Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Suburban Legend

Theodicus uses a chess example to explain why city kids ("once they learn the rules, most ... are willing to play within them") are preferable to suburban ones ("[they] don't think they did anything wrong unless they're caught"):
In chess there are some rules that you either call on yourself, or can only be enforced if your opponent catches you ... and appeals to the director. A suburban child breaks such a rule. After the game is over, I suggest to him, politely, that he should learn the rules of the game if he plans to continue playing in tournaments. (I do this for his own good, because there are some folks who play chess who can get very outraged - and outrageous - if you transgress the rules while playing against them....) Indignantly, he tells me he knows the rules. Further, he obviously didn't do anything wrong, because his opponent didn't complain.

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