Do you obey laws that you think are wrong?

Question

If you believe a law is bad for society, don't you think it's better to ignore it. Or do you feel it's important to obey the authorities no matter what they tell you to do?

Answer 1

It depends on the law and the situation. I always stop at stop signs and red lights whether or not I think it is necessary, but I will drive over the speed limit if I think it is safe. If I need to turn left or make a u-turn and there is a sign against it, I'll do it anyway as long as it is safe and I don't see any police. I'm probably doing society a favor by saving gas and polluting less by not going a mile out of the way to obey a stupid law.

There are other laws that I think are wrong but have no desire to break anyway, like drugs and prostitution. But I'm against punishing people for these victimless "crimes".

Answer 2

It depends. The law in Texas is that bicycles must follow all the same laws as cars.

I agree with this to a point. When riding bikes with the girls I take care of (one in elem. school and the other in middle school), I used to tell them to ride on the sidewalk. I felt this was safer than them riding on the street. However, I told them that if people were on the sidewalk, the girls had to give the people right of way. Either dismount their bikes and wait, or go back onto the street and back onto the sidewalk after the people had passed. I was willing to pay any tickets received for having them ride on the sidewalk.

I still made them stop at stop signs and such, but our city is big and drivers are not always careful.

I try not to make myself a judge for all of society, where laws are concerned... just for me and my family and loved ones. If it is a reasonable law (and the majority are), I don't mind following it. If it is unreasonable (like the young girls riding bikes on the street), then I will make sure the children know that it is against the law, that I am having them go against the law for their safety, and that if we are confronted by the police, we will be polite, and pay any tickets that might come of it.
FOr the most part, if I break a known law, it is not because I disagreed with the law... but because I was being careless... as in speeding.

Answer 3

It's not much as about obeying the authorities as fearing the punishment. For example many of the civil rights advocaters during the Malcom X- MLK Jr. scene were willing to go to jail for one-two days for rioting on "no trespassing" ground about racism etc. So if I believe a law is unfair and the punishment is light, I'll do my best to disobey it and petition but if the punishment is death and at the same time the law isn't monumentally unfair, I might as well follow it.

Answer 4

Some I do, some I don't. My mental equation: The likelihood of apprehension multiplied by the severity of the penalty levied against the guilty, weighted against the nuisance of compliance.

Most people speed. The speed limits are a real nuisance, the likelihood of getting caught are low, and the penalties aren't severe. But everyone slows down when they see a cop (likelihood of apprehension nears 100%).

I think weed should be legal. The odds of me getting caught are low, the penalties are severe, and I honestly prefer alcohol over pot (very low nuisance for me to comply). I don't partake, even though I think the laws are wrong. If I really enjoyed the stuff, I'd just chip in cash or muchies to sit in on a circle (I'd never want to be caught in possession of the stuff).

Answer 5

If you feel a law is wrong, and not just because of how you feel, but because of your morals and values, then break it. Make a stand and say "I have a voice" whether people want to hear it or not. If there is a law you find immoral and wrong than fight for it. I like that philosophy.

Answer 6

The regulation won't be able to be criminal if it motives violence or harm to others or creates dangerous circumstances or (in my opinion) denies the common human rights or constitutionally guarateed rights of the conventional public. If somebody created a regulation that asserts, you're able to desire to circulate out and homicide one individual in step with day...the respond is not any! i does not obey this type of regulation. this type of regulation is in direction contravention to the protection and welfare of soceity and no you will make me do this. i does not obey! If somebody created a regulation that asserts it is extremely nicely to thieve out of your neighbor, i could say NO! i won't be able to obey. Disrespecting my neighbor and stealing from him by taking his supplies violates my very own very own experience of precise and incorrect, ethical and ethical innovations. i does not thieve from my neighbor even in spite of the undeniable fact that a regulation pronounced i could desire to do it. rules are purely enforceable in the event that they preserve the conventional public welfare, and sell a healthful society free of violence and the danger of worry. No regulation, whether heavily drafted or whether heavily written, can ever reflect the whole contract of its complete constiuency. some will continually disagree or disobey. And sometimes, that's morally and ethically precise and only that such rules be disobeyed...yet,,,in a non-violent way. while a regulation is written which you do not consider or which you come across objectionable, artwork then, to alter the regulation. that's the way it works right here in this united states of america. yet previous that, if the regulation frees you to do volatile or malicious issues, then do not do them! it continually comes right down to non-public decision. It comes right down to common very own innovations. while the regulation fails to uphold the ordinary welfare and the ordinary sturdy, than it is going to get replaced. while you're conversing approximately Prop 8, as somebody else suspected, do not obey it! hear, you have a precise to stay with whom you go with and to love whom you go with and to be enjoyed by whom you go with. No regulation, can stop that and you go with not obey it. it is going to likely be replaced. What you may not do, is develop into violent approximately it, or threaten the conventional public. those are acts which in themselves are actually not precise... because of the fact the previous asserting is going, "2 wrongs do not make a precise."

Answer 7

Yes I obey laws that I disagree with, but I try to change them legally.

Answer 8

no i dont obey laws i thinkare wrong smokin some bud right now

Answer 9

I do, to avoid getting tickets, or having to go to court. But it is very hard, to not speed. I have to use cruise control. I also think that if you are in the left hand turn lane, at a stoplight, you should not have to give a turn signal. If you're in the left hand turn lane, they should know which way you are going.

Answer 10

I obey when they are wacthing but when they are not I don't. I know I should be following them but sometimes I think they are lame and exagerated.