On Saturday, November 22, 2014 11:39:00 AM UTC+1, john_perry_usm wrote: > I repeat that a code that isn't enforced is worse than no code at all. >
I want to elaborate on this briefly, since people who have expressed the contrary opinion deserve more than a bald assertion. I'll explain by example. Many economists argue that the health of many countries' economies (not just Western, not just wealthy) is due not only to democratic institutions, but to their respect for the rule of law, in particular contract law. For the citizens of such nations, entering a legally binding contract is more appealing because they're confident it will actually be enforced, and enforced within a reasonable time, e.g., not dragged out 10-20 years in the courts, or earlier if one of the litigants is bankrupted. The same say that serious problems in other countries' economies (including some Western economies, including some "wealthy", e.g., that of the state I live in until at least the 1960s -- look up what Theodore Bilbo did to our universities for an example) is that, despite having democratic institutions (most pseudo-democratic, but many genuinely democratic), the overall economic culture is one of corruption: government officials can overrule legal contracts at will to serve their own interests or their friends', and neither the courts nor the police will stop them. In fact, the courts & police are often skimming from the same cream. My background is more of the former -- at least, so it seemed to me: I saw people who broke the rules punished, & even when people thought the law was bad, they said it had to be followed. "Dura lex, sed lex." & When people weren't punished for not breaking a law, it led to breakdowns in civil order. This was especially apparent when I was teaching high school. Of course, we're not a high school here, but a "code of conduct" still sounds like a legal document to some of us. We may agree that it's not an *actual* legal document, but in my culture everyone "knows" that breaking it has serious consequences. Having a code of conduct that no one actually enforces is tantamount to encouraging disrespect for *all* rules, including unwritten ones, which exist in every culture, and often carry greater weight. I especially worry that this proposed code of conduct is targeted motivated primarily by one particular person's strong expression of valid opinions, even though some of his or her disputants (by no means all) have been no less indecent and/or strong in their language, and arguably more so. Hence my assertion, "a code that isn't enforced is worse than no code at all." Apologies for the length, pedantry, & any offensive assertions about other cultures. No offense is intended. john perry -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-devel" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sage-devel+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
