Name the biggest asses – the laws, the custodians, or the flouters?

It took me 10 minutes to drive the 15km from our house to drop Ronèl at Cape Town International Airport at 7.30am the other day (Friday, April 13!) then 63 minutes to retrace my route – along a triple lane motorway with a fast lane for buses, taxis, police cars, ambulances AND many motorbikes AND many motorists deliberately flouting the law forbidding their use of the lane during the ill-termed rush hour(s).

Indeed, that particular law is clearly spelt out on vast notice boards. Miscreants face heavy fines; for about 11km there are enfiladed cameras to spot offenders. Do drivers care? Some do; many do not and run the gauntlet. Some even brazenly chat on cells; others drink coffee – all at high speed. We “good citizens”, burning petrol and clutches, frustrated, but law-abiding, just sit and gaze … dare we attempt that?

Had I pulled out into that outside lane I am sure I would have been immediately nabbed? I actually wound down my window and spoke to three police officers gridlocked next to me in their marked patrol car. When I queried had the law changed, they laughed.

No well, okay.

Flouting the law occurs every day everywhere –minor, medium, some serious. The point about is it’s like a Mad Max film scenario – get away with it if you can, after all the custodians of the law these days often appear (perhaps not as often as they should) bloated, conveniently “blind” or bewildered.

In all that time I edged my way homewards along the busiest morning road in Cape Town I did not see traffic officer.

If the law can be manipulated or a loophole found then it must be a badly formulated law? After all, in business all sorts of fun and games takes place; it is often said a bad businessman is one who is caught!

I would no more consider cheating my insurance company (Warwick of course!) than be racist, not because some idiot once said laws were meant to be broken, but because laws are intended to provide and prolong healthy, orderly social infrastructure; in the main they do.

But laws in the new South Africa (well almost 20-year old new South Africa) do not mean much to those who are unemployed, uneducated and desperate … 10 000 of those every month flood the Mother City – laws also have to contend with those who truly hold entitlement as part of their uhuru. Also to the 70% illiterate in this nation who do not understand the law … are they bound by the same strictures?

But then again, so many laws (as opposed to life skills “norms”) are complicated, unclear, hopeless, obscure or draconian … not, perhaps, always in that order.

Does Mr Bumble in Dickens’ Oliver Twist not aver “…The law is an ass, as it is frequently both stupid and stubborn …?”

Do you know in our wonderful country a license is required to buy a TV set, almost as perverse as an apartheid era dictate when young people in swim suits were obliged legally to sit more than 12 inches (30+cm) apart.. (Can I do the measuring please sir!?).

A wag commented: ‘Two 2012 court cases described how someone was fined R1 000 for not having a TV license; another released on bail for R500 after being arrested for murder.

The moral may be, if you do not have a TV license and an inspector visits, kill him … save R500, perhaps…”It’s the Right Thing to do…?”’

In South Africa, as in other African nations, traditional marriage practice to this day involves lobola and polygamy.

Lobola means a man must pay for the right to marry. Serious negotiation amid great ceremony arrives at consensus on a price (traditionally cows) to be met by a suitor. Many modern couples opt instead for cash so a bride might set up a home … a sort of “cash cow” perhaps?

Many modern, educated women in South Africa believe it provides protection; women’s rights activists were strong proponents of a 2001 Act which recognises African customary law to protect women living in common-law union (often with children). Payment of lobola, however, means the bride is “paid for;” thus divorce is rare unless the lobola is repaid, often leaving women in unhappy or abusive marriages.

The same Act recognised polygamy; President Jacob Zuma’s fifth marriage raised many eyebrows, possibly stemming from today’s views on sexual promiscuity and Aids; Septuagenarian Zuma’s decision, his detractors say, impacts on convincing the public single-partner sexual relationships helps prevent spreading the curse.

In America there are myriad crazy laws.

An article I read suggested … ‘Five states travellers should avoid …’

In Maine, there is no Christmas in July…or in February, March, or any other time of the year than the standard December. You face a fine if your Christmas decorations are up past January 14.

In Arkansas, if you mispronounce the state name (it’s ARKENSAW) you’re throwing sand in the face of an old Congress compromise from 1881; lol, who cares?

New York might offend prudish tourists and religious citizens for permitting women to go topless in public – even on the subways. It’s an equal rights thing, but don’t try to make any money from it, you will be arrested. For those who want to revel in the topless view, the time to do so is during Coney Island’s Mermaid Parade in late June.

San Francisco Is “copyrighted” and if you want to make some SF souvenirs to sell, you must pay city dues – SF annually rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars.

No 21st century for Florida where missionary is the only officially “legal position” while at famous Daytona Beach that Mecca for the drunken, frolicking set, “molesting trash cans, swimming while drunk or on drugs, drinking and doing drugs at the same time,” are no-nos! (http://www.jaunted.com). But almost everyone flouts such laws.

Nearer (well, almost) to home, thousands of people in Mali capital, Bamako and elsewhere in the West-central African state, have protested a law giving women equal rights in marriage and strengthening inheritance rights for women and any children born out of wedlock.

One of the most contentious (especially in regard to traditional African way of life) issues in the new legislation is a wife need no longer obey a husband.

A Mali Muslim women’s association says only a minority – “the intellectuals” – supports the law. “We have to stick to the Koran, a man must protect his wife, a wife must obey her husband … real Muslims – are against it,” a spokesperson said (http://news.bbc.co.uk). She would!

So, should citizens flout laws in response to specific instances of perceived injustice? If so, what about repercussions?

The Texas Law Review once grandiosely declared: “The idea general lawbreaking can emerge from one unjust legal doctrine or decision has intuitive appeal … constitutional doctrines that allow untrammelled police discretion – such as that which led to the beating of Rodney King (four officers were later acquitted of using filmed undue force) in Los Angeles (1992) or the tragic police shooting of Amadou Diallo (mistaken identity) in New York – can undermine public perception of the legitimacy of law enforcement generally. This loss of legitimacy and distrust of the fairness of the legal system, can in turn lead to more widespread lawbreaking … as both did with horrendous riots and carnage.

Then again, how do you feel about this mysterious piece of serious jargon from Janice Nadier professor of law at North-western University School of Law, Chicago?

“What happens when a person’s common-sense view of justice diverges from the sense of justice he or she sees enshrined in particular laws? In particular, does perception of one particular law as unjust make an individual less likely to comply with unrelated laws?” she asks.

She advanced the Flouting Thesis – an idea that perceived legitimacy of one law or its legal outcome can influence one’s willingness to comply with unrelated laws.

She goes on: “…results suggest willingness to … flout unrelated laws commonly encountered in everyday life (such as traffic violations, petty theft, and copyright restrictions), as well as willingness of mock jurors to engage in juror nullification …” only a lawyer could write that and understand it.

Maybe the Welsh should have the final say, with concern raised over cafes and pubs flouting the law in allowing customers to smoke shisha pipes indoors (oh my goodness!) – outlawed in 2007. A serious situation no doubt?

You decide. For me, I’ll skip the pipe, but I still fancy that fast lane; then what red-blooded male doesn’t?

Will someone out there please listen to Bill Cosby?

Beloved entertainer Bill Cosby has been around a long time (so have I, for that matter!). And when Mr Cosby says something, folks might (should) sit up and listen.

I agree with everything he says.

Like other race sensitive global hot spots, South Africa is faced with a dilemma; do the rulers of this nation exhort followers to spend their lives classifying everything under an “apartheid cloak:” Do the whites who truly cared and tried to rid this great land of that abomination continue to live under a “guilt cloak” or are the lunatic fringe, left and right, black, Coloured, Asian and white going to take matters into their own selfish and uncaring hands and turn South Africa into an extension of the Sahara?

The good old US of A is under a similar “ex-slave, cum the N (read K word in SA) word, come re-distribute the wealth (whose?), syndrome. Why do the “have nots” (they abound in any society) want so much? Do they? In fact, under scrutiny, regardless of the merits or demerits of such a consideration, it is the fringe “haves” who look around, seek a distraction from their own self-satisfaction and point fingers like the arms of a windmill at anything and anyone likely to realise their mantra of “we are good people and see the need to give everything away to ‘those’ who need it.”

Why?

Just by the by, I have worked in South Africa for more than 40 years and, like many of my peers am in my 70s. I am far from rich, but am not entitled to a state pension, nor medical cover, no housing or travel allowance, no food coupons, I cannot effectively (If I do it’s an all-day wait and no guarantee of treatment) use state clinics and I receive no tax rebate for mortgage, insurance, security or travel expenses.

What has been the purpose of faithfully paying taxes in a life time’s work?

Now, laugh out loud, there are Uncle Toms (horrid term, but apt) and frenetic so-called jump on the bandwagon pseudo-liberals who think I should offer a large proportion of the little that keeps my and mine fairly comfortable to an amorphous fund. If it’s anything like charities worldwide, about 5% only will find its way to mostly booze or drug ravaged people (not always their fault, I admit) others with aids (for whom I have endless sympathy) and others who are just idle, but shelter under the good old Kenyan Uhuru Swahili phrase of mimi n’taka, which in context means “I want.”

The rest goes on what are laughingly appellated as “administration fees”

Beware: Do not confuse need with sense of entitlement.

There is no solution. For every person pleased, read two who are displeased. For every person alienated, there are 10 who tell you why they think it matters, but are never able to explain why. It’s a sort of safety valve … “give ‘em everything they want and perhaps they will leave us alone?”

By the way, who are “they?” My gosh, “they” do hide well.

Rubbish!

Begin giving on a prescribed basis and you enter a Pandora’s Box that will eventually destroy everything …. there will always be more needy than greedy; more have nots than haves .

Did you know that world poverty (except in India) could be eradicated easily? Ask the 5 000 – 6 000 alleviation of world poverty conference delegates that monthly go to the trough in the world’s most affluent resorts in an endless series of “plenary discussions” designed to “lead” to ending a condition they and theirs not only cause, but perpetuate.

But, as I said, do not listen to me, listen to Mr Cosby … God bless him:

“I’m 74. Except for brief period in the 50s when I was doing my national

service, I’ve worked hard since I was 17. Except for some serious

health challenges, I put in 50-hour weeks and haven’t called in sick in nearly

40 years. I made a reasonable salary, but I didn’t inherit my job or my

income and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, it looks as

though retirement was a bad idea; I’m tired, very tired.

 

I’m tired of being told that I have to “spread the wealth” to people who

don’t have my work ethic. I’m tired of being told the government will take

the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy

to earn it.

 

I’m tired of being told that Islam is a “Religion of Peace,” when every day I

can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and

daughters for their family ‘honour;’ of Muslims rioting over some slight

offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren’t

‘believers;’ of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning

teenage rape victims to death for ‘alleged adultery;’ of Muslims mutilating the

genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur’an and

Shari’a law tells them to.

 

I’m tired of being told that out of ‘tolerance for other cultures’ we must let

Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries use our oil money to fund mosques

and Madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in Australia , New Zealand ,

UK, America and Canada , while no one from these countries is allowed to

fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia or any other

Arab country to teach love and tolerance?

 

I’m tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global

warming, which no one is allowed to debate.

I’m tired of being told drug addicts have a disease and I must help,

support and treat them and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ

rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses

or stick a needle in their arm while they tried to fight it off?

 

I’m tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of all

parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful

mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting

caught; I’m tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.

 

I’m really tired of people who don’t take responsibility for their lives and

actions. I’m tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination

or big-whatever for their problems.

I’m also tired and fed up with seeing young men and women in their teens and

early 20s be-deck themselves in tattoos and face studs, thereby making

themselves un-employable, then claiming money from the government.

Yes, I’m damn tired. But I’m also glad to be 74. Because, mostly, I’m not

going to have to see the world these people are making. I’m just sorry for

my granddaughter and her children.

Thank God I’m on the way out and not on the way in.”

May be someone will listen to him?

« Previous Page — Next Page »