Ban something humans love? Forget it

A wry smile can be forgiven when we hear our glorious political leaders talking of banning mobile phones in school.
Rather obviously our elected, er, elite, have somehow not noticed one of the basic laws about

humans. Ask people not to do something, warn them of dangers, and you might persuade them away from pleasures.
But absolutely forget about making a rule about it, unless you want to be certain that the command will be flaunted forever and ever.
Nothing, almost absolutely nothing, will encourage humans to do something more than banning it.
Remember the lesson about the era of prohibition? Did it stop our desire for liquor? Ho, ho.

Direst warnings

The first personal lesson stamped in my memory was when denim, jeans, became a trend. The direst warnings about denim, jeans, appeared in public all over the small town where I worked as a junior reporter.
Want to go to the dance, any dance? Don’t wear jeans. Jeans are banned at the dance. No admittance in jeans. The distaste, the loathing, that jeans inspired in parents in the days of that campaign was amazing.
Of course, naturally, all the young wore denims, even if you could only change into the material once you’d left the house.

It was astonishing how clothes made of denim got up, as it were, the noses of organisers back then. And what did the ban achieve?

What are the majority wearing?

Get on a bus today, look at any high street, stroll through any shopping complex, and what are the majority wearing? … Continues on the blogs for my ocean adventuring book, Sailing to Purgatory, at SailingToPurgatory.com