The food rule is just one of those rules that we'll have to try and change, in the places that we can. Meanwhile, we'll just have to do our best to respect the rules, wishes, guidelines, whatever they are that come from the people running the venue. That means that one might have to forego a chance to save a little money but is still forgiven for bringing water to a competition when they really need to.
I don't want to start saying that we can say there are different kinds of rules, and some are not OK to break and some are (aside from the "unjust law" part of it). But...forgiveness for bringing water is one thing, and I don't think someone should be forgiven for passing the robot weight limit, breaking major restrictions on parts, or, I don't know, dealing illegal drugs.
I'm also thinking about TSA competitions, where there's a strict, very reasonable rule about guys not being in girls' rooms and vice versa when an adult isn't there. Every year people in my chapter break the rule (ssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!) because we aren't doing anything IN the rooms that we aren't supposed to be doing, we're in groups instead of just one guy and one girl, and we're just hanging out. The teachers don't find out, so what harm does it do? It's pretty hard to find a reason not to break the rule.
At the same time, wouldn't everyone agree that cheating on a test or plagiarizing or doing something illegal to the robot is NOT OK even when nobody finds out?
I don't think we can accept that "it's OK to break rules, sometimes," at least not while acknowledging it.
So it seems that an individual might judge by themself whether or not breaking a given rule is OK. The poll itself asks whether we think it's ok to break a rule if no one knows, but doesn't ask when it is and isn't ok. I want to ask: Considering that there are certain situations when an individual would judge that it's either necessary to break a rule or ok to break a rule in secret, some people say that they would break a rule;
can it be justified that some people say there are cases in which they would break a rule in secret?
EDIT: Sorry, that post could have been much more concise.
EDIT: My post continues from
this thread but was then moved over here. (I wouldn't mind if it could be moved back but it isn't a big deal)