Well for example, when you go to pay at the supermarket you go to the back of the line, right? Why? Why don\u2019t you go to the front of the line? Or into a gap between other shoppers? There is NO LAW against going right to the front. But there is a RULE.<\/p>\n
Its a social \u2018rule,\u2019 created organically and by the society you inhabit. A rule without a ruler.<\/p>\n
We call following the rules being \u2018civil,\u2019 and they are a core part of \u2018civilization.\u2019 In your everyday life it is rules, not laws, that guide your conduct.<\/p>\n
But what if different civilizations use different rules? They do. And what happens when people who use different rules encounter one another in a common space?<\/p>\n
Confusion and hostility.<\/p>\n
You may have encountered this on the roadway, when seeing a driver who does not follow the \u201crules,\u201d and you wonder \u201cwho is this idiot?\u201d Perhaps you drive up alongside and glance over to see a foreigner and wonder \u201cwhy don\u2019t they learn how to drive?\u201d<\/p>\n
But they do know how to drive, they are simply following different \u2018rules.\u2019<\/p>\n
In Vietnam for example, traffic goes where traffic flows. If there is space, you go into it, thats the RULE. You do not yield to the person on the right, you do not check behind you, you do not stay in your lane, there is no such thing as \u201cyour lane,\u201d it\u2019s just a street, no one owns it, you just go.<\/p>\n
Everyone around you is counting on your driving by these rules. To hesitate or look behind or stop is dangerous. Only a stupid foreigner would do such things, those people don\u2019t know how to drive! They\u2019re uncivilized. They don’t know the rules.<\/p>\n
Similar differences apply to standing in line.<\/p>\n
At the airport Burger King there is confusion. Multiple cashiers, but at the moment I walk up only a single line of customers waiting for the next available cashier. The people in line are Europeans and Americans and thats the way they line up in Europe and America.<\/p>\n
But an airport is sort of an international zone, where multiple cultures and rules intersect, and this airport is in Vietnam, so which rules apply? No one knows. Not for sure.<\/p>\n
I line up behind some sort of Western guy. The next cashier opens up and Western guy stays put, waiting for the cashier to wave him forward. That\u2019s a ‘rule, wherever he comes from. But no wave comes.<\/p>\n
Instead, a Vietnamese guy in a suit walks to the counter and begins ordering. There was a space and he walked into it. Western guy is pissed. Why? Because the Vietnamese guy isn\u2019t following the rules! But, the Vietnamese guy IS following the rules. They\u2019re just different rules.<\/p>\n
Western guy taps Vietnamese guy on the shoulder and says, \u201cBlah blah blah…\u201d<\/p>\n
Vietnamese guy is like, \u201cOh hi Western guy, do you need help with something?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBlah blah blah…\u201d<\/p>\n
Vietnamese guy\u2019s friend asks, \u201cWhat does Western guy want? He seems like he\u2019s mad about something\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know. Foreigners are crazy. They don\u2019t know the rules. Look at him with this public display of anger. Didn\u2019t anyone teach him manners?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo uncivilized.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Civilization runs on rules, not laws. What\u2019s the difference? Well for example, when you go to pay at the supermarket you go to the back of the line, right? Why? Why don\u2019t you go to the front of the line? Or into a gap between other shoppers? There is NO LAW against going right to the front. But there is...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/dennispresiloski.com\/portfolio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/burger-king-rules.png","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Jba6-n5","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dennispresiloski.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dennispresiloski.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dennispresiloski.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dennispresiloski.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dennispresiloski.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1431"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/dennispresiloski.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1467,"href":"http:\/\/dennispresiloski.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431\/revisions\/1467"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dennispresiloski.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dennispresiloski.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dennispresiloski.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dennispresiloski.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}