Normative Signs: The Poetry of "Ought"

Here’s another example of a desperate, perhaps futile, attempt to use normative signs to persuade people to act a particular way.

It says, “This is not a walkway.” You can see from the picture below that this sign occurs not once, but twice, along with a sign in between that points to the “pedestrian entrance to shopping centre” off to the right.

When I use normative signs in the classroom, as a conversation starter about policy making, I recommend to my students that they always ask themselves about the likely history behind any interesting normative sign they see. Reading the tea leaves here suggests a battle between incorrigible pedestrians and persistent regulators.

The picture was taken near a Walmart on Eglington Ave., in Toronto. Thanks to Brian Banks for the photo.