Consequences

People seem to think these days they can do anything they want with no negative consequences—that doing whatever they want is their right, and if they get negative consequences someone other than them will pay.

I have the “right” to walk out in front of a bus, but there will be negative consequences if I do, so I don’t exercise that right. People used to understand this concept fairly well back in the day. I think many of us have sort of lost this ability—to be aware of negative consequences and adjust our behaviour accordingly.

Strangely enough, this goes the other way as well. Some of us seem to apply negative consequences irrationally based on some sort of criteria that is difficult to ascertain. An example of this inverse “consequence awareness” is being insanely fearful of a “virus” before there is really any real evidence for its existence. Or wearing a mask for little reason other than being terrified of the negative consequences authority has told us will ensue if we don’t wear one. It is as if whatever system within us that regulates “awareness of consequences” has gone haywire and flips from one extreme to the other at will.