Breaking the rules to do good things.

[SkyDream 315]

Oh good gravy this is going to be a vicious topic I'll bet.

 

I'll just get to the point of what everyone will probably thing. Yes, doing bad things in order to do good things is probably wrong, but I'm still of the thought that if nobody loses at all, then the violation is of personal freedoms.

 

For example, if someone ever has a chance to say "Well thanks a lot Bob for breaking into my house without causing damage to my door to water all of my houseplants to lovingly keep them alive while I was on vacation," then the only thing that broke was the guy's sense of security and trust, though I feel like the feeling of trust has just been altered.

 

As in, now you can't trust Bob not to break into your house, but you know he's capable of diligence and benevolence. Then again, anyone could break into your house. You just don't know whether or not they're going to water your plants while stealing your stuff. Isn't that always true?

 

Just because you don't actually see a person breaking the rules, doesn't mean they don't break the rules.

 

I remember this phrase pertaining to a guy who knows he's being cheated by his mechanic in regards to car reparation costs. "I'd rather be cheated by someone I know rather than someone I don't know." What a silly phrase.

 

 

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My own example is a precarious but useful one for the sake of this topic. I belong to a fangame community elsewhere, and someone's fan game from 2003 was a SPECTACULAR example of the engine's finest. It was a legendary piece of work. Completely amazing. But it was buggier than an Elbonian outhouse, and the years did not treat it well, especially considering a spotty lack of backwards-compatibility.

 

So I hacked into it in 2011 and started to fix up all the worst of the bugs, and released it back into the public. But people were still finding bugs left and right, so I kept at it. Over two years of dramatic and vast improvements later, the improvements are still going strong, and the game is shaping up to be something formidable.

 

The original author found out and witnessed the innumerable bug-fixes and gave his approval. I was so happy. The community really deserves to see this game reach its modern potential, and no bugs should ever stop it from working.

Edited August 9, 2014 by SkyDream

[Untitled Goose Q 5,137]

That reminds me of a phrase from the Discworld novels, Anti-crimes. Like breaking-and-redecorating (in such a way as the owner of the redecorated house prefers it).

 

You may well still get a visit from the police though.

[Ardhacandra 133]

Eeeh... I will use this topic as an excuse to bitch about the law a bit, if no one minds, seen the fact the title talks about breaking rules. In my opinion, the law is innately flawed. You can't really blame anyone for it (for the most part, that is), but that doesn't mean that it isn't helpfull. There are plenty of laws that hurt people. Some hurt people in ways that most people don't even know about.

 

That said, I don't think that breaking the rules is always a bad thing. Some rules are simply plain stupid and breaking them is just... common sense. Sometimes breaking the rules can save people, like beating up a thug. I hate the mentality that most governments have that revolves around illegalizing things. Oh, this is causing trouble. Let's ban it. Strange, prisons are starting to fill up more rapidly. Increase the punishment!

 

Illegalizing something is, in most cases, nothing more than pretending the problem doesn't exist. It only works, to some degree, for crimes like murder. A healthy person won't murder anyone anyway (without a VERY good reason, like self-defense) and we can't stop murderers from doing it, nor is murder something we can regulate. That makes it ban-worthy.

 

So, my final conclussion after this rant: Yes, if the situation acts for it, it is damn fine to break the rules in order to do something good.

[MilesTheLunar 67]

Honestly, I believe that rule violation is just fine so long as no one's unwillingly hurt in the process.

Also, if you don't mind me asking; what fangame?

[Khaoios 1,970]

TBH, I have done such things like this, especially in IT, .   Yet, sometimes I feel if a serious subject is not touched, I rather step in a make it right, no matter the cost.  However, at the end of the day, I get honored by doing that deed, from fellow IT and clients.  (Use to do it a lot at work, yet when i did that, it turns out, what I did, should've been done several times).  Especially when it comes to hacking.  If a hacking occurs, especially towards a dedicated server and no one does anything about it, I rather deal with the problem there and no, b4 hell breaks out. 

[Invincible 2,091]

Interesting thread. I believe in a "The ends don't always justify the means" kind of attitude. I don't like causing collateral effects while pursuing a single goal. That being said, it's not like a perfect paragon of that philosophy.

 

When i was in first grade, my first best friend ever was picked on by a bully. It made me really angry, so i beat the bully up. Bad. And to top it all off i tossed his stuff to the trash and threatened him to stay away from me and my friends. As i grew up... looking back, i feel absolutely horrible about that. Sometimes, there just has to be another way.

[I used to be a stranger 7,993]

One must question if the law is there to protect a citizen for his well being, or if it is simply there to prevent a citizen from doing something.

If a government is not serving the purpose of protecting its citizens so that they can go on with life in such a way that it produces happiness and benefit for themselves and others, then the government is not doing the only job for which it exists.

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

I guess honestly...it all depends on the situation. I never did exactly have an example like that where I didn't get any benefits or bad consequences...but I did it out of moral sake I guess.

 

For instance, I'm not exactly financially stable and hope to save for a home one day but with the job and hours I get it's not doing so well. That said, while me and my husband were running errands, two women out on the curb, both had a jar with money in it, they were attempting to raise money for one of their realtivies, awareness for breast cancar.

 

I'm a woman myself, never experienced the horrors of such a cancar, but the stories always shake me deep within the bottom of my soul. Without hesitation, I gave away all the mony in my wallet, that was meant to be for a little lunch and groceries.

 

The downside is me and my husband didn't get our groceries that day and we had to wait till dinner by my mom to be made before we got real food in us.

 

So he and I got hurt...but the cause was good wasn't it?

[Milky Jade 138]

Well, to put it simply, if you wanna be constructive, then you will have to deliberate if Jerry would've rather have his plants dehydrated than you to break into his house. If his rule is to keep out of his house, then you better have a good reason for doing it anyway (refering to the topic of the thread), because I'm sure Jerry won't thank you for "meaning it well"

 

Now if, say, your house was burning, you could have it either like in that movie UnCivil Liberties, or otherwise..

 

If your goal is to be constructive, you shouldn't find problems figuring that stuff out for yourself.

@@Lightning Bliss,

 

Let's say I don't think you should be asking that question, frankly

 

Because if you thought your money was better invested with no returns, then that is what you think

 

But I personally think it wouldn't be, and you'll get varying answers from us if you put that question out in the open... but which one of us really matters more to you than the other?

 

I know for a fact that the.. "private charity" business is one of .. diminishing returns... People like telling themselves they did good, so as to feel good about what they just did, and the end of it is that most of these mendicants and buskers can suddenly walk again and drive off in a mercedes sprinter. That is all well, but I think if you want to know about the principle behind it, then you'd have to first ask yourself a few questions:

 

1) What does my money represent?
2) What do I value the most?
3) Do I prioritize the wellbeing of a stranger so long they're worse off than us?

4) Then why am I not giving all my savings to them and join them in the streets with my fiance?

 

Eventually you'll hit that point where you realize that cooperation and productiveness is a much better way to secure a future, and then eventually you may think about private charities based on money that *isn't* crucial to making haste towards that future and security

once you have achieved it, that is

 

It hurts to say, but ignorance of the above is what got many people into that kind of situation in the first place

 

So think on it, maybe

I am just putting it out there

[GhostPony750 959]

Well, someday most of the people will realize the laws and rules weren't written by the hand of god, but by simple corrupted humans in power. So of course it has flaws, that's why the government is so messed up!

 

There are some people that likes to live by the rules, it's all fine. But some of them also forces everyone to do so, which is the problem. My definition of a crime is something that hurts someone or a group of people very hard. These people wants, and feel a satisfaction whenever they find an individual who broke a rule, they abuse of the government superiority and make you pay hard. These people often starts to abuse the rules because they know they are above it, and they want that satisfaction at any cost. Here, you go, corrupted cops.

 

For exemple, you see a cop push someone for no reason, you go meet him and ask him why he did that. In return, this cop pushes you and start screaming at you not to interfere with a cop's work. You end up in court and have to pay for a cop's abuse because he is above the law. This happens sadly very often. I would rather have my house robbed than get stuck in one of thse situations, because I know that the robber have a good reason to do so, he probably desperatly needs money.

 

My definition of a criminal is different, as you can see. And I very dislike laws. I break and bend them all the time, because I know it won't hurt anyone if I do so, I use my morals.

 

Edit: Woops, mistyped "god"

Edited August 10, 2014 by GhostPony750