About: Screw the Rules, I Have a Nuke   Sponge Permalink

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Most of the modern world is built on the principles that justice is blind and that no man is above the law. Thing is, much as those principles are great, they rely on someone being willing and able to enforce the law. This trope is what happens when there's nobody who can or will. Maybe someone has a bigger army than the police, maybe they have a nuke buried under a major city, maybe they just have superpowers that render them nigh-invincible, but in any case they are free to break any law they want without fear of any sort of official justice.

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  • Screw the Rules, I Have a Nuke
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  • Most of the modern world is built on the principles that justice is blind and that no man is above the law. Thing is, much as those principles are great, they rely on someone being willing and able to enforce the law. This trope is what happens when there's nobody who can or will. Maybe someone has a bigger army than the police, maybe they have a nuke buried under a major city, maybe they just have superpowers that render them nigh-invincible, but in any case they are free to break any law they want without fear of any sort of official justice.
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  • Most of the modern world is built on the principles that justice is blind and that no man is above the law. Thing is, much as those principles are great, they rely on someone being willing and able to enforce the law. This trope is what happens when there's nobody who can or will. Maybe someone has a bigger army than the police, maybe they have a nuke buried under a major city, maybe they just have superpowers that render them nigh-invincible, but in any case they are free to break any law they want without fear of any sort of official justice. More formally, this is known as the "Argumentum ad Baculum" or the Appeal to Force , whose logic goes essentially thus: "I'm right, and if you disagree, I beat you up." While invalid in abstract logic, this argument tactic is rather persuasive in Real Life. Some political theorists consider this to be the basis of all law. The idea is that laws are just rules enforced by the threat of violence - they don't have to be good or noble, they just have to threaten you if you break them. Needless to say, this argument is rather on the cynical side of the sliding scale, though that doesn't necessarily make it untrue. Of course, there is a catch. Unless you have the ability to live without sleeping and eating, sooner or later you have to put down the weapon. If you're the biggest badass in the room, there's always the risk that somebody will slit your throat from behind. If your gang of supporters will avenge your death...that leaves you with the need to keep your gang happy. Plus, there's always the problem of old age... Needs a Better Description. See also An Offer You Can't Refuse, Hobbes Was Right, Might Makes Right, Shoot the Shaggy Dog and Screw The Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers!. Frequently the next step after Screw The Rules, I Make Them! doesn't work. Also check out Dead-Man Switch for when the nuke in question is used as a bargaining chip, thus changing the rules.
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