Forbidden fruit

Sebastian has the info on the most recent incident where banning something made it more popular that ever.

I’ve posted about this type of thing before.

The people that enact rules and laws like this apparently don’t have children or weren’t paying attention when they were growing up. When I was helping the kids buy Christmas presents for their mom (~20 years ago) I would put the packages in the car and never mention the contents again. They never told their mom what she was getting for Christmas. On the other hand Barb will repeatedly remind them all the way home and again as they entered the house, “Don’t tell Daddy what he is getting for Christmas!” They would burst through the door and run the length of the house and tell me what I was getting before Barb could get the packages into the house.

Sebastian speculates, ‘Americans, I believe, also possess the same “character that reacts against the hectoring and bossiness of officialdom,” as their British cousins.’ While correct, that characteristic well extends beyond Brits and Americans.

I thought nearly everyone had heard of Eve, the Garden of Eden, and forbidden fruit.

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5 thoughts on “Forbidden fruit

  1. Boys and girls do not think the same. I thought you knew this.

    I must admit, though, that I prefer the aspichix among the wimminz, if I can find them. They are quite very rare, but are the only rational women. I have been fortunate enough to meet a few and hang out with them. Those experiences really enlightened my life.

  2. That is the one acceptable answer to your “Just One Question”. Restrictions do often wake up the complacent and get them to contemplate their situation.

  3. I am more and more of the opinion that the authoritarians’ main goal is to get us to react to them. The specific nature of the reaction is of secondary or tertiary concern, or of no particular concern at all so long as there is a reaction.

    We’re doing a little dance with them– they push, we react. “Look at the stupid little clowns dancing a stupid little dance that I made them dance… Aren’t I special? I’m important! Look! I matter. I’m somebody. I Made a Difference!”
    Uh one, and a two, and a….

  4. I am more and more of the opinion that the authoritarians’ main goal is to get us to react to them

    I think many activists are analogous to blog trolls. The point of a lot of banners is to draw attention to an issue and to themselves; not to deal with the issue with reason. Their point is to propose something that the other side will have spend time and resources to oppose and to give their side a rallying point and a herding mechanism. The ban is secondary.

    Recall the Brady Campaign response in 2009 to the beating and stomping death of the Chicago kid walking home from school : “The youth violence problem in Chicago is a gun violence problem.” That’s pure troll.

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