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"It's not just wrong, it's illegal"
Yes. Grocery store, on the way out, one of those little "Don't buy smokes/drinks for kids" posters caught my eye. What I actually noticed was this line:
"It's not just wrong, it's illegal."
Something about that really bugged me on the way to the car, but I think I've figured it out.
It's that I think it should go like this:
"It's not just illegal, it's wrong."
Because, well... I try explain. It feels like sentences like that are structured along the lines of "it's not just bad, it's VERY BAD." Like the second bit is supposed to have more impact than the first.
Well, I'm sorry, legality has much less meaning to me than morality.
I mean, jesus. In many (most, yeah?) places it's illegal to marry someone of your gender, even though I think that's just dandy morally. You love someone? Want to start a family with them, or just have your union acknowledged socially and legally? Rock on.
On the other hand, so many things that huge companies get away with are quite legal and also quite wrong.
So, really, I'm not very persuaded by the first version. But the second would at least make me stop and think. You know, it might be illegal (whatever it is), but that second part would make me stop and think. Evaluate for myself. Do I believe it's also wrong? Cause if I decide that it is wrong, then I won't do it, illegal or no.
The only problem is if I decide it's not wrong. Then the illegality deterrent will weaken. But at least I'll have formed my own fucking opinion of the matter. Cause the first way of phrasing it leaves much less room for your opinion -- they think it's a given that it's wrong.
Meanwhile, I was apparently tired, cause I slept all day, for 14 hours. Now to catch up on the work I missed. Dammit.
"It's not just wrong, it's illegal."
Something about that really bugged me on the way to the car, but I think I've figured it out.
It's that I think it should go like this:
"It's not just illegal, it's wrong."
Because, well... I try explain. It feels like sentences like that are structured along the lines of "it's not just bad, it's VERY BAD." Like the second bit is supposed to have more impact than the first.
Well, I'm sorry, legality has much less meaning to me than morality.
I mean, jesus. In many (most, yeah?) places it's illegal to marry someone of your gender, even though I think that's just dandy morally. You love someone? Want to start a family with them, or just have your union acknowledged socially and legally? Rock on.
On the other hand, so many things that huge companies get away with are quite legal and also quite wrong.
So, really, I'm not very persuaded by the first version. But the second would at least make me stop and think. You know, it might be illegal (whatever it is), but that second part would make me stop and think. Evaluate for myself. Do I believe it's also wrong? Cause if I decide that it is wrong, then I won't do it, illegal or no.
The only problem is if I decide it's not wrong. Then the illegality deterrent will weaken. But at least I'll have formed my own fucking opinion of the matter. Cause the first way of phrasing it leaves much less room for your opinion -- they think it's a given that it's wrong.
Meanwhile, I was apparently tired, cause I slept all day, for 14 hours. Now to catch up on the work I missed. Dammit.