There are those who deny either openly or covertly the right of
society to regulate their lives or desires. In modern literature
this type of rebel is quite favor, ably depicted, although he is
usually represented as finally punished in one way or another.
Where a man rebels against a specific type of restriction but
favors another kind he is a reformer; if however he favors merely
the removal of restriction and regulation[1] he is an anarchist
and, in my opinion, without real knowledge of life. While the
rebel who denies the right of discipline exists, he is rare; the
commonest rebel does not deny society's right to regulate but
either will not or cannot keep his rebel desires in conformity.
Most criminals are of this type, and the inability to conform may
arise from many defects in training or original character.
[1] Watch a busy crossing when the traffic policeman is at work,
regulating and disciplining. Everything is orderly,
smooth-working, and no one complains. Let him step away for a
moment; at once there is confusion, danger and the intensely
competitive spirit of the drivers comes out, with the skillful
and reckless and selfish invading the rights of the less skilled,
timid and considerate. The policeman's return is welcomed by the
bulk of the drivers. There are very many points of similarity
between society and the busy crossing which need no elaboration
on my part.
In fact, though we may rebel against discipline and its various
social modifications, most of us are quite anxious that others
shall be disciplined and raise the hue and cry at once when they
rebel. Behind this dislike of the rebel is certainly the feeling
that he predicates a superiority for himself by so doing, and
this injures our self-esteem. Of course there is and may be a
genuine belief that he menaces society and its stability, but
those who raise this cry the loudest are usually themselves
menaced either in authority and power or in some more direct
cashable value.
The qualities which are now to be briefly discussed are in the
main great inhibitions. The moral code is in great part and by
the majority of men understood as inhibition and prohibition. A
man is held to be honest if he does not steal and truthful if he
does not lie. In reality this conception is largely correct, and
it is as we extend our ideas of stealing and lying that we grow
in morality.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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