Are rules meant to be broken… or is the spirit of the law (rule) especially important?
Are there dif occasions when one or the other applies…and who gets to decide that?
I always follow the rules. Not only that, I create a ton of my own rules that I then scrupulously follow. It’s not necessarily the best way to live. Over time, I have realized that sometimes things can go better if you break the rules. But I’m still almost always too scared to do it. For me, personally, breaking the rules always seems to have negative consequences. I really need some kind of rule book to tell me how and when to break the rules.:smack:
I do everything I can to violate every rule there is. I’ll even make up rules so I can violate them. That’s what my wife would tell you anyway. She’ll follow every rule there is. She’ll even make up rules just so she can follow them. But what I actually do is whatever makes sense for me at the time, and given that violating rules can have repercussions I will follow them if it makes sense for me at the time. And I don’t think anyone is any different unless they have OCD. Rule following is not a measure of a person worth taking.
I used to do that too, a lot. But I would invariably end up in a situation where it would be obviously to my disadvantage to stick to my own rule. So now I think of my rules more as rules of thumb, and I’m always ready to break them if it’s expedient.
I still have rules that I’ve made up that I haven’t broken, but I just think of that as not having broken them yet.
The thing is, though, I don’t know whether this means that I’m super smart or super stupid. Either I’m smart because I’ve realized that it’s good to be flexible, or I’m stupid because I’m just crap at coming up with good rules.
As for following other people’s rules… well, as a wise person put it:
Sometimes I think about breaking down
Breaking the plates and smashing the glasses
But then I think about the consequences
So I calm down and follow the masses
I break rules I do not agree with all the time. I do my best to not get caught.
If I do decide to break a rule I try not to bullshit myself and rationalize it like so many people I know do. One of my things is tresspassing. An abondoned ranch, the road in has not been used for years. The fences are falling down etc. I will sometimes hunt quail on property like this, I am wrong for doing it and I am tresspassing. Yes I broke the rule.
Why do you feel the need to point out this, if not as a rationalization? 
I generally try to follow The Rules; things typically go so much easier and smoother, for me and for everyone else, when I do so. I’m not the Emperor of the World. I believe in adapting myself to the universe, not expecting the universe to adapt itself to me.
But that’s not to say that there aren’t some rules that ought to be broken.
I tend to follow rules. Especially those that say things like “Don’t fall into this huge pit of spikes”.
On the other hand, if you ignore the rules people will, half the time, quietly rewrite them so that they don’t apply to you.
Or so said the late, great PTerry.
Me too brother. I don’t get caught very often, but when I do, I try to use the other rules to exonerate myself. It’s the best rush there is.
The trick is knowing when breaking the rules is really going to hurt you. This thread is making me think about the poor teacher who was killed by a roller coaster on Thursday. It sounds like he was a nice normal guy, not someone who went around trying to break rules. He lost his cell phone and wallet while riding the rollercoaster, and then jumped a fence into a restricted area to try to retrieve them. I’m sure he didn’t think that breaking that one rule was going to be the last thing he ever did.
Yes, I follow the rules. I keep to the speed limit, I don’t get into the express lane with extra items, and I don’t take the senior discount if I’m not the age they discount. When the butcher asks “who’s next?”, I point out the person who is next, be it me or that woman who is obviously shopping for a big family. I correct the grammar on the local news affiliate’s website. I stop at stop signs even at four am when no one is out and I always use my blinkers to signal a lane change. Always.
Less and fewer are NOT interchangeable.
In lower case “ante meridiem” and “post meridiem" should be abbreviated with periods, “a.m.” and “p.m.”, or capitalized with periods optional, “AM” or “A.M.”, and “PM” or “P.M.”
for everything except speed limits.
Those are just suggestions.
Generally I follow rules. My mother was very big on doing things the way they are “supposed” to be done, and I guess I learned some of that from her.
If I’m not sure, I try to think if the rule has any usefulness (such as smoothing social transactions, or recognizing the existence and rights of other people) and if I don’t find any usefulness I give myself permission to do something else. On the other hand, if a situation seems to call for a rule and I don’t know what the rule is (e.g. how long people should stay on equipment at the gym) I will either try to find out what the rule is or make one of my own.
I consider myself to be a scrupulous person, and I often find myself wishing that others were equally so.
I feel no ethical obligation to follow rules made by others: just practical considerations. But I have a good number of rules of my own that I try very hard to follow.
Rules? We don’t need no stinkin’ rules!
(Except here at the SDMB where grammar and punctuation are enforced ruthlessly).
OMG OMG!! Tripolar and Spoiler Virgin married! I never knew.
Reminding me of that is too too sad. What wonderful novels Sir Terry had left in him.
As for the OP, I tend to follow the rules in the same way of QtM. If there is a chance I will be caught, or if I think the rule is reasonable, I will likely follow. If not, no. For example, when the snows come, the street I live on will get a quick pass of the plow and the sidewalks may have to wait a day or so. So when I walk to the train station, I walk in the street. Totally against the law. But only an idiot would attempt to enforce that. I prefer crossing a street when there is no a car in sight, rather than when I have a green light and may have to contend with turning cars. I allow my wife to read my email, although giving her my password is against the rules (I know hers too). And so on.