April 6th, 2009 (11:32 pm)
current mood: thoughtful
Earlier Kerry said she was going to blow up the first floor TV (in jest) because then she wouldn't get common billed, and I said if she did I would turn her in (I don't know whether I actually would. It would probably depend on my mood, just like the Scruples card about the drunk taxi driver, or whatever. I don't know how I feel about tattling. But that's beside the point). Matt said that you don't tell on people, and I think I asked, Who says? and he said everyone. Which is indisputably true. Well, except parents, maybe. But the point is, a very large group of people feel that it is not very classy to tell on someone, no matter what they're doing. And I kind of want to agree with them. Kind of.
But also I just want to think about it. I mean, where would such an unquestionable rule have come from? Why would it be so ingrained in all of us? It seems to be ingrained in me as well. Kerry said, It's like Prisoner's Dilemma. And in some ways it is. If I never tell on you, or Kerry, or whomever, and you, or Kerry, or whomever never tells on me, then we all get away with whatever we want. Which is good for all of us. But unlike Prisoner's Dilemma, where there are no variables to consider but the amount of jail time you will get for each decision, and possibly, if you're playing that way, the way your decisions this round will affect your opponent's in the future, in the real world crimes (the word crimes being used in a general sense to mean anything that some authority figure would object to, and therefore anything that could be told on) hurt other people. So it's not just me and you or Kerry or whomever that needs to be considered, but also all the poor people on the first floor paying for the microwave they didn't break. And yeah, some crimes don't affect other people, or at least not in a way I can immediately see to connect, but some do. So I think I kind of approve of telling on people. Although. This is not to say I would. Because I think in general my happy relationships with my friends are more important than saving everyone on the first floor two dollars, or whatever.
But there. Those are my thoughts.