segunda-feira, fevereiro 13, 2023

“Written laws are like cobwebs. They catch, it is true, the weak and poor, but are easily destroyed by the rich and powerful.” (Anacharsis)

“Written laws are like cobwebs. They catch, it is true, the weak and poor, but are easily destroyed by the rich and powerful.” (Anacharsis) Put that way, when we say that laws are like cobwebs, we tend to forget a crucial little word in the original, "writings." And it is central to the whole context, because it demonstrates that the expression that Anacharsis used did not intend to criticize the spirit of the laws, but the fact that they were placed in a written, static form, which - falsely - one would like to assume that it serves to everyone. What is fake. If a law is static, if it is written in the proverbial stone, it is purely human and, as such, it will have the flaws worthy of all human beings. Someone with enough money or power will know how to get around them, it's like a stone that finds in its path the product of a spider's hard work - this one can catch small flies, of course, but nothing can against heavier things. Reality is as it is and not as we wish it to be! In these times now, we have to be aware that we suffer from a cognitive bias, we like reality to fit what we think and we let ourselves be carried away by advertising that seems to confirm our beliefs. There are those who say that we only realize reality when it is too late, as Mahatma Gandhi said: “The seven capital sins responsible for social injustices are: wealth without work; unscrupulous pleasures; knowledge without wisdom; trade without morals; politics without idealism; religion without sacrifice and science without humanism.” In other terms for those awake, tomorrow was a certainty they didn't even think about; just as it was for sleepers before they went into sleep and today? Making our own the words of Plato, "laws exist to fetter the weak to the desires of the strong". Laws are like cobwebs, without any real doubt, because they do not have equal power over the weak and the strong. While none of this contributes in the least to the relief or comfort of those who suffer, I feel a little more human in doing so. And it is urgent to do so. Against indifference. The truth is that Pascal already said that: “A peaceful indifference is the wisest of virtues. “Which brings us to a realization in the words of Martin Luther King.” What scares me is not the actions and screams of the bad people, but the indifference and silence of the good people.”

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