Re: Lawmakers and the law
There's a traditional debate in my field that deals with tools and how they are used. Summarized, the debate has two basic stances:
- Tool Users argue that if a tool can be used effectively for something outside of its initial scope of design then that additional use is just as valid as the original intended use. That's simply natural Human behavior as our place at the top of the entree list is a function of our adaptability.
- Tool Makers argue that although a tool might appear to work just fine in unintended applications, both the tool, and the thing it is being used on, are being damaged in ways not immediately noticeable, but nevertheless damage is occurring deep within both things and catastrophic failure of one, or both, things will occur if such uses continue.
It all makes a nice analogue with use/misuse of legislation doesn't it. My tools cost enormous amounts of money, are very dangerous if you get ego on them or don't apply sufficient respect and anyone truly proficient in their use has an unbelievably huge quantity of tools, most of which rarely get used, but deliver significantly superior results when they are used. Results are the goal after all right?
Those results also increase in value the same way in physical work and legislation. Simple objects and laws with 'digital' specs are easy. Does the thing you've made pass the 'go-no go' gauge? Were you exceeding the 70kph speed limit? That's student work. But when you move away from yes/no issues and into broad concepts that, by default, have meanings that vary with each situation you've got real challenges that need real experts and a comprehensive set of tools to deal with.
Again, we encounter analogues, this time with education and politics. I've got this big speech I give to new interns about how they'll never meet someone 'good' in our field who hasn't suffered a serious injury that leaves them with a permanent limp or needing a custom glove maker. That moves the crux of the issue to being good at judging character because the only people who aren't fucked up are the true masters of the field and the dangerously naive who don't know enough to discriminate between success and Success. There's a big fucking difference.
How you achieve your goal(s) is exactly as important as actually achieving them. Just because a tool appears to get the job done is never, by itself, sufficient enough justification to use an inappropriate tool. You've not only got to be certain about what possible side effects may occur, you've got to have solutions and mitigation processes ready to go before you put an 11' extension on that ratchet. Just as crucially, you've got to be dead certain that you won't damage the tool in some hidden way that could make it dangerous if someone uses it properly in some future task. Don't have all those things? Fuck you, you're not doing it.
Knowing how to establish all those elements and having the discipline to not do something if those elements aren't there is the difference between an actual professional and a student or dangerous elected asshole. I don't care what the book says, and I give zero shits what the law says. Authority, 'legal permission', to create a dangerous situation does not mean you can do, or not do, something. It means you won't get in trouble with the law if you do something. But it's critical to note that trouble with the law isn't the only kind of trouble you can be in. I swear, by all that is unholy, dark, soulless and damnable that I will make pot holders from the faces of your loved ones and I will play their bones on stage at Wolftrap next time the Carolina Chocolate Drops are in town if your dangerous actions, or their repercussions, harm my staff or family.
Act like a professional and back away if something is dangerous. Even in the face of enormous pressure, loss of treasure or the loss of your career. If you can't, or won't, do that you never had the right to be in a position where you could make serious decisions.
I'll end with this. Everybody has heard that saying 'a true craftsman never blames his tools'. Well, that's 100% bullshit. A true craftsman will change the situation to suit the tools available to him. If appropriate tools aren't available the true craftsman will create the appropriate tools, walk away or sub out what he can't do. But the true craftsman never uses the inappropriate tool.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
