Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:33 pm by globalturbo
The Law
by Zen Gardner - Nov 5, 2015
by Angie Riedel
WarIsCrime
We Americans are obsessed with rule-following and the law to the point of ignorance. We think of rules and laws as something from on high that must not be broken. We don’t believe we are free to ignore the law, even if it kills us to obey it. We quite literally accept the notion that the law is what is supreme and the law is what is noble and that it is the law that must be defended at all costs. We give our lives to protect the law.
The fact is, that makes no sense. At all. Where do I begin?
The law can’t be supreme, only our lives can hold supreme meaning. Laws cannot be noble, only people can be noble. The law doesn’t need to be defended, because it can’t be harmed; in fact, it doesn’t even exist except inside people’s heads. People need to be defended, because we can be harmed, we can cease to exist. And because we are irreplaceable and life is sacred, we need to take steps to defend and protect life. Therefore, giving our lives to defend something that can’t be harmed makes no sense. What is the law for if it is not to protect and defend our lives?
Here are a couple of obvious basics about laws, which will probably not come as any surprise. In the first place, the law and the rules are nothing more than words. They are words written on paper or posted on signs. The words do not come from on high, or from beyond, nor are they eternal and immutable. They are not by any means guaranteed to be fair, or right, or moral, or correct, and there is no legal obligation for them to be any of those things.
Laws are in fact wholly arbitrary and they are written to protect the interests of those who write them. That’s why law in its current form exists. That’s why it is so heavily propagandized and lauded in countless TV shows where we get all teary eyed over ideas like justice and righteousness, and we assign only the highest ideals to those who make our laws and those who are heavily armed and will shoot us in the back to uphold them.
Yes, we are trained and taught over and again to obey the laws. We are threatened with frightening stories about what happens when you break the law. We are constantly shown examples of those who break the law. They are held up to us by the scruff of the neck, eyes blackened by police brutality and torture, all legal, of course, and we are told hair-raising stories of their dastardly deeds and the wrongs they’ve done to the innocent. The message is clear. Only bad people break the law. And when the law is broken, terrible things are the consequence. Without the law to steady the keel of social order our whole system would break down and devolve into chaos and disorder, violence and cruelty, and it would all go to shit overnight. It would end everything.
Excuse me while I yawn. Yes, yes, I’ve heard it all a million times just like you have, but I’ve actually sat down and thought about it. And what I found out is that, honestly, all of that is pretty much crap. All of it is contrived and designed to keep you and me and everyone else living inside of self-enforced boundaries that prevent us from treading on the lawns of those who want us to believe we have no right to walk wherever we like in a country that we pay for 100 percent. That takes some amazing brainwashing. And we clearly do have that brainwashing, because we all live in utter and desperate fear of doing the wrong thing, or being perceived to have done something wrong, and the mere sight of those glowing red lights in our rear-view mirrors is enough to make even the bravest of us tremble with stomach-churning anxiety.
It’s really quite revolting, in my humble opinion. I think it’s time for all of us to at least stop long enough to look this whole subject right in the eye and size it up. Let’s see what it really is, and who it’s all about, and what the reasons and true purposes behind law truly are. This short but interesting adventure could possibly change the way you think of law and rules entirely, and it may very well empower you in ways you never knew existed. It might not do a thing for you, and there are definitely those who will be unable to do this exercise, feeling that they are breaking yet some other unwritten law. The one that says do not question authority. This exercise will indeed separate out those who believe authority is granted by the people, from those who believe authority is natural and cast in stone and must never ever be questioned. To those fitting the latter description, you have my condolences. To those who are unafraid to take an intellectual trip into the idea of laws and rules and get a new perspective on things, I say let’s do it.
Laws and rules are written by human beings no different than ourselves. The only difference between those who write the laws and make the rules and the rest of us is that they have the pen and they are in the official “rooms” where our laws are written. That’s about it for qualifications. That is it for correctness, righteousness, accuracy, morality, ethics and every other adjective you might automatically assign to the concept of law. The bottom line is that laws and rules are a man-made thing. They are not necessary to human life. Human life can and has existed and thrived without a single law being in existence. The reality is that life on Earth can get along just fine without man-made laws being imposed on us, we don’t need them in any way, shape or form to live a good and meaningful life and do what we’re here to do in this world.
It is man-made law that needs us to exist, it cannot continue without us. It needs us to agree to acknowledge it and abide by it, but there is in fact no natural thing, no natural obligation for any humans to obey any man-made laws.
I know that sounds strange, but look at it this way. Think of the other animals in the world, and that is what we are, we are animals, just one of the many kinds of animal life on this planet. Can you name one other animal besides man that obeys any man-made laws? Do dogs and birds and cats keep off the grass, because there is a keep off the grass sign posted there? No, they do not. They don’t care about any signs, and they don’t care about any rules, and it’s not just because they can’t read. Even if they could read, they still wouldn’t care. To them, if a place exists and they want to walk on it, they just go walk on it. The entire concept of permission or allowance or rules would be something they simply would not understand.
To them, the idea of not being allowed to walk somewhere or do anything “because it is against the law” would be meaningless. And that’s because it really is meaningless. It’s all made up by guys who want things that way, it’s not based on any kind of natural law. “No Trespassing” signs will not prevent a single deer or bear or raccoon or rat or cricket or worm from going wherever it wants to. It couldn’t care less about any posted signs, and the fact is it would be very difficult to take aside a raccoon or deer and explain to them that there are laws and that those laws must be obeyed.
The deer, if it could understand you, would listen to you speak and then it would look at you and say, “Why? Why must I obey any creature on this planet beyond myself? According to who? I am in charge of my life, and this world belongs equally to all who live on it. I need no permission to go anywhere or do anything I like. I may eat whatever I find to eat wherever I find it. The food belongs to no one. If I find it and am eating it, obviously, it is mine to eat. No one else can own it. What a ridiculous idea. You are funny human, and unfortunately not too bright. We animals bow to no man, or beast. We are free and the world is ours. There are no rulers, rules or laws that are real beyond the laws of nature. We do not recognize your false claims of ownership of what is freely ours and always has been.”
And they would be right.
There are no other animals than man on the face of the Earth that would give one second’s consideration to anyone telling them, “You can’t do that!” Animals wouldn’t even pause long enough to flip you off. It would literally mean nothing to them what we think or demand of them or each other. Our notions of obligated obedience are complete nonsense to them (and they call them the dumb animals).
All the other animals on Earth understand what life is and who they are, and they know the real laws of the world, and they simply live by them. They don’t need animal police, and they don’t wage animal wars. They don’t have animal gangs who run around destroying other animals homes just for the fun of it or to hoard all of the food even though they could never eat it all, but only don’t want others to be able to eat. The animals wouldn’t put up with that for one second even if it ever did happen in their kingdom.
I’m afraid that whole hoarding and ownership thing is only in our kingdom, and it’s no more valid here than it is out there, only we’re not smart enough to realize that. Our minds can be gotten into and messed with so much that we no longer understand that we all have the right to food and shelter and life; or at the very least that no one has any conceivable right to prevent us from having those things. Animals know that without needing to talk about it. They have no compulsion to grab it all up for themselves and let all the other animals starve to death or be deprived of the use of the natural shelter all around. It’s natural, simple, straightforward, obvious reality.
Animals also don’t kill unless it’s for food or in self-defense, with the exception of some species’ testosterone-saturated males who will sometimes act like jerks and do mean things, but that is the exception, not the norm. Most often these males will fight each other around mating seasons. This is the time that they are driven to prove themselves the strongest, smartest male in the group, and when they achieve that status, the females say, “You will do to father my offspring.” It’s not very romantic, but it sure is sensible. And the males are happy as can be, because they get to do the one and only thing, more than often, that they’re any good for. I’m sorry, but it’s true. I don’t make this stuff up, check it for yourself.
It is the female, the lioness, who is the hunter and who brings home the bacon for the family. It is the female and the matriarch who is the spiritual leader and boss, from elephants to the humans smart enough to realize that and go with the flow. The males are lazy and aggressive and are often otherwise, sorry, but basically useless and annoying. That’s the breaks. That’s not to say they aren’t a hell of a lot of fun and we’d be lost without them. Okay, I’m having some fun at the expense of males, I couldn’t resist. Males are indeed needed and they are pretty cool.
One example of a very cool male is a 500-pound silverback gorilla. They are so strong they could tear your head off in a second, but you know what? They don’t. There’s something there worth noticing.
The amazing power these creatures have is not something they abuse, even though they could abuse it for personal gain anytime they wanted to. They have no desire to abuse others with their power. Once again this is an aberration mostly human animals suffer from, with our powerful males feeling no compulsion at all to restrain their ability to abuse others for personal gain, or just for the pleasure it gives them to do it. They get off on it. For the gorillas, self-restraint is a natural law that does not require policing to enforce. It only requires being a natural animal to understand the world they live in, and they have a natural respect for the lives of others. Why would they be motivated to be abusive of anyone? What would it get them that they don’t already have? You see, it’s not a burden for them. It’s common sense based on the reality and truth of natural law.
It’s really very simple and reasonable when we’re talking natural law. It only gets complicated when we’re talking about human-made laws, because those are basically a whole lot of crap.
The whole point of human-made laws is to prevent people from doing certain things. That’s really what it boils down to, and it’s not always a bad idea. Sometimes the best thing a community can do is get together and decide things like, it’s not okay for people to kill each other just because they want your stuff. It’s not okay to walk into someone else’s house and take their stuff. It’s not okay to hurt people because you want their stuff or just because you don’t like them. Everyone agrees to the rules, because they’re equal and logical and they apply to everyone in a fair and sensible way.
Having those rules in place makes sense and it allows the people of that community to have a shared value system, which can be a very good thing. It lets people feel safer as they go about their business and it allows steps to be taken when someone breaks the rules and causes harm or damage to others that is unfair or unjustified. It makes their community a nicer place to live, because they’ve agreed they won’t be victimized by evil people, and they will stand together and run those bad guys out of town, or otherwise deal with them.
It’s all just too tiresome, frustrating and time consuming when bad guys breeze in and rape and pillage the place every five minutes, and face it, who wouldn’t get real tired of that sort of thing? Laws are put in place to define an agreed-upon right and wrong and to uphold and defend that shared agreement to benefit the whole community. It’s a good arrangement for a group of honorable people to live by.
The trouble is, mankind is often not very honorable. In fact, some people are downright rotten to the core. They will lie and overstate things, make false claims and accusations, and they do it to get something they don’t deserve, but want anyway. And they aren’t ashamed of it in the least, at least until they get caught and are proven to be greasy slimy liars who end up in jail. That’s another series of laws we quickly passed, “No greasy slimy liars when it comes to public dealings.” You can do it at home with your own family, but not to anyone else, because we don’t have to put up with your private tyranny and delusions of grandeur and entitlement to have it all your way. There is no such thing in the real world, pal, so keep it to yourself. (Unless, of course, you’re the President of the United States. He’s the decider, according to him. Like I said, delusions of grandeur.)
It’s all quite reasonable. And to the extent that the laws are made and agreed to by the same people who will have to follow them, then it’s a pretty good deal. They can change their laws when they need changing, and no one is forced to comply with anything against their will.
But the laws have to be fair and treat everyone equal or it’s not law anymore, it’s corruption. And all of that is easy to see when you’re directly involved in your own self-governing. Where the people are the law, it’s quite difficult for a cadre of weasels to move in and take over, because they have no power over anyone else.
And that’s precisely why the entire idea of power over others was shoved into the law books. Human weasels exist. They are real and they want to be in charge of others. If you think about it for a minute, it should become apparent why anyone would want to have power over others. Claiming that you have power over others entitles you to get away with wrongdoing. It entitles you to treat others unfairly and prevent them from being able to do anything to protect themselves from you. Power over others is great for the sociopaths who crave it so badly. Power over others is not a normal thing to want, and most of us would have little desire for it.
MORE>>
[Hat tip: PhilosophersStone]
+++
ZenGardner.com
Thanks to: http://www.zengardner.com
by Zen Gardner - Nov 5, 2015
by Angie Riedel
WarIsCrime
We Americans are obsessed with rule-following and the law to the point of ignorance. We think of rules and laws as something from on high that must not be broken. We don’t believe we are free to ignore the law, even if it kills us to obey it. We quite literally accept the notion that the law is what is supreme and the law is what is noble and that it is the law that must be defended at all costs. We give our lives to protect the law.
The fact is, that makes no sense. At all. Where do I begin?
The law can’t be supreme, only our lives can hold supreme meaning. Laws cannot be noble, only people can be noble. The law doesn’t need to be defended, because it can’t be harmed; in fact, it doesn’t even exist except inside people’s heads. People need to be defended, because we can be harmed, we can cease to exist. And because we are irreplaceable and life is sacred, we need to take steps to defend and protect life. Therefore, giving our lives to defend something that can’t be harmed makes no sense. What is the law for if it is not to protect and defend our lives?
Here are a couple of obvious basics about laws, which will probably not come as any surprise. In the first place, the law and the rules are nothing more than words. They are words written on paper or posted on signs. The words do not come from on high, or from beyond, nor are they eternal and immutable. They are not by any means guaranteed to be fair, or right, or moral, or correct, and there is no legal obligation for them to be any of those things.
Laws are in fact wholly arbitrary and they are written to protect the interests of those who write them. That’s why law in its current form exists. That’s why it is so heavily propagandized and lauded in countless TV shows where we get all teary eyed over ideas like justice and righteousness, and we assign only the highest ideals to those who make our laws and those who are heavily armed and will shoot us in the back to uphold them.
Yes, we are trained and taught over and again to obey the laws. We are threatened with frightening stories about what happens when you break the law. We are constantly shown examples of those who break the law. They are held up to us by the scruff of the neck, eyes blackened by police brutality and torture, all legal, of course, and we are told hair-raising stories of their dastardly deeds and the wrongs they’ve done to the innocent. The message is clear. Only bad people break the law. And when the law is broken, terrible things are the consequence. Without the law to steady the keel of social order our whole system would break down and devolve into chaos and disorder, violence and cruelty, and it would all go to shit overnight. It would end everything.
Excuse me while I yawn. Yes, yes, I’ve heard it all a million times just like you have, but I’ve actually sat down and thought about it. And what I found out is that, honestly, all of that is pretty much crap. All of it is contrived and designed to keep you and me and everyone else living inside of self-enforced boundaries that prevent us from treading on the lawns of those who want us to believe we have no right to walk wherever we like in a country that we pay for 100 percent. That takes some amazing brainwashing. And we clearly do have that brainwashing, because we all live in utter and desperate fear of doing the wrong thing, or being perceived to have done something wrong, and the mere sight of those glowing red lights in our rear-view mirrors is enough to make even the bravest of us tremble with stomach-churning anxiety.
It’s really quite revolting, in my humble opinion. I think it’s time for all of us to at least stop long enough to look this whole subject right in the eye and size it up. Let’s see what it really is, and who it’s all about, and what the reasons and true purposes behind law truly are. This short but interesting adventure could possibly change the way you think of law and rules entirely, and it may very well empower you in ways you never knew existed. It might not do a thing for you, and there are definitely those who will be unable to do this exercise, feeling that they are breaking yet some other unwritten law. The one that says do not question authority. This exercise will indeed separate out those who believe authority is granted by the people, from those who believe authority is natural and cast in stone and must never ever be questioned. To those fitting the latter description, you have my condolences. To those who are unafraid to take an intellectual trip into the idea of laws and rules and get a new perspective on things, I say let’s do it.Laws and rules are written by human beings no different than ourselves. The only difference between those who write the laws and make the rules and the rest of us is that they have the pen and they are in the official “rooms” where our laws are written. That’s about it for qualifications. That is it for correctness, righteousness, accuracy, morality, ethics and every other adjective you might automatically assign to the concept of law. The bottom line is that laws and rules are a man-made thing. They are not necessary to human life. Human life can and has existed and thrived without a single law being in existence. The reality is that life on Earth can get along just fine without man-made laws being imposed on us, we don’t need them in any way, shape or form to live a good and meaningful life and do what we’re here to do in this world.
It is man-made law that needs us to exist, it cannot continue without us. It needs us to agree to acknowledge it and abide by it, but there is in fact no natural thing, no natural obligation for any humans to obey any man-made laws.
I know that sounds strange, but look at it this way. Think of the other animals in the world, and that is what we are, we are animals, just one of the many kinds of animal life on this planet. Can you name one other animal besides man that obeys any man-made laws? Do dogs and birds and cats keep off the grass, because there is a keep off the grass sign posted there? No, they do not. They don’t care about any signs, and they don’t care about any rules, and it’s not just because they can’t read. Even if they could read, they still wouldn’t care. To them, if a place exists and they want to walk on it, they just go walk on it. The entire concept of permission or allowance or rules would be something they simply would not understand.
To them, the idea of not being allowed to walk somewhere or do anything “because it is against the law” would be meaningless. And that’s because it really is meaningless. It’s all made up by guys who want things that way, it’s not based on any kind of natural law. “No Trespassing” signs will not prevent a single deer or bear or raccoon or rat or cricket or worm from going wherever it wants to. It couldn’t care less about any posted signs, and the fact is it would be very difficult to take aside a raccoon or deer and explain to them that there are laws and that those laws must be obeyed.
The deer, if it could understand you, would listen to you speak and then it would look at you and say, “Why? Why must I obey any creature on this planet beyond myself? According to who? I am in charge of my life, and this world belongs equally to all who live on it. I need no permission to go anywhere or do anything I like. I may eat whatever I find to eat wherever I find it. The food belongs to no one. If I find it and am eating it, obviously, it is mine to eat. No one else can own it. What a ridiculous idea. You are funny human, and unfortunately not too bright. We animals bow to no man, or beast. We are free and the world is ours. There are no rulers, rules or laws that are real beyond the laws of nature. We do not recognize your false claims of ownership of what is freely ours and always has been.”
And they would be right.
There are no other animals than man on the face of the Earth that would give one second’s consideration to anyone telling them, “You can’t do that!” Animals wouldn’t even pause long enough to flip you off. It would literally mean nothing to them what we think or demand of them or each other. Our notions of obligated obedience are complete nonsense to them (and they call them the dumb animals).
All the other animals on Earth understand what life is and who they are, and they know the real laws of the world, and they simply live by them. They don’t need animal police, and they don’t wage animal wars. They don’t have animal gangs who run around destroying other animals homes just for the fun of it or to hoard all of the food even though they could never eat it all, but only don’t want others to be able to eat. The animals wouldn’t put up with that for one second even if it ever did happen in their kingdom.
I’m afraid that whole hoarding and ownership thing is only in our kingdom, and it’s no more valid here than it is out there, only we’re not smart enough to realize that. Our minds can be gotten into and messed with so much that we no longer understand that we all have the right to food and shelter and life; or at the very least that no one has any conceivable right to prevent us from having those things. Animals know that without needing to talk about it. They have no compulsion to grab it all up for themselves and let all the other animals starve to death or be deprived of the use of the natural shelter all around. It’s natural, simple, straightforward, obvious reality.
Animals also don’t kill unless it’s for food or in self-defense, with the exception of some species’ testosterone-saturated males who will sometimes act like jerks and do mean things, but that is the exception, not the norm. Most often these males will fight each other around mating seasons. This is the time that they are driven to prove themselves the strongest, smartest male in the group, and when they achieve that status, the females say, “You will do to father my offspring.” It’s not very romantic, but it sure is sensible. And the males are happy as can be, because they get to do the one and only thing, more than often, that they’re any good for. I’m sorry, but it’s true. I don’t make this stuff up, check it for yourself.
It is the female, the lioness, who is the hunter and who brings home the bacon for the family. It is the female and the matriarch who is the spiritual leader and boss, from elephants to the humans smart enough to realize that and go with the flow. The males are lazy and aggressive and are often otherwise, sorry, but basically useless and annoying. That’s the breaks. That’s not to say they aren’t a hell of a lot of fun and we’d be lost without them. Okay, I’m having some fun at the expense of males, I couldn’t resist. Males are indeed needed and they are pretty cool.
One example of a very cool male is a 500-pound silverback gorilla. They are so strong they could tear your head off in a second, but you know what? They don’t. There’s something there worth noticing.
The amazing power these creatures have is not something they abuse, even though they could abuse it for personal gain anytime they wanted to. They have no desire to abuse others with their power. Once again this is an aberration mostly human animals suffer from, with our powerful males feeling no compulsion at all to restrain their ability to abuse others for personal gain, or just for the pleasure it gives them to do it. They get off on it. For the gorillas, self-restraint is a natural law that does not require policing to enforce. It only requires being a natural animal to understand the world they live in, and they have a natural respect for the lives of others. Why would they be motivated to be abusive of anyone? What would it get them that they don’t already have? You see, it’s not a burden for them. It’s common sense based on the reality and truth of natural law.
It’s really very simple and reasonable when we’re talking natural law. It only gets complicated when we’re talking about human-made laws, because those are basically a whole lot of crap.
The whole point of human-made laws is to prevent people from doing certain things. That’s really what it boils down to, and it’s not always a bad idea. Sometimes the best thing a community can do is get together and decide things like, it’s not okay for people to kill each other just because they want your stuff. It’s not okay to walk into someone else’s house and take their stuff. It’s not okay to hurt people because you want their stuff or just because you don’t like them. Everyone agrees to the rules, because they’re equal and logical and they apply to everyone in a fair and sensible way.
Having those rules in place makes sense and it allows the people of that community to have a shared value system, which can be a very good thing. It lets people feel safer as they go about their business and it allows steps to be taken when someone breaks the rules and causes harm or damage to others that is unfair or unjustified. It makes their community a nicer place to live, because they’ve agreed they won’t be victimized by evil people, and they will stand together and run those bad guys out of town, or otherwise deal with them.
It’s all just too tiresome, frustrating and time consuming when bad guys breeze in and rape and pillage the place every five minutes, and face it, who wouldn’t get real tired of that sort of thing? Laws are put in place to define an agreed-upon right and wrong and to uphold and defend that shared agreement to benefit the whole community. It’s a good arrangement for a group of honorable people to live by.
The trouble is, mankind is often not very honorable. In fact, some people are downright rotten to the core. They will lie and overstate things, make false claims and accusations, and they do it to get something they don’t deserve, but want anyway. And they aren’t ashamed of it in the least, at least until they get caught and are proven to be greasy slimy liars who end up in jail. That’s another series of laws we quickly passed, “No greasy slimy liars when it comes to public dealings.” You can do it at home with your own family, but not to anyone else, because we don’t have to put up with your private tyranny and delusions of grandeur and entitlement to have it all your way. There is no such thing in the real world, pal, so keep it to yourself. (Unless, of course, you’re the President of the United States. He’s the decider, according to him. Like I said, delusions of grandeur.)
It’s all quite reasonable. And to the extent that the laws are made and agreed to by the same people who will have to follow them, then it’s a pretty good deal. They can change their laws when they need changing, and no one is forced to comply with anything against their will.
But the laws have to be fair and treat everyone equal or it’s not law anymore, it’s corruption. And all of that is easy to see when you’re directly involved in your own self-governing. Where the people are the law, it’s quite difficult for a cadre of weasels to move in and take over, because they have no power over anyone else.
And that’s precisely why the entire idea of power over others was shoved into the law books. Human weasels exist. They are real and they want to be in charge of others. If you think about it for a minute, it should become apparent why anyone would want to have power over others. Claiming that you have power over others entitles you to get away with wrongdoing. It entitles you to treat others unfairly and prevent them from being able to do anything to protect themselves from you. Power over others is great for the sociopaths who crave it so badly. Power over others is not a normal thing to want, and most of us would have little desire for it.
MORE>>
[Hat tip: PhilosophersStone]
+++
ZenGardner.com
Thanks to: http://www.zengardner.com
