Appearances can be deceiving to begin with but never more so than in an era that values intent above effectiveness.  With the proliferation of entertainment media, our lives have become saturated with truths cloaked in lies.  Without maintaining our ability to distinguish between the two, we corrupt a useful medium for conveying truth as well as our overall worldview.  A helpful pill can be sugarcoated to help it go down more easily, but neglecting the distinction between the two leads to confusion of them.  Feeling better after eating them without attributing that healthy turn to the concealed pill, one could inaccurately conclude the sugar was the cure and may then consume any ordinary sugar available, thinking it will help.  Just so, mistaking the presentational aspects of entertainment media – its drama and controlled circumstances – for its morality, its appearances for its intent, we mistake its lies for truth, and in doing so, warp our own worldview with the unattainable and immoral.  Plus, just as not all sugar contains pills, not all entertainment contains truths.  In fact, truth is often lacking where it is most expected.

Let us first consider a particular example, one of effectiveness versus intent – “If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.”  Say we have several tasks to complete and are capable of completing them all on our own.  A friend offers to help, however, so we allow it.  While working on our other tasks, we notice our friend going about his own ineffectively or even in such a way that will make more work for us later.  When we address the issue, our friend rejects our direction and then gets upset when we opt to have less work for ourselves by simply removing him from the task.  Should we have just kept quiet and endured the extra work in order not to upset our friend?  If he is not a child, certainly not.  Our friend claimed to want to help, yet in practice actually made more work for us and persisted in such action even when confronted.  If our friend truly wanted to help as he claimed, he would do his best and listen to direction if needed.  In not doing so, he demonstrated his true intent.  He only wanted to appear helpful, rather than actually being helpful – intent over effectiveness.

Any relationship requires a certain degree of give and take.  However, mutual compromise is one thing; appeasement is quite another.  With that in mind, let us widen our scope.  A community is a relationship.  Society is a relationship.  Rules put in place should be for the benefit of the group overall.  Not everyone may be happy about them, but the reasonable ones should be able to see why they are necessary.  Reasonable people, too, should be able to see when rules are absurd.  Certain tests work well in discerning which are which, if we take the time to analyze them.  Are there inconsistencies in enforcement?  Is basic, rational understanding thrown out the window when it does not support the rule?  Does reasoning for implementing the rule contradict itself?  One of the best ways to begin delving into such analysis is considering what those involved with introducing the rule have to gain personally, one way or another.

It is not only those implementing ineffective rules who are to blame for their continuance but also those who blindly accept and follow them.  With none to keep in check those given any degree of power over us, what keeps them from exercising it toward their own ends?  Can we trust them to possess compatible ethics or personal morality?  Unlikely.  Accountability is key.  Sheep have not the initiative for it, however, so we must try a different approach.  Instead of adhering to the opinions and thoughts of others, we must rely more on ourselves, accepting that, more often than we would like, people can and will opt for intent or the appearance of intent over effectiveness, even those in positions which require a great deal of public trust.  With the collapse of our illusion of such structures, we should quickly come to understand that trust should not be given so easily, especially when we are being pressured to give it, as intent may not match appearances and certainly may not be effective.