2008 Woodie Awards
All this for some lousy oranges?
By: David Boehnke
Issue date: 3/24/06 Section: Opinion
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A few months ago I went to leave Café Mac with nine oranges, seven more than the rules allow. Unlike other days however, I was stopped from leaving by a well-dressed employee who told me I couldn't take so many oranges, and seized three oranges from my hands. At that moment I was faced with a choice of giving back the oranges, or leaving. I decided to leave and did so by walking back and forth until I had room to brush by the fellow who was determined to get in the way.
I was written up, had a conduct hearing, and was sentenced to ten hours of community service, a small fine, and an incident of “aggressive” misconduct on my record. I appealed and lost despite making clear the ridiculousness of the situation. Apparently, this punishment is typical for “such an offense”.
Then I messed up. I learned that all I had to do was write questions to create discussion in the cafeteria and did so. These questions include: “I don't think stealing oranges from the cafeteria is wrong, do you?” While my `punishment' took two hours, not ten, my error was accepting anything, period. I will not make such a mistake again, forcing whoever to confront the ridiculous nature of the rules they enforce.
And this is a power we can exercise daily, undermining the blindness through which power acts against our own standards and interests. This can be done through refusal, the refusal to accept punishment, to partake in a role, to do a task, or by using the power of exception, the leeway of any role to ignore rules in order to give individuals the treatment they desire.
Lets add some context, not for this trivial incident, but for the society in which we live. We live in a society where codification of rules is viewed as the solution to achieve efficiency and impartiality (which pretend to be collective well-being and justice). Disregarding the fact that excessive creation of rules does not create well-being, efficiency, impartiality or justice, and that roles and rules are forced upon us, this over-codification has resulted in a situation where many typical behaviors are illegal, drug use for example, and where deviance therefore is based not on what is done, but what is seen.
I was written up, had a conduct hearing, and was sentenced to ten hours of community service, a small fine, and an incident of “aggressive” misconduct on my record. I appealed and lost despite making clear the ridiculousness of the situation. Apparently, this punishment is typical for “such an offense”.
Then I messed up. I learned that all I had to do was write questions to create discussion in the cafeteria and did so. These questions include: “I don't think stealing oranges from the cafeteria is wrong, do you?” While my `punishment' took two hours, not ten, my error was accepting anything, period. I will not make such a mistake again, forcing whoever to confront the ridiculous nature of the rules they enforce.
And this is a power we can exercise daily, undermining the blindness through which power acts against our own standards and interests. This can be done through refusal, the refusal to accept punishment, to partake in a role, to do a task, or by using the power of exception, the leeway of any role to ignore rules in order to give individuals the treatment they desire.
Lets add some context, not for this trivial incident, but for the society in which we live. We live in a society where codification of rules is viewed as the solution to achieve efficiency and impartiality (which pretend to be collective well-being and justice). Disregarding the fact that excessive creation of rules does not create well-being, efficiency, impartiality or justice, and that roles and rules are forced upon us, this over-codification has resulted in a situation where many typical behaviors are illegal, drug use for example, and where deviance therefore is based not on what is done, but what is seen.
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