When I was much younger, and even today if I'm honest, a sign that started with the words, 'Do Not...' always read to me as, 'I dare you to!' I have always had a problem with being told what to do. If I'm asked, I'm fine. This must be some deep-seated arrogance in my psyche, and the reason that I'm self-employed!
People who shout about anarchy are usually ill-educated idiots who know nothing about the world out there. The whole world runs on a set of rules: the earth spins by the rules of gravity, and all plants and animals are governed by rules. This is not to say that rules can't, and shouldn't, be broken, but I would leave the gravity one alone, if I were you. I watched a wonderful programme about Meerkats the other day . It seems that they don't all sell insurance after all, but instead have a highly-defined order for each troupe. The alpha male and female are the only ones allowed to mate and have children. But this doesn't stop young females from running off with a passing rogue male for a bit of secret 'rumpy pumpy', only to return to the group as if nothing had happened, does this sound familiar? All pack animals have order. They have to, this is the only way a group can work.
I have in the past, when I was young and impressionable, met older men who spoke words that resonated with me. I thought these clever men were the answer to my disaffected view of life in seventies Britain. Little did I know that hormones were the reason for my view on life. These men seemed to know how I felt and had the answers: anarchy! break down the system! I have written before how it didn't take me long to realise that these guys were just idiots who had heard the same crap when they were younger. They were so anarchic that they drew the dole each week and visited the doctors. They used public transport, and more than their fair share of the welfare state. True anarchy is a world where the strong rule, and laws don't apply. Without order, nothing works, society as we know it breaks down, and only a very few will profit from it.
That doesn't mean that we should all be robots who obey and accept what we are told. If you have read any of my previous blogs, you will know that, for me, freedom of speech is of the utmost importance. I'm a writer, I need to say what I feel, and if that upsets people, then that's unfortunate, but that's life. Without the freedom of speech and expression we cannot move on as a species. We need to question, enquire and define, This is the nature of all animals, but we just do it on a grander scale. I have heard of old laws that now sound so stupid, but I suppose in their day they made sense. I don't know how true this is, but I was told that it is still illegal to play badminton in the streets of Sheffield. Actually, this makes sense even today: what if some idiots set up nets on a main road and started a game? There would surely be a death as a result of 'car meets halfwit'! In a state in America it is illegal to wear a false moustache to church! Why was this law even necessary in the first place? But churches are private buildings and, like the natural history museum, they are free to have a dress code. In South Africa and in America they had a stupid law called apartheid, if there ever was a law to be broken, this my friends, was it! We in Britain have had taxes on noses (anti-Semitic) and laws against witches. Starving people were hung for poaching a few rabbits off the lands of in-bred Aristocrats. Surely all these laws were wrong and needed breaking?
The problem with laws are that they are usually made by people who have their own agenda. Most reasonable-minded people wouldn't argue that laws preventing murder, rape, theft etc. are all rules that shouldn't be broken? But we have wars where we kill, and we have laws where the state kills. Is theft to keep people alive wrong? Who stole what, and who owns what? There can never be any justification for rape. But there are people who argue that there are grey areas, even here.
The reason that I'm telling you all this is because I have been looking at safeguarding this week, and
we do have a new problem when it comes to breaking rules: the internet!
The internet, when used as a force for good, is a marvellous thing. Knowledge, not all of it true, though, can be passed quickly, and people can promote themselves. Families can keep in touch, no matter where they are in the world, and information can be given to those that it has previously been denied to. But When used as a force for bad, it is a lonely, bleak and desolate place, where trolls exist, paedophiles can practice their grim perversions, and thieves and puppet-masters can manipulate the lonely and desperate, all with anonymity. This is becoming a major problem. Even the rules of engagement when it comes to war are changing. There are now platoons of computer hackers in the army, honest!
We need to have rules on the internet, otherwise this will become a true haven for anarchy. All civilised societies have rules, sensible rules based on protecting and enriching the lives of the people, not on protecting someone's money or a god. The one thing about trolls that I don't understand is when they hide behind anonymity. If I feel the need to criticize someone for whatever reason, I always wish I had the chance to talk to them face to face to tell them how I feel. I know that this is not always possible, but I always put my name to whatever I write. These creepy little cowards, who are usually nothing more than playground bullies, destroy people's lives. They seem to have a need to attack people for no reason. The puppet-masters are the most dangerous, though: they have access to our children at the most vulnerable and impressionable times of their lives. They, like the paedophiles, befriend and groom them, manipulating their young minds for their own aims. It is impossible to keep young people away from a device that enables them to access the internet, but this does not mean that we have to have a knee-jerk reaction of banning, stopping, and restricting freedom!
Rules are there for a reason, but that doesn't mean that they are reasonable or just. They should always be open to discussion. But some rules are there to protect those less able to protect themselves, and those rules should be upheld. I know you can't pick and chose which laws to obey, but it depends on who made the rule, and for what reason.
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