# But the "no cell phone" rules don't apply to me. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 30, 2017, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-the-no-cell-phone-rules-dont-apply-to-me/778588 "2017-01-30T14:42:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DoggyDunnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@DoggyDunnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoggyDunnit)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-the-no-cell-phone-rules-dont-apply-to-me/778588/61 "2017-02-02T01:32:36Z")
> [@Crazy\_Canuck](#): > > I’ll own the first two descriptions. I’ll argue the third, as I am perfectly capable of seeing reason. We just disagree on what seeing reason means. Anyone who thinks that entitlement and selfishness are in any way compatible with reason is overdue for some serious psychiatric treatment. > [@Crazy\_Canuck](#): > > This sounds like a lot like the phrase “man up,” where someone uses it to shame you right before they tell you to do something against your own best interest. I’ll decline. See above. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-the-no-cell-phone-rules-dont-apply-to-me/778588/62 "2017-02-02T03:10:18Z")
> [@Crazy\_Canuck](#): > > Fair enough. It’s a bit of column A (I’m in a rural part of northern Canada) and a bit of column B. > > The best way I can state it is comparing it to baby elephants. The old chestnut (I’m only using it for figurative truth, not literal truth) is that when elephants are babies, they are tied to trees with strong ropes. They try and escape, but they can’t. The ropes are too strong, the tree is too strong. They are trapped. As time goes on, they stop fighting and get used to it. As soon as someone puts a rope over their head, they know it’s futile, so they accept it and stop fighting. > > Now go forward many years. These elephants are now tied by a thin rope to a plastic chair. They could easily break free if they wanted to, but they don’t. They can’t. They are trapped completely by their own minds. Mental chains are stronger than steel. > > Anyhow, at some point my life took a weird turn. In circumstances that almost broke me, I ended up breaking the rope that I thought was unbreakable. And now I realize I could have been free the entire time, but I was a prisoner in my own mind. Society couldn’t chain me, but it sure could make me chain myself. > > So now when anyone tries to put a rope over my head, I fight and kick. Even when it’s over something stupid like smoking. Waaaah, I had something bad happen to me! So now that entitles me to be a dick to everyone else! (Does that about cover it?) ---
**Author:** ![eulalia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eulalia/32/457_2.png) [@eulalia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eulalia)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-the-no-cell-phone-rules-dont-apply-to-me/778588/63 "2017-02-02T12:37:41Z")
> [@Crazy\_Canuck](#): > > Fair enough. It’s a bit of column A (I’m in a rural part of northern Canada) and a bit of column B. > > The best way I can state it is comparing it to baby elephants. The old chestnut (I’m only using it for figurative truth, not literal truth) is that when elephants are babies, they are tied to trees with strong ropes. They try and escape, but they can’t. The ropes are too strong, the tree is too strong. They are trapped. As time goes on, they stop fighting and get used to it. As soon as someone puts a rope over their head, they know it’s futile, so they accept it and stop fighting. > > Now go forward many years. These elephants are now tied by a thin rope to a plastic chair. They could easily break free if they wanted to, but they don’t. They can’t. They are trapped completely by their own minds. Mental chains are stronger than steel. > > Anyhow, at some point my life took a weird turn. In circumstances that almost broke me, I ended up breaking the rope that I thought was unbreakable. And now I realize I could have been free the entire time, but I was a prisoner in my own mind. Society couldn’t chain me, but it sure could make me chain myself. > > So now when anyone tries to put a rope over my head, I fight and kick. Even when it’s over something stupid like smoking. So it’s more of an issue with authority, right? If I asked you nicely not to smoke in a place where I needed to be so I couldn’t leave, because my respiratory system is overly reactive to smoke, would you stop then? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-the-no-cell-phone-rules-dont-apply-to-me/778588/64 "2017-02-02T13:33:21Z")
[QUOTE=Crazy Canuck] Also, I am an Anarchist, and I firmly believe the rules only apply to me to the extent and likelihood that I can be punished for breaking them. [/QUOTE] It’s getting so you can hardly tell the difference between anarchists and libertarians these days. The common factor seems to be “I don’t wanna and you can’t make me”. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-the-no-cell-phone-rules-dont-apply-to-me/778588/65 "2017-02-02T13:53:59Z")
> [@Crazy\_Canuck](#): > > The penalty is a fine which would cost me less than one hour of my lawyer’s time, so I think you will probably be disappointed. > … > Reported for wishing death on a poster, thanks for keeping it classy. You are the anarchist happy to reduce others’ life expectancy with your illegal indoor smoking, caring only about the size of the fine, not other people’s health … … and then the anarchist goes whining (with class! 🙂 ) to the Mods when its lack of humane consideration is reciprocated. Thanks for the laugh! ---
**Author:** ![Crazy\_Canuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazy_canuck/32/5282_2.png) [@Crazy\_Canuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazy_Canuck)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-the-no-cell-phone-rules-dont-apply-to-me/778588/66 "2017-02-06T19:14:04Z")
> [@DoggyDunnit](#): > > Anyone who thinks that entitlement and selfishness are in any way compatible with reason is overdue for some serious psychiatric treatment. Suggesting the guy with the word crazy in his username needs psychiatric care is pretty lazy. If you’re going to insult me, at least put some effort in it. I still insist that entitlement and selfishness are entirely rational responses. You might not agree with them morally, but that doesn’t make them irrational. When I start dancing in parking lots with mannequins while wearing a bugs bunny costume again, then you can talk to me about how much psychiatric care I need. > [@Guinastasia](#): > > Waaaah, I had something bad happen to me! So now that entitles me to be a dick to everyone else! (Does that about cover it?) That’s actually somewhat accurate. I was beaten and curbstomped into a coma. After going through months of brutal physio I managed to recover enough to walk again, albeit with a cane. So even though I was crippled for life, according to the judge it would have been a shame to ruin their bright futures, so the guys who did it all got a slap on the wrist. I’m sure it was just a coincidence that their parents all had lots of money. So now as a consequence I don’t recognize the rule of law and gave the old heave to the social contract. The law is a weapon used by the rich to keep the poor in their place. > [@Jackmannii](#): > > It’s getting so you can hardly tell the difference between anarchists and libertarians these days. Anarchists tend to be more heavily armed and more willing to get their hands dirty, but it does vary. Some of both types just make snarky one-liners on the internet. > [@eulalia](#): > > So it’s more of an issue with authority, right? If I asked you nicely not to smoke in a place where I needed to be so I couldn’t leave, because my respiratory system is overly reactive to smoke, would you stop then? Yes, and I have done so in the past when others have asked. > [@septimus](#): > > … and then the anarchist goes whining (with class! 🙂 ) to the Mods when its lack of humane consideration is reciprocated. If The Vorlon didn’t want the consequences, he shouldn’t have broken the rules. I’ve never claimed that breaking the rules never is without consequences. Far, far from it. It’s up to all free people to determine when those consequences are worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-the-no-cell-phone-rules-dont-apply-to-me/778588/67 "2017-02-06T19:48:27Z")
> [@Crazy\_Canuck](#): > > That’s actually somewhat accurate. I was beaten and curbstomped into a coma. After going through months of brutal physio I managed to recover enough to walk again, albeit with a cane. So even though I was crippled for life, according to the judge it would have been a shame to ruin their bright futures, so the guys who did it all got a slap on the wrist. Obviously, they made a calculation that the action was worth the consequences. Just like you. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-the-no-cell-phone-rules-dont-apply-to-me/778588/68 "2017-02-06T20:15:48Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > This is why they make cell phone jammers. I always thought it would be cool to carry around a little portable one with a jamming range of say, at least 50% farther than the maximum distance at which it was possible hear some gangrenous old hag screeching into a cell phone about her hemorrhoid problems. [Good luck. It didn’t work out so well for this guy.](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-cell-phone-jamming-red-line-20160309-story.html) ---
**Author:** ![Crazy\_Canuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazy_canuck/32/5282_2.png) [@Crazy\_Canuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazy_Canuck)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-the-no-cell-phone-rules-dont-apply-to-me/778588/69 "2017-02-06T21:20:24Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Obviously, they made a calculation that the action was worth the consequences. They didn’t calculate shit. They just thought that I was queer and that was good enough for them. As far as cheap shots go though, this one was pretty good. I’d give it 9/10, you’re almost as close to being a soulless person as I am. Keep it up! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-the-no-cell-phone-rules-dont-apply-to-me/778588.md?page=3)