Jury Duty

  Dennis Hackethal revised criticism #3329. The revision addresses idea #3376.

Why does John Doe deserve your best effort? He’s a random stranger to you. Why should you care what happens to him? What has he done to deserve your effort and consideration?

This sounds like sacrifice/altruism.

https://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/sacrifice.html
https://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/altruism.html

Why does John Doe deserve your best effort? He’s a random stranger to you. Why should you care what happens to him? What has he done to deserve your effort and consideration?

This stance sounds like sacrifice/altruism.

https://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/sacrifice.html
https://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/altruism.html

  Dennis Hackethal addressed criticism #3329.

Why does John Doe deserve your best effort? He’s a random stranger to you. Why should you care what happens to him? What has he done to deserve your effort and consideration?

This sounds like sacrifice/altruism.

https://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/sacrifice.html
https://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/altruism.html

#3329·Dennis HackethalOP, 2 months ago

This sounds like sacrifice/altruism.

Shouldn’t use ‘this’ in isolation. Use a noun with it.

  Dennis Hackethal revised criticism #3314.

You want people who don’t care. You need neutrality.

You actually want people who don’t care. You need neutrality.

  Benjamin Davies revised criticism #3365.

This might be a difference in dialect. In New Zealand (and I assume other places, like maybe Australia, UK and Ireland) it is common to use ‘must not’ to mean:

a) ‘ Is forbidden to’ (the meaning you are familiar with),

or

b) ‘necessarily cannot’, usually in a deductive way.

Example sentence: “His shoes aren’t here. I guess he must not be home then.”

This sentence is much more natural to me than “His shoes aren’t here. I guess he cannot be home then.”

This might be a difference in dialect. In New Zealand (and I assume other places, like maybe Australia, UK and Ireland) it is common to use ‘must not’ to mean:

a) ‘ Is forbidden to’ (the meaning you are familiar with),

or

b) ‘necessarily cannot’, usually in a deductive way.

Example: “His shoes aren’t here. I guess he must not be home then.”

This is much more natural to me than “His shoes aren’t here. I guess he cannot be home then.”

  Benjamin Davies revised criticism #3363.

This might be a difference in dialect. In New Zealand (and I assume other places, like maybe Australia, UK and Ireland) it is common to use ‘must not’ to mean:

a) ‘ Is forbidden to’ (the meaning you are familiar with),

and

b) ‘necessarily cannot’, often in a deductive way.

Example sentence: “His shoes aren’t here. I guess he must not be home then.”

This sentence is much more natural to me than “His shoes aren’t here. I guess he cannot be home then.”

This might be a difference in dialect. In New Zealand (and I assume other places, like maybe Australia, UK and Ireland) it is common to use ‘must not’ to mean:

a) ‘ Is forbidden to’ (the meaning you are familiar with),

or

b) ‘necessarily cannot’, usually in a deductive way.

Example sentence: “His shoes aren’t here. I guess he must not be home then.”

This sentence is much more natural to me than “His shoes aren’t here. I guess he cannot be home then.”

  Benjamin Davies revised criticism #3348. The revision addresses idea #3356.

This might be a difference in dialect. I mean ‘mustn’t’ as in ‘must not’.

Example sentence: “His shoes aren’t here. I guess he must not be home then.” —> “I guess he mustn’t be home then.”

This sentence is much more natural than “His shoes aren’t here. I guess he cannot be home then.”

This might be a difference in dialect. In New Zealand (and I assume other places, like maybe Australia, UK and Ireland) it is common to use ‘must not’ to mean:

a) ‘ Is forbidden to’ (the meaning you are familiar with),

and

b) ‘necessarily cannot’, often in a deductive way.

Example sentence: “His shoes aren’t here. I guess he must not be home then.”

This sentence is much more natural to me than “His shoes aren’t here. I guess he cannot be home then.”

  Dennis Hackethal addressed criticism #3348.

This might be a difference in dialect. I mean ‘mustn’t’ as in ‘must not’.

Example sentence: “His shoes aren’t here. I guess he must not be home then.” —> “I guess he mustn’t be home then.”

This sentence is much more natural than “His shoes aren’t here. I guess he cannot be home then.”

#3348·Benjamin Davies, about 2 months ago

I mean ‘mustn’t’ as in ‘must not’.

I realize that. The linked Wiktionary page covers the contraction. The contraction isn’t the issue.

  Benjamin Davies addressed criticism #3342.

mustn’t

Maybe this is the non-native speaker in me, but do you mean ‘can’t’? I thought ‘mustn’t’ means ‘may not’: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/must_not

#3342·Dennis HackethalOP, 2 months ago

This might be a difference in dialect. I mean ‘mustn’t’ as in ‘must not’.

Example sentence: “His shoes aren’t here. I guess he must not be home then.” —> “I guess he mustn’t be home then.”

This sentence is much more natural than “His shoes aren’t here. I guess he cannot be home then.”

  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #3339.

Maybe juries can be done away with. Not all levels of courts have juries, so they mustn’t be fundamental.

#3339·Benjamin Davies revised 2 months ago

mustn’t

Maybe this is the non-native speaker in me, but do you mean ‘can’t’? I thought ‘mustn’t’ means ‘may not’: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/must_not

  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #3339.

Maybe juries can be done away with. Not all levels of courts have juries, so they mustn’t be fundamental.

#3339·Benjamin Davies revised 2 months ago

I think having a jury of your peers is important in criminal cases and they shouldn’t be done away with. Juries protect the accused from abuse of authority and unjust laws.

  Benjamin Davies revised idea #3338.

Maybe juries can be done away with. Not all levels of courts have them, so they mustn’t be fundamental.

Maybe juries can be done away with. Not all levels of courts have juries, so they mustn’t be fundamental.

  Benjamin Davies submitted idea #3338.

Maybe juries can be done away with. Not all levels of courts have them, so they mustn’t be fundamental.

  Zelalem Mekonnen commented on idea #3336.

Rand defines duty as "the moral necessity to perform certain actions for no reason other than obedience to some higher authority." Can one completely remove duty from their worldview? In other words, can one completely remove oneself from doing things as an obedience to a higher authority, imagined or real?

If the authority is real, one might still decide to do the thing by rationally deciding not doing it has consequences.

#3336·Zelalem Mekonnen, 2 months ago

Yes, unless one find the action fun (like I find jury duty fun). If I didn't find it fun, I'd argue I am in the right for doing things to get out of jury duty.

One has the right to do things he find interesting, no matter how trivial.

  Zelalem Mekonnen commented on criticism #3298.

A duty is an unchosen obligation. It’s an expression of mysticism. Immanuel Kant is responsible for spreading this anti-concept.

https://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/duty.html

#3298·Dennis HackethalOP, 2 months ago

Rand defines duty as "the moral necessity to perform certain actions for no reason other than obedience to some higher authority." Can one completely remove duty from their worldview? In other words, can one completely remove oneself from doing things as an obedience to a higher authority, imagined or real?

If the authority is real, one might still decide to do the thing by rationally deciding not doing it has consequences.

  Zelalem Mekonnen commented on criticism #3308.

Force means you get a bunch of people on a jury who don’t want to be there. This either introduces friction because they will drag their feet, or they will just vote for whatever outcome will get them out of there the fastest, which isn’t necessarily justice. For example (emphasis added):

[A] guy said to use the opportunity to fight back against laws you don't agree with. I thought about doing that even though we were asked if we could put personal feelings aside and enforce the law and I didn't want to be the one to say I couldn't so I stayed quiet. Then I thought, “What if I'm the only juror who thinks the law is unjust”? “Do I really want to drag this out just to fight the system”? I decided to make my decision based solely on whatever would get this over with the quickest. In this particular case a guy was charged with crimes that I don't think should be crimes anyway. Since I know the majority of people in my community feel the opposite, I chose to keep my opinion to myself for fear of ridicule of people knowing my feelings.

#3308·Dennis HackethalOP revised 2 months ago

they will just vote for whatever outcome will get them out of there the fastest

Making it voluntary and with pay could fix this problem, but not necessarily. I can imagine a scenario where a juror is looking to get as many duties as possible.

  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #3333.

[Jury duty is] part of your contract with the country.

Source

#3333·Dennis HackethalOP, 2 months ago

There is no contract with the country. A contract implies consent, the freedom to sign or not sign. A forced signature is null and void.

  Dennis Hackethal submitted idea #3333.

[Jury duty is] part of your contract with the country.

Source

  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #3330.

Who would subject themselves to that [gruesome] experience [of being a juror] voluntarily? The difficulty of finding volunteers alone means that jury duty must be mandatory. And if it were voluntary, it wouldn’t be fair for those who did serve.

Source

#3330·Dennis HackethalOP, 2 months ago

… if it were voluntary, it wouldn’t be fair for those who did serve.

By that ‘logic’, we never could have abolished slavery. What a stupid argument.

  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #3330.

Who would subject themselves to that [gruesome] experience [of being a juror] voluntarily? The difficulty of finding volunteers alone means that jury duty must be mandatory. And if it were voluntary, it wouldn’t be fair for those who did serve.

Source

#3330·Dennis HackethalOP, 2 months ago

The difficulty of finding volunteers alone means that jury duty must be mandatory.

Not necessarily. It might just mean that courts suck at persuading people to be jurors.

  Dennis Hackethal submitted idea #3330.

Who would subject themselves to that [gruesome] experience [of being a juror] voluntarily? The difficulty of finding volunteers alone means that jury duty must be mandatory. And if it were voluntary, it wouldn’t be fair for those who did serve.

Source

  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #3328.

I think [the inner workings of the justice system are] goddamned impressive. And humbling. And when I get a summons to serve? I go. Because both “the People of the State” and that “John Doe” deserve my best effort. I would expect it if I was ever on the wrong side of that -vs- and I would hope that you would too.

Source

#3328·Dennis HackethalOP, 2 months ago

Why does John Doe deserve your best effort? He’s a random stranger to you. Why should you care what happens to him? What has he done to deserve your effort and consideration?

This sounds like sacrifice/altruism.

https://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/sacrifice.html
https://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/altruism.html

  Dennis Hackethal submitted idea #3328.

I think [the inner workings of the justice system are] goddamned impressive. And humbling. And when I get a summons to serve? I go. Because both “the People of the State” and that “John Doe” deserve my best effort. I would expect it if I was ever on the wrong side of that -vs- and I would hope that you would too.

Source

  Dennis Hackethal submitted criticism #3327.

If jury duty were required for a free society to work, that would mean some people would have to be enslaved for a while to ensure freedom for everyone else. In other words, freedom would require some amount of slavery. That’s contradictory.

  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #3325.

If jury participation were voluntary, “it would just be the same batch of NCIS fans deciding every case.” (Source)

#3325·Dennis HackethalOP, 2 months ago

No, again, if you persuade enough people, you will have a diverse pool to choose from.

  Dennis Hackethal submitted idea #3325.

If jury participation were voluntary, “it would just be the same batch of NCIS fans deciding every case.” (Source)