Perhaps you’ve seen the same sign I’ve seen in the windows of stores that sell cigarettes. I’m not writing this to start a debate about the evils of tobacco companies, the nanny-state anti-smoking campaign, the age of consent for smoking, what the punishment should be for adults who buy cigarettes for minors, or whether it is good, bad, justified, absurd, or hardly enough that Philip Morris USA has a Youth Smoking Prevention program that pays for the signs, a program I assume was put in place for PR or legal reasons following various tobacco industry lawsuits. Forget about tobacco. I want to talk about something the sign says.

I get that the point of the poster is that there are legal consequences for buying cigarettes for minors, hence the reference to “cost,” so you shouldn’t do it. The tagline of “It’s not just wrong, it’s illegal,” refers to that. Not only is it wrong, but there are legal penalties for doing it.

Still, the tagline reverses the importance of “illegal” and “wrong.”

It says: “It’s not just wrong, it’s illegal.”

The “just” makes “wrong” the lesser of the two problems with the act and makes the “illegal” the greater of the problems. Sure, it’s wrong, and that’s one reason not to do it, but it isn’t just wrong — it’s illegal. The “illegal” here is supposed to outweigh the “wrong” in importance or emphasis.

Apply the same structure to other actions.

Murder — it isn’t just wrong, it’s illegal.

Rape — it isn’t just wrong, it’s illegal.

Sounds silly, no?

People tend to obey laws that they agree with, that prohibit something that they believe is wrong. They don’t usually say, “I will not murder because doing so is illegal.” They don’t murder because they believe it is wrong to murder. That it is also illegal might provide a deterrent to some and reinforce the message that it’s wrong, and allow us to punish or lock away murderers to prevent them from murdering again, but murder being wrong, being an unacceptable act, violating a moral imperative, is what keeps most of us from murdering.

Try this:

Speeding: It’s not just wrong, it’s illegal.

Well, most people do drive faster than the speed limit. Or many of them do. Especially on the highway. Especially where the speed limit is only 55. They do so because they don’t believe it is wrong. It’s just illegal. So they go as fast as they think they can get away with, or as fast as they think is safe. The “it’s illegal” is their main incentive to not speed, but they know that enforcement is loose and everyone else is also speeding, or seems to be, so they drive more than 55 and buy radar detectors and try to avoid getting a ticket.

Try this:

Underage drinking: It’s not just wrong, it’s illegal.

Many people under 21, and plenty over, don’t believe it’s wrong. They have varying opinions about what the drinking age should be, what society’s attitude should be toward alcohol, and so on, but since so many under the age of 21 don’t think it’s wrong to drink, they drink. That it is illegal is sometimes an impediment, a hassle, maybe even once in a while an actual deterrent. But generally, because they don’t think it’s wrong, they drink, and often in large quantities.

There are plenty of other examples. Telling teenagers that downloading songs is illegal usually makes them laugh. They also know that smoking pot is illegal. If they don’t believe that what they are doing is wrong, and if they they enjoy it or believe that they derive some benefit from doing it, they will continue to do it, finding ways around the laws whenever possible.

The law can only do so much. Police can’t be everywhere. Nor would we want them to be. The best hope for a law to be obeyed is for people to agree that violating the law is wrong. People still, fortunately, mostly agree that murder, rape, and robbery are wrong.

As for the sign and “illegal” trumping “wrong,” in some societies it is still illegal for women to drive cars. In some societies throughout history it was illegal for black people to learn to write, or Jews to live alongside Catholics. Lots of things have been illegal that even at the time people recognized were not wrong. And lots of things have been legal that even at the time people recognized were not right.

Laws obviously have their important place in maintaining a civil society. Aside from enabling contracts and commerce and reinforcing useful customs — like driving on the same side of the street as other motorists — and all that, laws can maybe deter and certainly lock away those who pose a danger to the rest of us. Laws can also reinforce our notions of wrong and right — I don’t claim that they don’t influence culture and beliefs at all. 

And I understand that’s it’s just one poster, with a particular message about a specific policy. Maybe it doesn’t indicate anything larger at work in the culture. But when I see “It’s not just wrong, it’s illegal,” I think, What a bad way to put it. I recognize that we won’t all agree on what is right and what is wrong, that the source for our moral views might be different — it might be religion, God, belief in natural rights, a moral center instilled from childhood or inherent, or something else or all of these. Philosophical debates for another time. In any case, let’s not mistake “legal” for “right” or “illegal” for “wrong,” or, as the sign does, elevate the legal above the moral.

And, at the same time, we must recognize that we are a nation of laws, with a Constitution that sets ground rules and principles that have served us well and help keep government infringement on rights in check — or is supposed to. We can’t simply ignore or dismiss that document because it advocates something we think is wrong, not without giving up the ability of the document to protect our rights in other instances. So we have to work within the law when that is possible. And yes, politicians and voters continue to ignore the Constitution when it impedes their political or social goals, and invoke it when it seems to support their position. And whatever the law might be, as individuals, as Thoreau noted, our first obligation remains to do what is right, what is moral.

I realize that this raises a host of issues that this post won’t address. For example, some use and used their moral or religious views to argue for the very policies I mention above — women not being allowed to drive, Jews not being allowed to live alongside Catholics, and so on. Trying to impose moral or religious beliefs through the law is no answer, either (and anyone who thinks that imposing morals is a hobby only of the political or religious right hasn’t been paying enough attention). In any case, this post, long as it is already, isn’t going to attempt to construct or repeat someone else’s complete ethical and legal theory, or extrapolate from any general principle to specific laws, or sort through the many gray areas that emerge in these discussions.

Whatever our political or philosophical differences, I don’t think I’m alone in rejecting ”It’s not just wrong, it’s illegal” as a hierarchy. And I don’t think I’m the only one who’s noticed that when the government outlaws something that many people do not think is wrong, or passes a law that many do not think is any of the government’s business, the law tends to be ignored or thwarted in one way or another.

A more compelling tagline is this:

It isn’t just illegal, it’s wrong.

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