Christie Mason wrote:
Katrina Replies
- Christie responds -
My soul cringed when I read "legislating against very bad manners" It can't
be done, it shouldn't be attempted.
Think about it: what is vandalism if not bad manners? Vandalism is
unauthorized marking of property, regardless if that property is public
or private. If that marking was authorised, it wouldn't be bad to do,
would it?
Manners are another form of standard/protocol, ensuring that the
community is able to work together. Our laws exist to help us to work
together. It is part of the same social cohesive force. The laws
re-enforce what we believe the social system should be like. So what
should the laws aim to stop? The very worst of bad manners! The very
worst of the breaking of the social norms. That which causes issues for
the cogs of the social machine.
Vandalism and theft are about taking of private property.
But doing so without *authorisation*. Authorisation completely changes
the scenario. It is bad manners to do these things without authorisation.
To move from political to the practical. Etiquette cannot be legislated.
But it is. Think about it. Again, manners are a form of standard,
creating a system so that people in the community can work together.
That is what the legislation is also meant to do.
Culture cannot be legislated.
But that is exactly what our laws do. We have the laws we do because of
our culture. Because of what we see as 'right' and as 'wrong'. These are
culturally defined, and defined within our protocol, our manners. And,
in reverse, the laws can then re-enforce or re-structure our culture.
They are inextricable linked.
Let me give you an example: you are at a party and someone makes a
racist remark. That's bad manners to do at a social gathering, isn't it?
It is not within the protocol/standards of our manners. Saying it is one
thing, acting out on it is another. Eg. banning certain 'races' from
entering physical Target stores. If it is acted out, then it becomes so
unacceptable, (not just bad manners, but very bad manners) it is
legislated against.
No one has a "right" to shop at Target.
At the same time, everyone expects to be dealt with fairly, regardless
of race or gender. Would it be OK to exclude certain races from Target?
We don't find that culturally acceptable, which then makes it very
bad manners.
This
is about a business so, of course, it's about $. The lawyers will make $
from this, Target will pay $ to either change, or pay $ to not change either
through lost sales and/or legal penalties.
People and organizations only change to avoid pain. Organizations feel pain
when they have decreased income or increased expenses - less $. Target
perceives the cost of changing exceeds the cost of not changing. I don't
think it would cost that much to change the site, but that's not their
perception. Yes, laws can inflict pain but not enough for real change.
I've always thought that most laws are enacted because people are too lazy
to fight for real, lasting, culturally significant change. Our politicians
have become the "someone" in "someone should do something about that"
instead of "I" or "we" "should do something about that".
It's very, very difficult to defend the Target site, it's an unusable mess
so I don't use it, but Target does have the right to have a bad site. They
have the right to lose $.
No, they don't have that right. The community needs to work together,
with different individuals in it, with different abilities, and has a
protocol, defined in manners and law, in place to achieve that. By being
inaccessible, Target defies that protocol, and thumbs its nose at
everyone in the community. They also create a situation where the
community isn't working very well together (discriminating against
certain parts of the community). They quite rightly should be brought
into order.
Our community has manners and laws which everyone needs to abide by. It
is small petty sacrifices that everyone needs to do, in order to gain
the benefits that the community provides.
You want to run a store, physically and virtually? Then abide by our
manners and laws, and make it accessible.
Kat
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