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Date Posted: 15:40:29 08/16/04 Mon
Author: cat
Author Host/IP: 172.197.182.100
Subject: Re: Civil disobedience
In reply to: mnaz 's message, "Civil disobedience" on 19:27:08 08/14/04 Sat

I don't think it's a question that can be answered with a simple yes or no, even generally.

Nonviolent civil disobedience was used to great effect in India. You imply here that we may approve of civil disobedience if we approve of the cause. Conversely, if we don't approve of the cause, then we won't approve of the disobedience. Maybe it's more a matter of degrees. What's at stake? Is it a life-or-death issue? Does the oppression of a whole people or group of people hang in the balance?

Maybe it isn't so much approval of the cause as whether the cause weighs heavily or lightly in balance with the disobedience.

On the other hand -- you also have to ask who your civil disobedience affects? Does it just affect you and no one else?If you break the law, and go to jail, and that's your whole point, aren't you just bringing trouble down on your own head?

What about buying and smoking pot? There you have an example of millions and millions of people in an almost constant state of civil disobedience and the law hasn't changed and it isn't likely to. Pot smoking-- as civil disobedience--therefore, isn't very effective. If you get caught with the right amount in hand, you go to jail but the law is still the law. No change. A lot of risk for very little payback(not counting the high, OC) ...






>Generally, does it do more to advance the cause, or to
>set it back? A couple of examples come to mind: the
>illegal gay marriages sought and granted in San
>Francisco recently, and Thoreau's stint behind bars
>for non-payment of taxes in protest of the
>Mexican-American war.
>
>But asking and answering this question is a little
>tricky.
>In the long-term, history judges whether these actions
>are effective. But as they occur, it seems their
>legitimacy and potential to effect change are judged
>strictly according to whether or not one believes in
>either the cause or perhaps the concept of civil
>disobedience to begin with.... The status quo tends to
>use its own rules to discredit any challenge to those
>same rules. Any thoughts on this?

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