Quote: (06-23-2015 09:50 AM)turkishcandy Wrote:
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It is incumbent upon all parties within a civilized society to uphold the law, and to take appropriate measures when they see those laws being broken.
You guys are talking about civilized society AND taking the law into your own hands in the same sentence. Unbelievable. These two are mutually exlusive.
Civilized society is a society where people agree upon some laws and they choose an authority (state) to enforce those laws and another seperate authority (courts) to punish the offenders. Human's natural state was when there were no laws, only power and conscience. People were able to protect their only right, their property, as much as their strength allowed them. And each individual punished the other individual according to his conscience. This is considered a state of chaos by many philosophers like Rousseau, Locke and Hobbes. Individuals can't be objective about their own rights being violated. They abandon rationality and give in to anger. That's why they crated state, a high authority that is objective and independent. State can be as small as a tribe chief and can be as unnecessarily big as USA. Only when they created state were they able to live together in order, that's how civilization started, with the first social contract.
According to your logic, if everyone punishes those who break the law ''appropriately'' meaning according to their own conscience and whims, we are by definition abandoning a civilized society and going back to our natural state. Then only the physically strongest can ''punish appropriately'' and we no longer have the basic rights. Everybody buys a gun and take watches in their houses in case someone breaks in.
This seems like exaggeration by I'm only following your logic and extending it. You have no right to go around and shoot down murderers. You have no right to catch thieves and beat up douchebag drivers. Your rights go as far as self defense, report crimes, protest and choose politicians to pass laws you think should be passed. By living in a society and paying taxes you have agreed to this social contract. You have abandoned your freedom to punish outlaws in exchange for more protection and order. The fact that the police in Russia is incompetent or negligent doesn't give you any right to go out and stick stickers on driving cars.
Granted I do not know the Common Law practices in Russia, in the USA and most all Western nations you can make Citizen's Arrests
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen's_...ted_States
The practice dates back to medieval times and is still codified and honored today. If you see someone breaking the law you can turn them in. It's ridiculous to think that law enforcement is at arms reach at all times and extending this responsibility to the citizenry dates back as far as written history. Like I said - if you're walking along the sidewalk and some ignorant prick dives up on you would you have something to say or just move out of the way?