- Kaleb Roberts
- Gladstone
- Australia
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Why do people find the need to entrench themselves in rules and policies?
For me, whenever anyone (especially those in authority) say "Kaleb don't do that!" I feel the instant desire to do it. Although desire probably isn't an accurate synonym. It's more like I have to do it or I'll explode. I've been this way for as long as I can remember.
Now that I have entered the workforce, I find there are so many rules and regulations. Granted, some of these have real merit (such as the recycling policies, and earwig steel cap boots when you enter the workshop)
However, there are some rules that are just plain idiotic. What are some examples of this behavior, why do people do it? Is it because (This is my assumption) they are afraid of the unknown? They are afraid of taking risk? Or is something that happens during the "nurturing" phase of life with overprotective parents. Maybe it's even a genetic thing.
prakhar porwal
efforts of white Americans to keep African
Americans in a subordinate status by denying
them equal access to public facilities and
ensuring that blacks lived apart from whites.
During the era of slavery, most African Americans resided in the South, mainly in rural areas. Under these circumstances, segregation did not prove
necessary as the boundaries between free citizens
and people held in bondage remained clear.
Furthermore, blacks and whites lived in close proximity on farms and plantations and geographical isolation made contact between neighbors infrequent. However, free people of color, located chiefly in cities and towns of the
North and Upper South, experienced segregation in various forms. By the time the Supreme Court
ruled in Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) that African
Americans were not U.S. citizens, northern whites
had excluded blacks from seats on public
transportation and barred their entry, except as
servants, from most hotels and restaurants. When allowed into auditoriums and theaters, blacks
occupied separate sections; they also attended
segregated schools. Most churches, too, were
segregated. Reconstruction after the Civil War posed serious
challenges to white supremacy and segregation,
especially in the South where most African
Americans continued to live. The abolition of
slavery in 1865, followed by ratification of the
Fourteenth Amendment (1868) extending citizenship and equal protection of the law to
African Americans and the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) barring racial discrimination in voting,
threatened to overturn the barriers whites had
erected to keep blacks separate and unequal. Yet
the possibilities of blacks sharing public conveyances and public accommodations with whites increased during the period after 1865.
Blacks obtained access to streetcars and railroads
on an integrated basis. Indeed, many
transportation companies favored integration
because they did not want to risk losing black
business.
Spenser Long-Jordan
Casey Christofaris 10+
George QT
Rules and Policies reduce entropy in a social system.
The long version:
Rules and Policies, provide a predictable behavior for most of the society members, which reduces the risk of errors and accidents, which also leads to a better decision making for all.
Kaleb, I understand your point, yes there are idiotic rules some people follow blindly, however bear in mind: accidents are caused by unpredictable drivers, employees, people walking in the street and even by unpredictable software. Rules and Policies make things predictable. Predictability means safety.
David Bollom
ANAIRDA SAPUL
Ben Jarvis 50+
there are of course evolutionary reasons; we are better off for learning from the experience of others rather than being maimed or killed in finding out for ourselves, which necessitates that these others speak up when they feel they have some knowledge that might be useful. therein lies the problem though of deciding whether our knowledge is of high enough standard to pass on or not.
i share your feelings about rules made by idiots! as a teacher i frequently came up against very well-meaning parents but without 5 minutes experience in teaching telling my colleagues how they should teach. thankfully this is balanced by a principal who is well aware that he has spent most of the last 10 years outside the classroom and never imposes rules on teaching policy. in the wider world you've got jim carrey, a legendary comedian who also inexplicably feels it's his duty to speak from a position of absolutely no authority on immunisation.
you might have heard the expression "everyone thinks they are right", and in my experience that is true, however not everyone has reason for thinking so. to give an example, when i have my students retry any test questions they missed, when they bring back their work to me i asked if they got it right this time. some of them just say "yes", and others will say something like "well i looked at the section on this kind of problem in the textbook, and i think i know where i went wrong, and going over it again, i think this is correct now." i believe this is also supported by the really interesting dunning-kruger studies. people in the lower percentage think those above are wrong because their answers are different, and it hasn't occurred to them that they might be wrong, or they'd have checked and learned.
that said though, it is also possible that these rules you are talking about are great rules, but you don't yet have the experience to understand their merit?
Drake Simone
John Moonstroller 20+
Mark Meijer 100+
Yes. False sense of security and control. Which is the fear of having none. Which is fear of the unknown, which is fear of non-existence. Even if it's the result of nature and/or nurture (and what else would it be), that's what it always boils down to.
Arkady Grudzinsky 50+
Elizabeth Gu 30+
Can't remember exactly who said this, but I remember it's a quote from the famous drama series:
Prison Break
We need rules.
Sometimes, like it or not, those are shelters for people.
Sometimes those are like cells in a prison.
Because we happen to be weak. We happen to be not perfect.
We challenge the rules as if we're being awesome—actually quite often we are awesome lol.
What's so 'special' about policymakers and Lawyers..?
They have the power we don't have.
We obey the law while trying hard to find faults in it to give ourselves ‘freedom’.
We admit its necessity, but we shall fight clever so that we wouldn’t be the slaves of it.
scott campbell
Some rules are silly but some are sensible. Like all things in life its hard to work out which is what and often it depends where you are looking at them from . Again do you just hate the rules because you do, or is there a real benefit to changing them and are you able to bring about that change.
Don't waste effort moaning or debating if there is a problem to solve, take action and make the world better.
Kaleb Roberts
Greg McEachern
Daniel Acevedo
Greg McEachern
Young Economist95
When we're all born equal no one has the authority to decide what someone else can can or can't do. I've always has this mind set since i was a kid
But i guess a lot of people like being told what to do
Kaleb Roberts
I think if people mad their own decisions the world might be a little smarter. And a little less populated.
Young Economist95
Arkady Grudzinsky 50+
What you said seems to imply that rules may be what made humans the dominating species on the planet. Don't you think, some rules help to avoid mistakes already made before us?
Check out this article
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/18/090518fa_fact_lehrer
It seems to say that ability to obey rules may be a useful trait.
What do you think?
Robert Winner 50+
Most rules are written because someone has done something to harm ... endanger ... to take advantage .... to dominate others through trickery ... etc ...
It is fun to look at the old laws and wonder if they should be stricken from the books. I searched for silly laws still on the books and found some doozies.
My suggestion is to read them .. laugh at them ... and move on to happier thoughts.
What are some of the silly laws in Australia?
All the best. Bob.
Kaleb Roberts
That's rather odd. People here can be.. well they are pretty idiotic. I'll give you two examples.
A) It is illegal for anyone other than a fully qualified electrician to change a light bulb..
I have yet to figure out why this is, it's quite pathetic really.
B) It is HIGHLY illegal to go within 100 meters of a whale carcass.
This has to be a personal favorite. The reason they passed this law is because a whale beached itself somewhere in Queensland. This attracted many sharks. Tourists and locals alike decided they wanted to pet the sharks (while they were in the middle of a bloody feeding frenzy) so they (they being about 20 people) waded out to the carcass and began to pet the sharks. Needless to say it wasn't the brightest idea ever.
Robert Winner 50+
I hope that is not one of the laws that you just want to run out and disobey .... LOL
Glad we could have a laugh .... thanks for the reply.
Bob "the yank".
Kaleb Roberts
I was born and raised in Texas, we only moved to Australia about five years ago LOL
And surprisingly, (and disappointingly) most people don't talk like Steve Irwin..
Robert Winner 50+
Roy Bourque 20+
As to your last paragraph, there are two ways of looking at it;
First, there are three kinds of people in the world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.
The people who make things happen understand the difference between good and idiotic rules. They are willing to question idiotic rules, or even ignore them in spite or frustration. The people who watch things happen just go with the flow. Unless the rule is causing problems, they would just assume not making waves. The people who wonder what happened would be lost without rules. They are often the ones to whom idiotic rules apply.
I find that many idiotic rules had a reason in the beginning, but the cause of the rule has changed and nobody wants to question the rule because it means questioning authority or admitting that they don't know the reason for the rule. They follow the rule just to avoid conflict or ending up looking stupid.
The second way of looking at it is this; People who are known to break rules are often bypassed in certain jobs because those jobs require strict adherence to rules (such as when working with high voltage). Not all rules are idiotic even though they may seem to be. It's one thing breaking a rule and getting your hand slapped, or breaking a rule and getting your head ripped off. So some people will follow idiotic rules just so that they don't get into a habit of deciding for themselves which rules they can choose to ignore.
Maaher Sayeed 10+
I have moved from entry level positions to executive leadership roles within organizations. When I began I was full of wisdom from the books and school, and my own idealistic ideas. After several disgreements and arguments out of frustrations I was educated further on corporate dynamics, and people management.
Usually there are very good reasons for some stupid rules in some organizations. And some such stupid rules cannot be explained to some staff due to reasons concerining security and trust. There are many good reasons and good rules in place as well for the overall benefit of the organizations sustainability and growth which may not be favorable to some individuals or positions within a company. Often there is a reason for the madness. Running an organization involves accomodating very complex situations. namely: people management, allocating financial and human resources, legal requirements, allowing people to take good and bad decisions, providing autonomy to individuals, and restricting some decision making powers as well. All of these eventually are driven for financial reasons and secure, stable growth plans. Yes risk taking is a major concern as well for all organizations. Although it may seem that some organizatiosn have taken risks, they are usually very carefully planned and tested ones.
Having said that there are some organizatons with poor manageres and power holders. They take bad decisions and cover up thier mistakes with authority and arrogance. But such peopel do not last for long and are eventually let go. Companies that do not take the time and trouble to identify such bad managers will suffer dire consequences and fail. If you are in such an organization and you are sure of this, then you are free to opt out and look for a more stable and good company.
carolyn mcauley 10+
Barry Palmer 50+
As with everything human, problems arise for many reasons. Rules are often based on a particular situation at a particular location and time, and the rule is applied broadly, but it is not completely suitable for other locations. Rules often remain in effect long after they have become obsolete. Rules made at the top of an organization are often misinterpreted by people at the lower levels. I once heard a vice president of a major corporation lament that a rule he had initiated had been misinterpreted and had the exact opposite effect of what he had intended.
Often the people at the top of an organization place little or no priority on the policies, procedures and rules that guide the behavior of everyone else in the organization. The most competent people are too busy with more important matters, so maintaining the policies and procedures manual is not done very well, and often does not reflect the actual wishes of the top management.
Life is messy, and our rules reflect the limitations of humans.
Sean Brother
Cliff Nzombato
Kaleb Roberts
Anonymous User
James Murray
kaitlyn rodriguez
James Hallman
cst commonsense
However, I believe we need only one rule - "don't do unto others what you would have them do unto you." I try to apply this and have introduced my three children as a simple philosophy for life.
Normally, as I also have an instinctive dislike of authority as it often represents unfairness or stupidity or power concentration, I try to follow the following:
"Obeying their rules only encourages them to create new ones. Disobey as often as possible: for gain, for sport, for the art of it." - Ethan Mordde
To create a 'good' society we need just one thing - that is to make sure ALL of our children are trained in the ability to 'think'. This is because if they can really think, we shall unshackle them from unfairness and stupid rule makers. This is I believe the worlds greatest challenge for long term success, and is clearly a difficult one since we cannot even manage to feed many of them presently.
See: Super Fast Track Education:
http://www.commonsensethinking.co.uk/sft.html
Rgds
JP
If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; but if you
really make them think, they'll hate you.
Kaleb Roberts
JP that is one of the absolute wisest things I've ever heard, sincerely, thank you.
"don't do unto others what you would have them do unto you."
Your kids will be way in front of the eight ball I believe. If people could learn that, this society, especially towns like Gladstone would be SUCH a better place... how can you teach people that lesson.. rather, not teach them it, but for them to willingly want to learn it.. you've given me a LOT of food for thought.. thank you.
Elly Belly
If you look at it through a bigger picture, it is easier to control any people when you run them down with rules, as they won't have time to question what you are doing.
In regards, to genetics, I don't know, but when I'm told I shouldn't do something, unless it's bad for the humankind or puts someone's life at risk, it makes me want to do it, just because I don't feel that anyone has a right to tell me what I can or can't or should or should not do. If I am following my moral code, then why in the world can I not do something ?
Arkady Grudzinsky 50+
As an analogy, think why people use railroad which greatly restricts movement of the vehicles.
Typically, rules are based on some mutual convention or belief like "If A then B". If "B" is a desired result, the rule may be "Do A". If "B" is an undesired result, the rule may be "Don't do A". These rules make sense as long statement "If A then B" is true. It may not be always true. Or "B" may no longer be a desired result. It's important to realize when the underlying statement is not applicable to decide when rules do not apply or need to be changed.
Statements "We should follow rules" or "We shouldn't have rules" are, themselves, rules with limited application.