then? Is it a crime to accidentally murder a stripper on a stag do in Vegas and hide her body in the Nevada desert? Let he who is without sin…
Let not our legal system be our judges, but our own consciences. If I want to import a metric tonne of grade A heroin direct from Guam (cutting out the middle man), that should only be a matter between me, myself and my Scientology handler.
“Signs, signs, everywhere signs. Blocking up the scenery and breakin’ my mind. Do this, don’t do that. Can’t you read the signs?”
And that was written over 30 years ago.
I was once issued a traffic ticket for running a red light in the middle of nowhere that absolutely refused to change (cop was hidden in the woods). There was no traffic as far as the eye could see in any direction. I took it to court and won but that’s not the point. It never should have happened in the first place and that cop never should have been there wasting money that was paid by my taxes. You couldn’t convince me even today that the cop hadn’t jimmied the traffic light switch box so that it wouldn’t change.
Flann – You would probably find somewhere that it’s illegal to sing from a hymnsheet.
Kirk M – A classic example of why the law is an ass. Having said that, a mate of mine was once done for drunk driving. The cops said they knew he was drunk because he stopped at red lights at four in the morning with no traffic around. You just can’t win.
Which part of Maid Marion ?
Hiya Grandad – I think it all went wrong when they started removing spines at birth – there’s no saving us now!!!
And exactly whose morals are we looking at? If we were dependent on that, everyone would say something different as to what is right. Should a woman choose to kill her fetus or not? “Hey, we follow this religion where it’s moral to sacrifice a live animal”.
People have the freedom of speech to say whatever unmoral thing they want in society because that is…wait…protected by the law. I admit, most of it is a bit silly and unnecessary, but it doesn’t mean it should be done away with altogether. I mean, what’s really the purpose of paying a fine because you stayed in a parking space too long in the city? You got there first! Bollocks to everyone else.
Cap’n Con – Sorry…you got stuck in Moderation. I entirely agree. All these rediculous laws are there purely to paper over the cracks. All they do is make the government feel better [Look at us – we’re doing something while we’re collecting all those lovely fines] and keep in load of lawyers in business. Let’s scrap the lot [lawyers, laws and the government]!!
Kate – Maybe it’s time to implant some spines then??
Welcome, Mizzy! I think we can all agree there is a common moral ground for all society. We all agree that murder, theft and the like are wrong? Then there are personal morals, such as one’s attitude to abortion or assisted suicide for example. They are just as valid and should be respected. Just as I think common morals are the cornerstone of society, I think that private morals should equally be respected. If someone thinks that abortion is wrong, then who am I to argue provided they don’t try to impose their private morals on anyone else? If someone’s private morals mean they kill animals then I don’t honestly think I have any right to stop them, no matter how hard that might be for me. Having said that, there are grey areas, and of course there have to be laws.
The general gist of my argument though is that for every 1000 laws on the statute books, I can guarantee, 950 or more could be scrapped.
One rather oversimplified example – suppose all laws pertaining to driving were scrapped and replaced with just one …. dangerous driving? Wouldn’t that cover 99% of the others??