You are free sir, to ridicule.
The water cooler thread I started about law was essentially the same argument as this. Where does authority come from? It's an interesting question, at least to me. It has several answers. The most absolute authority that most of us deal with comes from physical law. It cannot be denied or disobeyed. It can be ignored, but not with impunity.
Other kinds of authority come from society, and they depend on social peer pressure and punitive threat for their power. This is weak authority, since any of us may voluntarily decline to be governed by our peers, and since we can take steps to avoid punishment. Indeed, to the extent to which the punitive arm of society is impotent, it's laws are nonexistent.
Other authority comes from a demonstration of and appeal to rightness. A person or entity that is shown repeatedly to be correct, good, just, or wise will accumulate authority without the use of threats or codification.
Authority can be innate too, as with parents and children. This authority is complex in practice, involving all the facets listed above, and will be eroded and built up in cycles depending on the patterns and choices in the lives of the parties involved.
It is my opinion that PDGA rules seek to serve the goals of rightness, fairness, elegance. That is why I said that they would be more willingly enforced if they were perfect. However, they are not perfect, and in the weak spots have no authority except that weakest of versions, the punitive/societal. The societal pressure to follow the weak rules is very low for several reasons: Many disc golfers are ignorant of the rules and cannot exert pressure. Many disc golfers share the same indifference to the same rules and choose to exert no pressure. It is easy to ignore many rules without often being noticed. This societal weakness undermines the already negligible power of punitive threat.
We can each choose which rules we will accept. I did not spout off in this thread because I like to boast about rule-breaking. I do not break rules because I get a kick out of bucking weak authority. I break rules because it is more interesting and stimulating for me to go through life according to the highest standards I can muster, and to build those standards independently of artifice. In playing PDGA events, my standards involve understanding the principles of the game and of fairness, and respecting my fellow man. Any rules that do not converge with these standards simply cease to exist. I could get away with breaking many more rules than I do and could brag about it here til the cows come home. But then I'd be worse than ridiculous, I'd be a fool.
