Yes, let's obey all authority always because that never turned out poorly. I don't even need to name the law I'm invoking here the connotations are so obvious.
Here's another equally valid approach to life - if someone tells you to do something, threatens you with consequences if you don't, and you think they're completely full of shit, spit in their face, laugh, and tell them exactly why they're wrong. You'll be punished, oh yes, but you'll also enjoy being a smug righteous bastard, just like the person you laughed at.
It's a highly conditional matter, and like most things, there are circumstances where opposition to the established power is the right choice, but (almost always) only when you have power of your own to fall back on, and only when the cause is something more meaningful than "act like a hobo night" falling on the same day as a holiday that, to be perfectly honest, I've never heard or seen mentioned anywhere but this forum in the past week (being American might have something to do with that, as I gather its an international holiday and we have other holidays of the same nature that presumably eclipse it).
Perhaps history sometimes needs martyrs, but they accomplish nothing for themselves, and only help those who use their sacrifice to their own ends* (except in those cases where the "martyrdom" in question isn't fatal, and merely inconvenient (in which case it can't properly be called "martyrdom", since that has much stronger connotations)) who survive to exploit* the injustice for sympathy for their cause. Much wiser to be the one who can exploit* the sacrifices of others to further the cause, and wiser still to be, or at least give the appearance of being, one with a leveler head who can do so more insidiously, changing the opposition's behavior from within, pointing out the bad publicity that comes from making martyrs of your enemies and whatnot.
And if one may respond "but if everyone swallowed their pride and payed lip service to tyrants, no change would ever come about", I can only say that swallowing one's pride and giving the appearance of compliance or agreement is not a Human thing to do, unless the matter in question is not terribly important to you, and so there will always be people foolhardy enough to do it, and that there are usually better ways to serve your cause than making a martyr of yourself. Which brings me to:
Alternatively you can deal with people rationally and as equals, developing the social skills to influence those in authority with reason and peace. I mean, nothing can ever change ever and they're all out to get you, but at least you can make some friends along the way.
In other words, swallowing your pride and behaving diplomatically, rather than giving in to anger or your overinflated ego (as the case may be). Which is not what they did. They deliberately antagonized the "oppressive" authority, which in this case happened to be the most trigger happy breed of tyrant: petty bureaucrats, and
school officials no less! And I cannot imagine they were too diplomatic in dealing with them either, I know their type,
having been that type back in highschool.
(Seriously, Pseudononymous, why the bitter? That's some grade-A accidentally a walnut shell bitter. )
Huh? I don't read that as bitter... hostile maybe, but not significantly so. If it's all the "fucking"s, those are just intensives to further highlight the most salient points.
And TBH I find Pseudonymous statement puzzling, as he's the one who usually advocates to spit in the face of The Man and nevermind the consequences...
What? The only political things I remember having said have been arguing in favor of benevolent authority (public healthcare, government run infrastructure, possibly economic regulations and progressive taxation, though I can't recall if I've bothered with that here), or denouncing Israel for the whole shooting/blowing up/dropping white phosphorous on kids thing. And commentary on why Anarchism works, but only in small, primitive groups, being unworkable in modern society with its high populations and wondrous technology, I suppose... I try to stay out of political discussions, but sometimes a particular topic is one I care about, or I just can't stand the way the discussion is going and have to voice my opinion; back in my political science class my first year of college, at least half the classes ended with me shouting at
one person in particular across the room, after staying silent for most of the class, simply because I couldn't stand letting her bullshit go unchallenged any longer. Hilariously, not once did the professor object to it, judging by his expression and things he said, either he agreed with what I had to say or felt that loudly interrupting someone was a form of healthy debate.
*Note that while I use terms like "exploit" and "their own ends", which I realize have negative connotations, I don't mean to cast those to whom I'm referring in a Machiavellian light, or imply that their personal involvement with the movement they support is inherently selfish, only that they and their cause benefit more from craftier and more levelheaded actions than doomed expressions of opposition.
Author
Topic: Rememberance Day, Freedom of Speech, and My High School (Read 6366 times)