…Having knowingly agreed to live under the city’s laws, he implicitly subjected himself to the possibility of being accused of crimes by its citizens and judged guilty by its jury. To do otherwise would have caused him to break his “social contract” with the state, and by so doing harming it, an act contrary to Socratic principle… (source: wikipedia)

I’m relatively new to the States, and can’t help but constantly compare its rules and people’s behaviours to those from my other hometowns. What I keep seeing here is a state of mind that encourages people to constantly cover their arse. When I go to the doctor and she needs to perform a minor operation, I sign papers waiving her responsibility over me. I assume this is mainly to protect her from patients taking legal action against her. But when I see a doctor, I want to trust her and not sign some *status-quo* agreement upfront. I come to you, and I pay you to fix my body out of trust. Whats next? Are we going to start signing Chinese manufacturer’s documents waiving our right to sue them when we buy toxic-glazed toys?
My driving teacher in Israel was extremely passionate about his work, and passed onto me the importance of making good judgements on the road. This week, I took the local driving test, and was failed *again* when I decided against passing a junction on a red light when taking an LA left turn. LA has a fundamental problem across town with its left turns. Most people wait until the light turns red, then take their chance at crossing the intersection. In the driving test I made a decision to wait it out, and thus was failed for not taking the turn, even if the light turned red. My tester claimed that the California law states you MUST take the left turn, even if on red. So first time I was failed because I did not look over my shoulder (stated in the law) every time I changed lanes, and second time because I did not take a left turn on red. What worries me is not only the fact that I know the DMV so well by now *cough*cough*, but that with such a crucial activity as driving, the rules in this state are created with some form of ‘ass covering‘ in the style of ‘just making sure‘ instead of thinking about what makes most sense. Why fill the city with 4-way stop signs ‘just to make sure’? Why not have only 2 in each junction, like in most of the developed world.

This country baffles me.

For being so open to entrepreneurs, to new ideas and *freedom*, it is a place where people are encouraged to follow stupid rules without thinking. I am sure Socrates would be grinning from his grave, but I am disturbed. Disturbed by my need to follow rules that make no sense in order to (pardon my French) ‘cover my ass‘.

[tags] rules, socrates [/tags]

I’m not saying we should get rid of all traffic rules like this case in China, but I must say that I agree with Steven Garrity’s thoughts on how following rules makes you stupid:

…I once ordered a sandwich at a local Tim Horton’s and was told they were out of bread. Seeing that they had bagels, I asked if I could just have the sandwich on a bagel. This request was met with blank stares that suggested an inner-dialog along these lines of “We don’t make bagel-sandwiches” or “There’s no button for that on the cash register”…

I’ve encountered similar cases, usually when on the phone with customer service – if you do not say PRECISELY what they’re used to, you never receive help. On the other hand, when receiving customer service, the agent is allowed a certain amount of flexibility. They use their intellect in order to understand what their client needs, and how they can bend over to provide her with a compelling service.
Urban designer Hamilton-Baillie claims that “The more you post the evidence of legislative control, such as traffic signs, the less the driver is trying to use his or her own senses.” Is it true that when people are governed too tightly by rules, they leave their own common-sense behind, and let their governing system decide? I am glad there are traffic signs, but I constantly get the feel that Americans are too used to covering their asses (pardon my French). A simple example is the numerous 4-way stop sign junctions all over California. I’ve never seen 4-way stop sign junctions anywhere else – Why make everyone stop?… again – “just in case”…
It scares me to live in a country where people follow rules without questioning them – where people are constantly afraid to be sued for not following them. It is surprising how widely accepted this is in America.

The reason I came to study here was because it IS a place where innovations like this occur; a place which supports creativity such as these statues . But the longer I spend here, the more I realize that this is only a small minority of the population. That most people don’t really think about what they’re told to do, but rather operate on auto-pilot. Very different from what I’m used to, and my intrinsic nature.