On Mon, May 24, 2010 at 12:34 PM, Lane Haygood <lhaygood at gmail.com> wrote: Something is enforced if there is a penalty for failure to comply. You are still free (in terms of will and capacity) to not comply; you must merely suffer the consequences.
Let me put it another way: you are free to disobey the law, id est, to commit a crime. You must, however, "do the time" if you have "done the crime," as the cliche goes.
You may voluntarily comport yourself with dignity and class. You may of course also fail to do so and be a boor. That is your prerogative, and none shall gainsay you your boorishness, for while it may be against the mores of good taste, one may not enforce good manners.
One voluntarily enforces, therefore, a sense of good character in how one comports onesself if one self-legislates a moraltiy consistent with civility, pace Kant. You must act at all times as if the maxim of your actions could be willed as universal law. Therefore, though you may not be subject to compulsion to play nicely, it is eminently rational and proper for you to compel yourself to do so, should some base nature suggest otherwise.
yvt,
Lane
On Mon, May 24, 2010 at 11:29 AM, <brunians at brunians.org> wrote:
It's not, though.
It is a contradiction in terms.
It verges on newspeak.
Something that is voluntary is done of one's free will.
Something that is enforced is done will ye or nil ye.
So what is something that is voluntarily enforced?
You either want something to be done voluntarily, or you want it to be enforced.
You can't have it both ways.
.
>
Perhaps it would help if I explained that "voluntary enforcement" is a fancy way of saying "civilized behavior."
Probably not, though.
--Dan'l
On Mon, May 24, 2010 at 9:15 AM, <brunians at brunians.org> wrote:
L'audace! Encore l'audace!
Toujours l'audace!
-- Danton
.
You misunderstood what I mean by "voluntarily enforced." I do not mean universal citizen policing (which is a Bad Thing). Rather, I mean a situation in which people voluntarily act in a disciplined manner.
On Mon, May 24, 2010 at 8:15 AM, James Wynn <crushtv at gmail.com> wrote:
But then we have to endure threads on the rules of good subject lines. I think it is better to keep the list in line by modeling good behavior rather having self-appointed cops. Ever live in a neighborhood with extensive homeowner codes and have to live next to the lady who memorized them? Ever had someone yell at you because your Yorkshire Terrier, walking at your feet, is not on a leash? ("It's the LAW!")
On 5/24/2010 10:04 AM, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote:
Discipline, voluntarily enforced, is a Good Thing.
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