tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665619563748706349.post8710981895221277874..comments2023-10-07T07:44:17.892-07:00Comments on The New Englander: ...And I'll Show You a LiarThe New Englanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06201310505648616855noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665619563748706349.post-12378138259369332712008-07-15T16:48:00.000-07:002008-07-15T16:48:00.000-07:00Chris,Awesome response, I loved it from top to bot...Chris,<BR/><BR/>Awesome response, I loved it from top to bottom. If you think about it, our society is way more open and fluid, so you can have more anonymity than before (and very few people we know today knew us during our formative years, which I'm sure for most of us is a huge plus)...But then within our own little "tribes" -- our workplaces or schools or buildings -- the old-school principle you talked about is still in effect..if someone said I royally screwed something up -- rightly or wrongly -- it would make its way around my building like wildfire and not necessarily ever go away. So even though we have more leeway in the long-run big picture, reputation is still the main thing within our little mini-societies..<BR/><BR/>-gpThe New Englanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06201310505648616855noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665619563748706349.post-87079871559863314192008-07-15T11:59:00.000-07:002008-07-15T11:59:00.000-07:00In a world where the white collar criminals are ra...In a world where the white collar criminals are rarely caught and almost never punished, I am fascinated the way "legal" versus "social" consequences affect peoples decisions and actions in modern times. We must remember our social roots (whether that be a Massai community in Kenya 10,000 years ago or an old coal town in Tennessee 150 years ago). With a small population and low migration rates, your reputation was really all that mattered, and it affected every facet of your life, practically delivering or denying success ever step of the way. If you screwed up even once AND people found out about it (say, you slept with someone of a different tribe/race respectively), your life was effectively over because you would forever be a social outcast and no decent employment or romantic partner would ever come your way. (Think Hawethorne's "The Scarlet Letter", for example) And it was precisely this SOCIAL risk that persuaded folks to act in ways they otherwise might not, legality notwhithstanding. Remember too the classic "duel" where folks were fast to kill or die simply to to defend their reputation and honor.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14392716153346329001noreply@blogger.com