Re: 'Why?' and the Efficacy of Taboos

Kelly asks good questions in this post, the most important of which is "how do we protect the minority from a majority that would use the power of government to enforce belief (however wrong) onto an unwilling minority?"

As a Baptist, I am part of a tradition that came into existence in order to fight for the freedom of the conscience of every human being. We believe that faith can be imposed on no man, woman or child, and each person must be free to worship - or not worship - according to the dictates of his or her own conscience. Faith and belief are deeply personal matters, and the State or church heirarchy cannot force belief through the force of arms - or laws.

Having said that, is there an unhealthy extreme to which this principle can be taken? Are there certain taboos that are insisted upon in order to allow society to function? I read story this morning. Apparently at least a few European towns are ready to do away with the most basic of norms - traffic signs.

An excerpt from the article is illustrative:

"The many rules strip us of the most important thing: the ability to be considerate. We're losing our capacity for socially responsible behavior," says Dutch traffic guru Hans Monderman, one of the project's co-founders. "The greater the number of prescriptions, the more people's sense of personal responsibility dwindles."

Having prescriptions does not diminish the sense of personal responsibility in those who have personal responsibility in the first place. They simply bring order to a potentially chaotic situation where chaos will prove deadly. Guesswork is removed as people know what the rules are - in this case, rules of the road. To say that removing traffic signs will result in more courtesy is the silly argument of a five-year old that becomes unconscienably dangerous in the hands of a grown man or woman. There are times, like driving on the road, when rules enable freedom.

It has been a LONG time (centuries) since we in the West have had to build a society from the ground up. In our rush to enable personal freedom, we are tampering with "taboos" that our ancestors from those many ages ago put in place in order to build a society that functioned. While some of these probably are unnecessary, we are removing many of them with frightening speed and glee, before we understand the ramifications of doing so.