Ten Commandments...."Rules" or "Continuum?" for living.

[PeachMonkey]

The Rule of Law is, of course, a fundamental concept that anyone who accepts the value of society has to recognize.

However, there has to be some sort of continuum that deals with laws that are so unjust, so wrong, that they cannot be obeyed. These are the areas that the writings of Ghandi, of King, of Thoreau, and of the Nuremburg Tribunal deal with.

 

[loki09789]

The Rule of Law is, of course, a fundamental concept that anyone who accepts the value of society has to recognize.

However, there has to be some sort of continuum that deals with laws that are so unjust, so wrong, that they cannot be obeyed. These are the areas that the writings of Ghandi, of King, of Thoreau, and of the Nuremburg Tribunal deal with.

The point isn't a continuum to deal with 'unjust laws' but to discuss how, either socially or individually, the way that people 'continuum up' these laws in application.

It is one thing to say "don't lie, it's wrong" but when that is in direct opposition in a given moment, how you reconcile it will reveal what your personal priorities (or social priorities) are.

 

[Tgace]

The Rule of Law is, of course, a fundamental concept that anyone who accepts the value of society has to recognize.

However, there has to be some sort of continuum that deals with laws that are so unjust, so wrong, that they cannot be obeyed. These are the areas that the writings of Ghandi, of King, of Thoreau, and of the Nuremburg Tribunal deal with.

There are also laws that are "on the books" that are routinely ignored. Society has moved past the written law but its left either out of bureaucratic sloth or as a "might need it later" option. Adultery is still a misdemeanor "on the books" in NY but its never (as far as I know) prosecuted. Be that as it may, its still a law that should be obeyed morally. With exceptions like extended separation, abusive relationships etc. aside......

 

[PeachMonkey]

Adultery is still a misdemeanor "on the books" in NY but its never (as far as I know) prosecuted. Be that as it may, its still a law that should be obeyed morally. With exceptions like extended separation, abusive relationships etc. aside......

There are a number of problems with legislating moral behavior like adultery.

First, there's the fact that people of all religious and political spectrums commit it; some people do it when lonely and sad, others do it if their marriages fall apart, others do it because they're greedy... regardless, enforcing it would become too much of a burden, and perhaps helped lead to a recognition that it's the kind of behavior that few people approve, but is silly to legislate.

Moreover, some people marry while still expressly agreeing to sleep with, or even love, people outside of the marriage contract. Most commonly found among the polyamorous, this sort of relationship helps highlight how dated and useless adultery law is (and, moreover, how the concept of marriage is not strictly based on Judeo-Christian concepts).

Regardless of all of this, the writers I spoke of were far more interested in more dangerous and unjust laws than this.

 

[Tgace]

Yeah, I dont believe I disagreed with that. Just used adultery as an example of unenforced law..............