“I don’t think drinking is bad, but we have a low-alcohol culture so the fact you host parties with alcohol is bad”
Often the easiest mark of bad behaviour is that it breaks a norm we’ve agreed. Is it harmful in a specific case to be shoplift? Depends on what was happening to the things you stole. But it seems easier just to appeal to our general norm that shoplifting is bad. On average it is harmful and so even if it wasn’t in this specific case, being willing to shoplift is a bad sign. Even if you’re stealing meds to give to your gran, it may be good to have a general norm against this behaviour.
But if the norm is bad that weakens norms in general. Lots of people in the UK speed in their cars. But this teaches many people that twice a day, the laws aren’t actually laws. It encourages them that many government rules are stupid and needless as opposed to wise and reasonable
But how broadly should this norm apply? 99% of cases, 95%? I don’t know.
But it’s clear to me that if a norm only applies in 50% of cases it’s a bad norm. It’s gonna leave everyone trusting the values of the community less, because half the time it will punish or reward people incorrectly.
Norms are useful so let’s have useful norms.
“I don’t think drinking is bad, but we have a low-alcohol culture so the fact you host parties with alcohol is bad”
Often the easiest mark of bad behaviour is that it breaks a norm we’ve agreed. Is it harmful in a specific case to be shoplift? Depends on what was happening to the things you stole. But it seems easier just to appeal to our general norm that shoplifting is bad. On average it is harmful and so even if it wasn’t in this specific case, being willing to shoplift is a bad sign. Even if you’re stealing meds to give to your gran, it may be good to have a general norm against this behaviour.
But if the norm is bad that weakens norms in general. Lots of people in the UK speed in their cars. But this teaches many people that twice a day, the laws aren’t actually laws. It encourages them that many government rules are stupid and needless as opposed to wise and reasonable
But how broadly should this norm apply? 99% of cases, 95%? I don’t know.
But it’s clear to me that if a norm only applies in 50% of cases it’s a bad norm. It’s gonna leave everyone trusting the values of the community less, because half the time it will punish or reward people incorrectly.