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> I think it is a sad state of affairs that it had to come to this point resulting from "don't ask for permission upfront, ask for forgiveness later" Huh. I ac

> I think it is a sad state of affairs that it had to come to this point resulting from "don't ask for permission upfront, ask for forgiveness later" Huh. I actually believe most western societies are incredibly tilted in the "ask permission" direction. You have to petition to start a business, cut someone's hair, buy a gun, get married, copy a book... I could probably find a hundred things you're supposed to ask for permission before doing. Personally, I prefer freedom: do whatever you want, as long as it doesn't violate someone's rights (and no, Imaginary Property doesn't count).

jstarfish 9y ago
> You have to petition to start a business, cut someone's hair, buy a gun, get married, copy a book... I could probably find a hundred things you're supposed to ask for permission before doing. The rules are very selectively enforced depending on what class you belong to though. As a guy with a pair of scissors, I can't start cutting hair without "asking permission" in the form of a license. As a guy with a cart, I can't sell hot dogs on the street corner without getting some sort of vending license. I can't just start driving around and picking up random fares in my car without applying for a limousine license or taxi medallion. But then you get Uber, whose business model was based around ignoring these regulations and scaling to such size where they were too big to prosecute (easily). Just the same, I'll get fined if I catch too many fish from the local pond whether or not I've gone to the trouble of applying for a fishing license, but Acme Megacorp will go ahead and dump toxic waste into the same pond until it's forcibly stopped from doing so (and the taxpayers are forced to clean it up via Superfund).
- mdpopescu 9y ago
  Agreed. The little guy has to ask for permission; the big guy can usually ignore it. (There are exceptions, but they are few and far between.) That's why I'm so against the idea that, as a society, we should tilt even more in the direction of asking for permissions. My ideal is Leary from Demolition Man - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JizGkM6gbvQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JizGkM6gbvQ - and no, I don't think that leads to living underground.

jstarfish 9y ago

> You have to petition to start a business, cut someone's hair, buy a gun, get married, copy a book... I could probably find a hundred things you're supposed to ask for permission before doing. The rules are very selectively enforced depending on what class you belong to though. As a guy with a pair of scissors, I can't start cutting hair without "asking permission" in the form of a license. As a guy with a cart, I can't sell hot dogs on the street corner without getting some sort of vending license. I can't just start driving around and picking up random fares in my car without applying for a limousine license or taxi medallion. But then you get Uber, whose business model was based around ignoring these regulations and scaling to such size where they were too big to prosecute (easily). Just the same, I'll get fined if I catch too many fish from the local pond whether or not I've gone to the trouble of applying for a fishing license, but Acme Megacorp will go ahead and dump toxic waste into the same pond until it's forcibly stopped from doing so (and the taxpayers are forced to clean it up via Superfund).

mdpopescu 9y ago
Agreed. The little guy has to ask for permission; the big guy can usually ignore it. (There are exceptions, but they are few and far between.) That's why I'm so against the idea that, as a society, we should tilt even more in the direction of asking for permissions. My ideal is Leary from Demolition Man - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JizGkM6gbvQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JizGkM6gbvQ - and no, I don't think that leads to living underground.