Happy New Year to my regular readers and hello to anyone new here, I hope you get something out of reading my articles. This is my first of 2022, it was started last year as a philosophical concept but some recent events made me want to come back to this as they highlighted my points. I will continue with articles throughout the year but I am about to start a new job and working towards finishing my next book so I may not have much time for the Blog over the coming months but will write and publish when I can.
Walking home from work one evening I saw a woman walking in front of me following a similar route. I walk fast so often see people ahead from a distance and overtake them which I did in this case. Just as I was about to pass her she began crossing a road I crossed every day (I’ve since gotten a new job), this part of the road is at the bottom of a small hill at a four way intersection and has lines painted on it where cars should stop, these lines happen to curve slightly upwards of the hill. As she crossed she followed the curve of the line with her steps, clearly not in a very conscious way but she automatically followed the shape rather than just going straight across. I wondered if I do the same thing and unconsciously follow patterns as I walk simply because they are there?
In the sense of crossing a road I generally go the shortest way possible, purely to get it over and done with quickly. I can’t see any reason to follow a shape when the potential of getting hit by a bus (a real problem on this particular intersection) I will also take the most efficient path in any process that is purely practical. Like everyone else my life is full of processes that I need to follow whether I want to or not. I don’t mean the processes I create for myself to function but those of external organisations which most of us have to abide by to some extent.
For example: Paying bills, usually done on the same date every month. The financial year goes from April to April regardless of your own accounting needs. School term times and holidays, paperwork for council tax, doctors appointments, HMRC, tenancy agreements, credit checks, job contracts. Queuing at the shops or post office, waiting for your name to be called at the GP surgery and so on. These are bureaucratic systems we have to follow, most of which have been in place before I was born. You might think these are a modern issue but do remember that sovereigns have been collecting tax from peasants for centuries and they needed some dudes to count and account for all that gold. Having modern technology hasn’t helped us speed these up much either, you may think it has but it hasn’t. Many payments still take days to process, online booking systems can be incredibly quick but you still need to put in your entire life story to register in the first place. One that is essential is the DBS check. DBS is the Disclosure and Barring Service a government service which performs criminal record checks for people. These are usually used for employers to check the background of employees to ensure they aren’t crooks. In social care there are obvious reason we need these, a paedophile could apply to work in a children’s school and we don’t want that to happen. If they are charged or convicted it shows up on their record and you can decline to offer them a role.
Bureaucracy is a dirty word, we think of Kafka characters on an eternal loop of offices and officers who direct him tot he next floor only to be directed to the previous floor, but of course you have the wrong document. The TV series Futurama has a key character in Hermes whose job is a Bureaucrat, he stamps and signs and files documents. In that show they have an ongoing joke about bureaucrats and the future world is chaotic but underpinned by constant paperwork.
This point has been highlighted nicely by the situation with World #1 Tennis Player Novac Djokovic. He was due to play the Australian Open Tournament in Australia defending his title, he stated he did not have a Covid vaccination but had a medical exemption. Basically, Australian border control refused his visa because he has no vaccine. There have been cries of rich and famous people being exempt, except he did do what he was supposed to, he followed the rules. People have been very upset that the rules weren’t followed (due to Australia having strict vaccine rules) but he did follow the rules. The Aussie Government has stated they will not allow him to be exempt, and that made people angry because he did follow the rules, but then the Government can change the rules, Governments can do this.
I don’t care for Tennis, I find it tedious. Person with net on a stick hits fluorescent ball over net held up with sticks and repeat. Millions of people love the game and it is very popular and has massive amounts of money involved. However, Djokovic has done us all a favour in my view, this case has questioned the wisdom of authorities, shown that they can impose what they wish, has questioned who should be exempt. This is about equality and values. The equality of who is allowed to do what in times of restrictions, and of values over whether Tennis or anything else is important enough to break the rules. I literally don’t care if he gets to play the tournament or not, but the outcome is important to all of us.
Another case is Boris Johnson’s Tory Christmas party from 2021. At this party all Covid guidelines were broken and this became fuel for the opposition to attack Johnson. Like most attacks on him no one is even discussing it any more and he has walked away without any real consequence. The rules were broken by the people who set the rules.
For most of us who just want to get through life, pay the bills, eat, sleep then have a holiday and start over probably just go ahead and follow whatever bureaucratic guidelines that are presented to us, you probably follow the painted lines on the street too, you probably queue politely even if someone isn’t standing in the right spot, you probably pay your overdraft fines even if you’re sure you budgeted correctly. Do you follow the lines? Do you follow rules without question?
There are many books and films set in future times which paint a picture of a human race embroiled in eternal servitude to masters who dictate the rules, this would be considered Dystopian. Orwell’s 1984 is probably the most famous example of this. Big Brother which is a face, an entity, the government and the father who decides how everyone should live. Is it for our benefit or for theirs? They’ll make you think it’s for your good when it isn’t. These stories make for great drama and comedy. If you’re reading this at the time of publication you’re probably thinking I’m going to start talking about Government responses to Covid-19 and the rules imposed on us, which is a marvellous example of frail bureaucratic systems and questionable leadership decisions. The debate amongst the population about vaccinations hits the nail on the head and keeps hammering. Get your vaccination, put it on an app so you can be free to do things, except you aren’t free and you need another dose, and also a test before you wipe your arse… I have done all mine, got my booster too and I did that because I believe it’ll work and also as a sense of duty to my community but it isn’t exactly the bureaucracy I wanted to talk about. During this whole situation we have all been getting on with life as best we can and have continued with working, many had to sign onto benefits (which is the best example of painful systems I have seen) we’ve kept paying the rent, council tax and TV licence, we have stayed home when we’re supposed to, we’ve worn masks… wait, have we?
No, we haven’t all followed the rules. The lines on the road are guidelines for cars, but people automatically follow these things even if there is no explicit instruction to do so. Does this mean we live in an overly bureaucratic society? Plenty of laws have been changed as we have socially agreed they are outmoded and these laws usually get changed because people continue to break them. Are we at the mercy of those we choose to lead us and analyse potential laws? I would say yes, I didn’t vote Tory, never have and never will so I don’t regard their rules as mine. That said, laws are good for people, they can and do protect us from many things but it’s easy to use a benefit as an excuse to impose control measures. I don’t care if Djokovic plays, wins or loses and in some ways I think the controversy is easily solved by testing. Test him continuously and if he becomes ill he has to isolate. The rules and laws around the Covid Pandemic are new and have not had time to work for the population generally, particularly as each country has their own version of these rules.
We shouldn’t blindly follow rules and systems if they are harmful, or even risky for us. People do need some direction, we do need to have some universal agreements (such as murder, paedophilia and rape being wrong and illegal) rules don’t stop people, they are simply text on paper and without consistent enforcement we will ignore them quickly. I do believe in laws that protect the majority of us, but I also believe no one should get a vaccine if they choose not to. The rules of imposing a medical procedure are frighteningly close to the dystopian science fiction we love to watch and that is a real problem for our futures.
Everyone (myself included) has an opinion about these things, we should be heard by the authorities but we are largely at the mercy of the rules they impose until a new leadership takes over, but then we’re at their mercy.
If an action contravenes our values we will become outraged whether or not it is legal. The law isn’t binary anyway, many breaches of legislation still require a jury or judge to decide on the details and whether or not the breach was worthy of a conviction. In short, other people will still interpret the laws you are supposed to follow and they may decide your fate. A case like the Tory Christmas Party or Djokovic and the many other stories of breaches in Covid restrictions shows clearly how many of us want to act in opposition, we don’t like being restricted. These cases all help to decide the value base underpinning these laws and the fact they are stupid things likes parties and games of Tennis just highlights where our priorities lie.
The Everyday Behaviour Analyst 