People Behave Socially and 'Well' Even Without Rules

[Autumnlicious]

You describe, in your hypothetical, a series of protocols summed up as:

Code:

$(unwanted action) -> kicked out

For example, let's look at the "Anyone who beats the shit out of the thief.."

Consider you catch the thief red handed in the act and move to apprehend him. Seeing this, he fights and struggles back in any way he can. Assuming you are successful but not some martial arts master (just a flailing human smacking at another flailing human), you'll probably, in some fashion, have beaten up the thief.

So much for the victim fighting back.

Let's look at another case -- what if the "thief" is starving (or has some other cause) for thievery? In this case, the "Its usually very simple rules" clause falls into play and off goes the thief, off "out of your community."

You're disregarding centuries of law, legal systems in favor of simplistic protocols.

As I said, it's stupid.