SNIP
>>
>>No, not nobody, but me and you and everyone else while they are just part of the society and not in uniform doing their duties to serve and protect.
>>I know that I do my bit on the things that really bug me. Off the top of my head they are things like busting into lines, more than x items at the "express" cashier, littering.
>>I've learned to ignore a whole lot of the things you mention, mainly because they have little/no real impact on me. I don't care if people eat stinky stuff on a bus or subway, but I do want them to clean up after themselves. I don't care if someone bathed in perfume before getting on the bus because it's not worth worrying about. I move away from rubbies who stink of piss and haven't bathed in a month. I guess it comes down to a couple of simple things:
>>1) I don't expect everyone to be just like me;
>>2) A person has a right to eat or wear perfume and generally live the way they want to live and not the way I think they should comport themselves.
>>I have a real problem with people who get a surrogate to do the dirty work they ought to do themselves if they really have a problem with something. My sister's neighbour regarding the cat, for example. Imagine 5 visits by cops yet my sister still has no idea of what the problem is!?!?
>>I have a real problem with someone who can't apply common sense to any given situation. Like the article TracyH cited about arresting the candy bar lady. Or zero tolerance including expelling a kid for bring aspirin to school.
>>
>>I guess it's clear by now that I believe I have much more control regarding my surroundings than you do coupled with infinitely higher tolerance than you're willing to allow. I don't need cops or enforcers taking care of the little stuff. I'll either put up with it or address it myself.
>
>That's only because you are thinking only of yourself. There are a lot of people out there, for example who have allergies to perfume. My mother is one. Expose her to perfume and she has migranes all day. You call it 'little stuff', but the little stuff is not only part of the big picture, it is what eventually creates it.

Funny, but it looks to me that you are the one thinking only of yourself. A stinky McD burger, bathed in perfume, sound too loud through earbuds... are all problems YOU have a problem with.
Too bad about your mom, but lets face it, most people do not overdo their scents and when she comes in contact with one she can withdraw herself to a safe distance.
This isn't the little stuff mayor Giuliani was talking about. You've taken it to a whole other level and cops would have no time for their real work. New York City would be a mess today if your personal rules were enforced.

>
>As the 'little stuff' is allowed to accumulate, society becomes ever more unliveable. Small courtesies lead to large courtesies and small discourtesies lead to large discourtesies; just as small acts of ignoring the law lead to larger acts of ignoring the law. As long as we say, "This doesn't matter to me, so therefore it doesn't matter at all", we are allowing our society to devolve.

The trouble is that you want to impose YOUR ideas of discourteous on the population as a whole. What if the stinky burger person had her child turn up sick on awaking and had to rush the kid to the hospital and was finally making her way to work and took the time to finally feed herself? What if the person drenched in perfume has some bad burns that are healing and they stink to high heaven so they use perfume as a courtesy to those around them? So what if the guy's earbuds are letting you hear his music. Is your health threatened?... or is it that you're worried about his? If the latter, let him worry about himself.

>
>Giuliani had it right in New York. Quash the little stuff, and the big stuff will take care of itself.

He was talking about "crime" like breaking windows and skipping over turnstiles to evade payment and such. He certainly wasn't talking about stinky burgers or perfume overload or loud earbuds.
You should move to Singapore. They have lots of rules there in line with your vision of a good society.

>
>As a matter of interest, when you berate someone for butting in line and they ignore you, what do you do, pull a gun? Start a fight?

The almost universal response is a dirty look expressing that I should mind my own business. And I always just let it be. My objective is to get them to think twice the next time they contemplate the same. Not rocket science and not dangerous when I know 99.99% sure that the guy isn't carrying a gun.

>
>>I think you should try the same.
>
>If you mean an anarchy where each citizen is allowed to decided for him/herself which laws matter and which do not, and for cops to make the same sorts of decisions (this law matters; this other law doesn't matter), then sorry, I disagree. The job of a cop is to enforce the law. If it's a law you think doesn't matter, then tough. It's still the cop's job to enforce it.

Anarchy??? Letting someone live they way they feel comfortable is anarchy? Eating a burger on a train/bus is anarchy? Overdosing perfume is anarchy? Sound too loud is anarchy? Honestly, Singapore is for you. You can help them make even more laws.
>
>Is that what you do at work? You are given a list of things to do and you pick and choose which ones of those things to ignore as you are asking the cops to do?

To a point, yes. I always have more on my plate than I can handle so I prioritize things and set out to do them.
And you know full well that cops already ignore lots of stuff 99% of the time. In fact that's one really big beef I have with cops. If they're going to enforce laws, then enforce them all the time, for everyone. Not just when someone rubs them the wrong way or when they're "after" someone. You've heard "throw the book at them". Well that should be the norm, not some discretionary thing depending on if shift ends soon or they had a tiff with the spouse this morning or... If a law is going to be enforced, either enforce it all the time or drop it from the books.

SNIP