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Gravemaskin
 
PostPosted: Sat, Mar 25 2017, 15:10 PM 

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Joined: 29 Jul 2007
Location: Norway: Home of the Trolls

The Collapse of Society
by Leucis

A society without strong foundations is destined to collapse like a great big brick lighthouse with a rotted wood base.
So, what exactly is it that binds a society together or even allows people to safely and politely interact with each other on a day to day basis? Law. And this law takes many shapes and forms however, it is an inescapable truth that without unspoken social contracts between individuals and written laws, society would seize to function.

Let's begin with the very basic, the unspoken social contract between individuals.
When you greet someone on the road or have any other type of interaction, it is driven on an unspoken understanding that you respect each other's right to exist and that neither of you will attack, maim or otherwise infringe on the other's right to live. It may be something many take for granted, but can you imagine always wondering if you are going to have to fight for your life every time you meet another? It would be an existence that is unbearable and driven purely by an instinct to survive. All individuals understand this need for a social contract with others, how this understanding of mutual understanding on the other's claim and right to exist and live allows safe and polite interaction on a whole other level than if this was not the case. You can make trade deals with others, exchange information about life, weather and possible dangers to the other. This builds a bond between both of you and allows you to more safely approach potential dangers as you are given the other person's knowledge and abilities to some extent or another.

This contract allows for a tribal community, where families can band together safely to improve each other's lives and safety from other dangers. As the community expands and develops, other more intrinsic laws may be required. Ownership, the right to control who can come and go to the place you live, that people must contribute to the community as a whole so as to minimize the drain on the tribes resources and so on. Systems of punishment begin to take shape and soon the community as a whole has an understanding on what type of punishment one can expect from certain undesired actions against the group or others, or even to the area they live in as a whole.

This system and structure continue to develop all the way up to nations and kingdoms, growing more and more intricate and intrinsic with age. The need for people with a special understanding and education in law may arise, just as it does in other areas. Infrastructure expands as more and more people's basic needs are addressed on a communal stage rather than on the individual one. With more complex laws comes a more complex justice system as the community begins to face more and more complex types of crime.

However.. What most do not seem to consider is the very fact that crime in of itself is not merely an act by a single individual but a crack in the very foundations upon which society functions. Someone steals from another out of need, others because of envy. People will grow more and more bold, some will begin to resent the authority of those that maintain the laws of the society or view it as a situation of "us against them" or as a system of oppression. The idea of the social contract and the mutual understanding of it's importance for a society to function begins to take a backseat to a desire to do as one pleases. To be "your own" person, regardless of what others do, say or what laws allow. They might say things such as "Well I never agreed to these laws!" when the truth is that all whom interact with a society or a group with laws must adhere to them to do so to begin with. Those that grow up in a city, untouched by the chaos and uncertainty that comes with a lawless society have endured precisely because of the system. If you have gained because of the system then it is only right that you also respect the need for it later, rather than only when it suits you to do so.

This way of thinking shapes the roots that later grow into anarchy in the form of people who professionally and actively combat the law or violate them entirely. Professional thieves and burglars, robber lords and bands or gangs of individuals who show no regard for the law. This all comes to pass because the threat of violating a lawful structure is not taken seriously enough or are not severe enough to deter such chaotic ideals. Degrees of severity in how punishment is dished out can simply become a risk reward system. If the punishment for stealing food is a night in jail where you receive free food anyway.. then where is the risk? If the punishment for robbing a house to potentially pay for your living expenses for weeks, months or entire seasons, then where is the true punishment in incarceration where all those things are free? No, such a system only perpetuates the vicious cycle that spawned criminals in the first place.

But then what if the punishments are too severe? If you execute a person for stealing to survive, then is not that at the very least excessive use of force? Such actions would inspire others to speak against the laws of a society and call them unjust. Leaders in such systems are named tyrants and risk losing their positions of power and to be replaced by someone whom society deems more just and even-handed. Young groups will begin to form who actively pursues to break the laws of society in order to unshackle it from what they perceive to be tyranny. You get vigilantes who pursue people they deem to be criminals based on their own personal laws and morality rather than those of society. And again you have a system that perpetuates the vicious cycle that caused the problem in the first place where the only outcome is either reform or the continued subdual of groups and individuals that protest the laws and their writers.

So as one can see, there is a delicate balance to these things. The laws that bind a society can neither be too restrictive or severe nor can they be too liberal and gentle without having fringe groups begin to tear at the foundations of law. This balancing act is a constant frontier and battle between those that focus on keeping order and structure within a society and those that would favor individualism and compassion. Unfortunately, there is no correct answer in how to solve or approach this problem, and there will always be those that take issue with the laws that govern a place and anarchists who would tear down the foundations if given a chance.

However, I believe one potential solution would be to abolish the very method in how laws are enforced and punishments are delivered. I would propose that if someone shows that they cannot obey the laws that allow a society to function, then completely stripping them of the protections afforded by these laws for a time would give them an appreciation for the need for such laws. If someone who steals and robs from others loses the protection offered to them by law, then they themselves will become the target of similar treatment. People would be free to rob steal or treat them how they wished without recourse from the law or society and the only thing that would protect these lawbreakers is their ability to form new social contracts and understandings between themselves and others. Forced to live in that constant fear of no safety when interacting with others, with no certainty that others will not simply take what is yours. I believe this would give a person a very real sense of how fundamentally important laws are for not only society to function, but for their own lives to have a higher function that allows more than mere survival. After all, this system is similar to how pack animals punish and treat those that violate the order of the pack, where they are cast out of the pack and must now survive on their own. It may seem uncivilized or uncultured, but there is a reason this type of system has existed for as long as it has, both in animal packs and in tribal culture. It imparts a deep appreciation for the laws of a society and the doors they open for each and every individual and the safety it provides.

With this form of punishment and justice system, rather than merely holding people against their will or inflicting physical harm in hopes that they will change out of fear for similar treatment in the future, you allow them to get an appreciation for the need of the system. And instead of being a cost burden on society as a whole, not just because of crime but because of how criminals are kept, the lawbreakers no longer become a problem for the system but are placed at their own mercy. Away from the system they so violated with their actions. As an added bonus, there is also no longer an extensive need for the severity of crimes to be measured and weighed. How severe the crime of stealing apples is compared to the crime of stealing clothes. Instead, people can be punished based on their willful disregard for the system which governs them, the system they agree to adhere to. They are placed in a situation where they either can leave society out of fear of how others will treat them or try to form social contracts with others and hope for society itself to treat them better than they treated it. Reformation of criminals and miscreants might take weeks or months instead of years, and with far less likelyhood of recidivism once they are accepted back under the protection of the law of a society. Giving both lawbreakers and those they interact with a much keener insight into how society functions at a fundamental level so that the lawful foundations and structure that all of civilization is built upon may endure safely and it's importance never again be downplayed or forgotten.

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Adair - Druid and part time treant cosplayer


 
      
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