My Honest Opinion

[The Colonel]

Do we assume that Honest also includes an inherent belief in the legitimacy of the state? That could bear on the "will/may call police to report crime" issue - an honest person with no loyalty to government might be more prone to rely on peer pressure and/or address the matter within their community, whilst a state endorsing character might be more likely to hand matters to the proper authorities.

[Boomerang]

In my opinion the default for Honesty is that the laws of the land are reasonable. If the laws of the land are unreasonable the disadvantage should be worth -15 or -20 points.

[Gnome]

The principle of charity should apply here.
Does the disadvantage represent a pathology--compulsive law-following, even against one's own better judgment, which is extremely rare to nonexistent, and which I've never seen in fiction? Or does it represent a moral stance--the belief that one should follow the law of the land because it's the right thing to do, which is common in real life and perhaps even more common in fiction?
The more charitable reading of the text is the latter, even if the former might be a correct "literalist" reading of what's in the book.
Since the literalist reading offers a disadvantage that doesn't seem to describe anybody, I will go with the charitable reading: Honesty is a disadvantage for people who believe that we have a moral obligation to act legally.
And yes, this means that an Honest person can sometimes break the law if they sincerely believe that law to be unjust. But they cannot break it merely to suit their own personal ends. Which I think is worth approximately -10 right there!

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Do we assume that Honest also includes an inherent belief in the legitimacy of the state? That could bear on the "will/may call police to report crime" issue - an honest person with no loyalty to government might be more prone to rely on peer pressure and/or address the matter within their community, whilst a state endorsing character might be more likely to hand matters to the proper authorities.

In some times in Anglo-American history the legitimacy of the central government was in doubt but the local law tended to function as normal with exceptions for political crimes where one faction had a secure grip on an area. That is where the rhyme "Vicar of Bray" comes from but on the other hand a Vicar has more interest in what goes on in his neighborhood then what ruler is in charge.