The Rule of Law

My youth was (mis)spent defying the rule of law in many ways, mainly involving motor vehicles of various descriptions, but largely involving motorcycles and riding without a valid licence. This, in turn, seemed to give me the green light to pursue other, slightly less than legal, activities such as speeding, wheelies etc., which I duly did to excess. But I was fortunate to survive that phase, so moved on to racing motor cars and appeared to try new ways to rub myself out; this blog is testament to my failure and you, dear reader, may well wish I hadn't.

Be that as it may, most of us eventually grow up and realise that laws are there to help civilised societies exist and overcrowded cities function. It would be literally impossible for a any form of society to function on a day-to-day basis without an established set of rules to define and, indeed, set  limits for individual behaviour -the freedom that allows each individual to do whatever one wants swiftly leads to anarchy. It has always been absurd to expect all human beings to observe unwritten rules of 'common' sense and 'common' decency, and self-police same effectively; it just never happens - and has never happened - for more than a short period of time. Rather, groupings of people have realised the importance of establishing clearly stated rules of behaviour whose transgression is punishable in some way.

This is all a prelude to me expressing my disappointment at the way some people seem to think that rules and laws should not be obeyed whenever it does not suit them or their needs. And I'm not talking about young children or even teenagers, who have the excuse of being young and, therefore, not knowing how things work; no, we are talking about people over 21, often far older, who one could expect would be mature, knowledgable and who saw themselves as members of a free, just society. It is clearly absurd to see these individuals cynically break whatever law does not suit them whenever it does, yet still lay claim to society's structures and protection as and when needed. These people are causing immense harm and nowhere in Europe is this more in evidence than in Greece, a country fully equipped with laws for everything that are largely ignored and selectively or occasionally enforced.

You may well assume that I have gone mad or become hugely conservative, forgetting my 'naughty' youth and all my shenanigans as mentioned in the opening paragraph, that I have become a 'holier than thou' kind of person who is strict on the misdemeanours of others while exempting myself. It is not so, dear reader, but I am now older, more mature and, essentially, wiser; certainly wise enough to realise that without clear rules properly enforced (a.k.a. laws) no complex society can function and, therefore, exist. To believe otherwise is to be either extremely naive and/or very young,  or rather stupid. Anarchists, the main adherents to such a credo, are not, realists but believers in a utopia that has never yet existed in humankind's brief history. Society, indeed, needs to defend itself by ensuring the rules are obeyed properly and misbehaving members are not allowed to do this at will, even punished, to keep the system (which is there to protect the vast majority of people) working.

For illustration purposes I am showing a number of traffic offences which are relatively minor in the general scheme of things. They do show, however, the general contempt for the prevailing laws and a lack of respect for other citizens; they are also a lot easier to photograph and display! And it just isn't acceptable to turn a blind eye to misdemeanours as being less important, as we become accustomed to not respecting small things and, eventually, just as easily accept not respecting far more important, indeed crucial, laws.
And remember, guys and gals, stupidity is no excuse...  You WILL be judged on your actions, not somebody else's omissions or errors.