Vigilante Diver

Vigilante haiku

Water flushing crap

Smoking laptop attacking

I keep on going

By Dusan, reincarnation of Doo Shan, (856 – ?), founder of  extra hot chili sauce and Zen diving

If I see a number of people acting in a way I think is morally unacceptable and I wish to correct such behavior and improve situation, I have a number of options.

a)      I can try to force them to change their ways (through threats of punishment)

b)      I can deliver stern moral lectures, seeking to persuade them to change their ways

c)      I can try the Socratic approach of engaging them in a conversation which probes the roots of their beliefs

d)     or, alternatively, I can encourage everyone to see them as ridiculous, to laugh at them, to render them objects of scorn for the society. In doing so I will probably have at least two purposes in mind: first, to effect some changes in the behavior of the target (so that they reform) and, second, to encourage others not to behave in such a manner

Ad a) As for an effective threat I would need at least something as a loaded shot gun, services of the judge Roy Bean, a flamethrower or ability to make a really threatening face; due to lack of resources this option has been ruled out (with some regret).

Effectiveness: varies from 6 to 10+

Potential dangers of using the force: I can end in jail.

Ad b) Have you ever tried to explain to your vacuum cleaner what Elizabethan poetry is? Well, understanding of what »moral« means among these esteemed characters is slightly lower...

Effectiveness: exact 0

Potential dangers of lecturing: I may go crazy. Oops, you think this has already happened?!

Ad c) Attack through in-depth conversation roots, trunks, branches, leaves and fruits of their beliefs which are threesome:

Money, money and more money.

Effectiveness: 0+

Potential dangers of Socratic approach: I may jump back to a) and end in jail.

Ad d) Because satire often combines anger and humor it can be profoundly disturbing but also very effective. If we manage to make a laughing stock out of these type of people others will think twice before engaging in similar activities.

Effectiveness: varies from 7 to 9

Potential dangers of satire: Low, because as it is essentially ironic or even “militantly” sarcastic, it will not be understood by underprivileged in brain department and will not lead to some freelance carpentry and ecologically unacceptable depletion of forests as in preparing a nice, old fashioned wooden cross to crucify the author…:)