[FRIAM] anthropological observations

[Gary Schiltz]

On Wed, Apr 15, 2020 at 10:53 AM Prof David West <profwest at fastmail.fm>
wrote:

> ...
> 2) There are always ways to ameliorate the Absolute Law. Those ways differ
> by culture. Edward Hall compared how and where amelioration differs between
> US and Mexican cultures. In the US the cop has latitude as to when and with
> what to cite you, in Mexico it is the judge that has the discretion. A
> Mexico born and raised man was appointed traffic officer in a small US town
> and cited people for going 1-2 miles above the speed limit. Anger and
> violence ensued. Americans cited for traffic offenses in Mexico were
> enraged when they went to court and saw the judge dismiss cases against
> relatives and friends of the judge while being held guilty.
> ...
> davew
>

I've never lived in Mexico, but having lived here in Ecuador for a dozen
years now, I can point to a third way of ameliorating Absolute Law that I
believe is common throughout Latin America and probably throughout the
third world - bribery. Especially when we first moved here in 2008, before
"21st Century Socialism" as promoted by Chavez (Venezuela), Morales
(Bolivia) and Correa (Ecuador) swept northern South America, bribery was
rampant, unchecked, and rather accepted as just how business is done. Five
or ten dollars slipped discretely to a traffic cop was an acceptable,
perhaps even honorable, way of avoiding a fine, it was sort of a gratuity
to help an underpaid cop and his family. If it needed to go to a judge, it
would probably cost more than the fine to pay him off. When Correa came to
power, he made a show of cleaning up corruption, so it was no longer
acceptable to bribe a low level official. Of course, what it really did is
just push the corruption higher up the food chain.


> On Tue, Apr 14, 2020, at 12:10 PM, uǝlƃ ☣ wrote:
> > My experience is that the cops have a LOT of preferential enforcement
> > power. And my black friends seem to agree (inverse experiences). And
> > it's not clear to me that this selective enforcement stops at the
> > sheriffs and beat cop layer. I think many places have the leeway to
> > "decriminalize" things like low volume marijuana possession up to
> > federal attorneys general choosing not to focus on some categories like
> > RICO or whatever.
> >
> > As our SCOTUS demonstrates on a regular basis, despite being a country
> > of laws, the interpretation of such laws is convoluted at best. We may
> > *think* we fetishize the law, but it's delusional because a law isn't a
> > law until it's challenged in court. And even then, it's subject to
> > revision later ... depending on how many beers Brett Kavanaugh had last
> > night.
> >
> > On 4/14/20 9:41 AM, Prof David West wrote:
> > > Venturing an opinion —
> > >
> > > The State put a traffic signal at an intersection because
> (anthropomorphizing here) The State determined that a number of factors
> (sight lines, traffic volume, ...) made it advisable to regulate the flow
> of traffic.
> > >
> > > The State also made an assumption about the typical driver — they are
> incapable of making an evaluative decision with regard all those factors
> and therefore their behavior must be controlled by mandating stopping at a
> red light.
> > >
> > > The State also makes the assumption that the average highway patrol
> person either lacks the right (only judges may interpret the law) or the
> capability to decide if issuing a ticket at 3 am is reasonable. The Law is
> the Law. This is Fetishizing the Law.
> > >
> > > In the case of the traffic signal, the assumptions made about typical
> drivers and highway patrol persons are probably not unreasonable.
> > >
> > > In the case of off-label meds, it would seem much more reasonable to
> assume that the typical physician IS capable of making an evaluative
> decision and should therefore be supplied with as much information as
> possible in support of that decision. This is what I believe I observed in
> Europe.
> > >
> > > In contrast, what I believe I am seeing in the US response nothing
> more than "The Law Is The Law."
> >
> > --
> > ☣ uǝlƃ
> >
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