Most of us long for a kinder, more pleasant world, so are well disposed towards those who treat us well. This works in your favour if you happen to find petty byelaws, or even major acts of parliament, illogical, immoral, insane….or just a huge inconvenience to a happy and productive life.
In truth, you can probably ignore any law of the land with absolute impunity, as long as you do it elegantly enough.
When I say this I do not advocate breaking the law. I only advocate making your own, informed decisions and treating others with respect in all things. Your informed decision, though, may well be that the law is an ass and that we are governed by donkeys.
I certainly do not advocate a criminal lifestyle, because it is so uncouth. Career criminals get caught precisely because they insist on behaving at all times in a violent, anti-social manner instead of just getting on with their lives in a way that does not bother others (which is the intent of any true stylist or individualist). As psychologists suggest, perhaps they choose to get caught, either because they lack the self-discipline to live outside prisons or because they see prison as part of the lifestyle.
In fact, the uber-conformism of both law-enforcers and criminals is anathema to any stylist, while the similarities between these supposed sworn enemies is really too funny for words. Who else could such bolt-necked bores possibly find to talk to, if not each other?
I simply say it is possible to live outside the law, in the same way that it is possible to ride a bike without stabilisers. Just think of it as deciding to grow up and take responsibility.
For example, if I hear someone say “You ought not to........” I listen respectfully to their reasoning, then decide if there is any sense in it. But if I hear someone say “You must not.....…” all I think is “I must escape this knee-jerking simpleton and avoid him at all costs in the future”.
Because our approach to laws and regulations in general, rather than to blindly obey them, should be to understand why they are there and if those reasons stem from common sense and decency, or just common spite, pig-ignorance or even superstition.
In some cases – such as certain sections of the highway code – there may be good reasons, so there would be some common sense consensus to go along with the thing. There you conform not because you must, but because it makes sense to a reasonable person, and it is the thing you would do anyway, without threat or reward.
In far too many cases though, it may be for no good reason other than because some inadequate needed to demonstrate power over others: in which case why on earth would you let them, unless there is an immediate threat of violence or other danger?
In such situations there is an easy solution. Keep your dignity and appear to conform until the danger or simpleton posing it goes away, then carry on as your common sense suggests and as if institutional idiocy was not an everyday constraint to civilisation.
To paraphrase that clich̩ about forests and fallen trees Рif there is a one way system in your supermarket car park, and no other cars in the car park, does it matter how you get to a space?
Far too often, the only policeman preventing us from going about our lives in a happy, inoffensive and adult manner is the one in our own head. All I am suggesting is that instead of being content to mentally police ourselves (and like the police serving only the powerful and corrupt), we should go up the food chain and mentally judge ourselves instead. Who else, in all honesty, is fit to judge any self-respecting adult?
