"I was not born to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion."
Wouldn't Thoreau roll over in his grave at the state of politics in America today? Or rather, he would urge us to stand up as individuals, take revolutionary action against the established order with autonomy, reason and intellect.
Thoreau, in his essay describes his philosophical ideas about government, the conformism and obedience. Thoreau portrays the civil Government on the 18th and describes the disadvantage of it against people.“Resistance to Civil Government” was neither his first nor the last of his writings on social and political reform. Thoreau believed the individual was not exempt from the power of the state; a decision to disobey also meant a willingness to accept the consequences. And as merely machines, people could easily conform to life at that time.
Thoreau refusal to pay the tax was intended as a direct protest against an unpopular tax and as an indirect protest against the government's condoning of slavery. He also linked slavery to the Mexican-American War, protesting against it. Thoreau was not afraid of saying what he thinks, and he was trying to make people also speak for themselves. In addition, it is clear that, it seems to be either justice or law, and that unfortunately, we cannot have it both ways.
It really makes me compare the today’s government and the 18th century. We still suffer from many issues that great part of the society do not agree, however, many people are afraid of speak up and just conform to life. Unfortunately, we were born cowards, and we still do not fight for what we believe is right. I do not think that many people agree with war and other issues in our present government, although we still kill so many people and conform with many laws, we just obey and pretend nothing is happening and just following the trail, as a good “puppets”, like the government wants us to be.
Wouldn't Thoreau roll over in his grave at the state of politics in America today? Or rather, he would urge us to stand up as individuals, take revolutionary action against the established order with autonomy, reason and intellect.
Shannon Riley, Virginia Commonwealth University
Thoreau, in his essay describes his philosophical ideas about government, the conformism and obedience. Thoreau portrays the civil Government on the 18th and describes the disadvantage of it against people.“Resistance to Civil Government” was neither his first nor the last of his writings on social and political reform. Thoreau believed the individual was not exempt from the power of the state; a decision to disobey also meant a willingness to accept the consequences. And as merely machines, people could easily conform to life at that time.
Thoreau refusal to pay the tax was intended as a direct protest against an unpopular tax and as an indirect protest against the government's condoning of slavery. He also linked slavery to the Mexican-American War, protesting against it. Thoreau was not afraid of saying what he thinks, and he was trying to make people also speak for themselves. In addition, it is clear that, it seems to be either justice or law, and that unfortunately, we cannot have it both ways.
It really makes me compare the today’s government and the 18th century. We still suffer from many issues that great part of the society do not agree, however, many people are afraid of speak up and just conform to life. Unfortunately, we were born cowards, and we still do not fight for what we believe is right. I do not think that many people agree with war and other issues in our present government, although we still kill so many people and conform with many laws, we just obey and pretend nothing is happening and just following the trail, as a good “puppets”, like the government wants us to be.
