Have I Got a Deal For You!
Why do we easily reject individuals making demands of us or offering things to us, but we willingly accept whatever governments and corporations demand or offer us?
“Crime cannot be tolerated. Criminals thrive on the indulgence of society’s understanding.” From Batman Begins
It’s a relaxing evening at home. You have worked hard and are just kicking back enjoying time alone, or time with your family, when suddenly you hear a knock at the door. You sigh, get up from your recliner and open the door.
A lovely woman wearing a snow-white lab coat and a stethoscope is standing on your porch and says, “Hello there!” You mumble under your breath an exasperated “Hello”. Right away she begins to tell you her name and that she is an independent researcher and scientist and she has developed a brand-new medication she would like to try out on you. You ask, “um… what’s in it?” She proceeds to let you know that she can’t tell you what’s in it because it’s a secret. You politely ask her to please leave and to never come back.
You go back to your recliner and settle in to watch a bit of nonsense on TV while your evening meal is simmering away in the kitchen when suddenly there’s another knock at the door. You think to yourself, “what the hell?” and pause your TV’s “programming” while you get up to, once again, answer the door.
What appears to be a man is standing on your porch. He’s dressed in the latest pop-culture skinny jeans and is sporting a man-bun. He introduces himself and offers an “elbow shake” to you (which you immediately decline). Right away he begins to let you know that he works for a large food processing conglomerate and has a sample of a brand-new product he’d like you to try. “We’ve developed this yummy snack with all of the latest genetic technology!” “It’s going to end world hunger on the planet and no one will never know another missed meal!” “And did I mention, it’s going to stop climate change?” Once again, your first question is, “Um, what’s in it?” He quickly answers, “Oh, we can’t tell you that, it’s a secret!” You, once again, ask them to please leave and never come back.
After checking on the items simmering on the stove you once again settle in for a relaxing evening. You kick back in your recliner and un-pause the latest episode of Pawn Stars when suddenly there’s *another* knock at the door. This knock was forceful and almost scary. With a groan you pause your TV’s “programming” and this time before you open the door you look out the window and see what appears to be a normal guy in jeans and a modern T-shirt. “Hmm, who in the hell could this be?” So, you open the door.
Immediately the guy pulls out a gun and says, “I need health insurance, food, a new car, a new cell phone and a bunch of other things and you are going to give me 40 percent of whatever you earn from now on or I will kill you, maim you, or set you up somehow to put you in jail.” This time you are a bit frightened because you weren’t expecting the gun so you didn’t have yours at the ready. You tell the guy that you will get him the money as soon as you can (even though in the back of your mind you are thinking, “no way in hell is this guy getting a dime from me!”). The guy leaves without confrontation and leaves you feeling disturbed, violated and even a bit scared.
Now you can’t relax. You are kind of pissed off. Your evening has been ruined. You decide to sit down and start researching your neighborhood. Hmm, this guy Joe down the street, he’s always talking about things I don’t agree with. And that witch across from me, she’s always looked a bit shady. And how about that guy Steven on the next block over? That guy has got something wrong with him. So, because you know what’s best and how to make a better neighborhood, you plot how to assassinate and destroy each and every one of these people. And you make good on it. Joe was easy to poison. You were able to electrocute the witch across the street, and as far as Steven goes, well, his house mysteriously burned to the ground while he was sleeping. Oooops. Hahahahahaha!
So, Rob D, what’s your point? Well, we turned down experimental medication from a stranger, we rejected the experimental food, we absolutely would have figured out a way to say no to the guy demanding we give him part of our paycheck each month and we would expect to go to prison for killing those that we murdered just because we didn’t like them and were suspicious of them.
Most of the general public accepts everything I wrote about above if it’s done by government or big corporations.
If we can say no when it’s an individual pushing something on us. Why won’t we say no when it’s the government or a corporation?
I've been pondering the answer to that question for years Rob. Unfortunately, I'm no closer to an answer. Well, other than collectivism and fear of, and this is a strange one, no government.
Engaging writing Rob. My answer would be simply that that’s the way western society is currently set up. If we don’t comply with laws we face consequences eg. Fines, prison etc. But what’s the alternative? No government? Just look at California haha. That’s why I think each election we vote for who we think is going to make things better, fairer etc. We try to get the “best” government we can. But changing anything in a significant way, eg. Imagine changing to a flat tax rate of 10% or something. That is never going to happen in the USA. Imagine fixing health care to make it quality and affordable for everyone. That’s never going to happen either. As far as solutions go my solution is to leave. Go and choose a country that has a government with policies you agree with. There are many countries with great health care and fair taxes. Oh but you’ll have to renounce your US citizenship or else you’ll still have to pay the IRS no matter where in the world you live. That’s how greedy the government is. Very interested to see how this next election goes.
My son sometimes asks me why he has to conform to these laws and social “rules”. Why does he have to have a job, work, pay taxes etc. I tell him that’s the way society works. If you don’t like it don’t live in society. The closest thing to that I can think of is the old hippie commune type setup (or a deserted island). People providing for each other, cooking communally, working the land and animals together etc. Creating their own little society. Even then, how does that commune decide who does what chores? Who gets what rations? Does John with 5 kids have to work harder than Fred because he doesn’t have kids. I think probably they would form a “council” of sorts to decide that’s things. In a way, also a form or government. So perhaps wherever people live together you need a government. That government doesn’t have to be corrupt of course, but perhaps that’s also inevitable given human nature. Sorry for the ramble, you got me thinking