Thoreau accuses society for being responsible for consuming the identity of people by preoccupying them with small details and of life, such as the government unjustly using people because they do not know anything different than to obey and conform. The government and society have taken over intellect and conscience, taking individualism as well. This lack of individualism and increased complexity of living is even more true in our world today than it was when Thoreau wrote these essays with concern about it. With technology booming the way it is and will continue to, people’s lives become more complicated and more is expected from them. They are being taken over by detail and spreading attention over many responsibilities instead of being able to focus on a few.
Civil Disobedience Henry David Thoreau’s essay, “Civil Disobedience” (1849), argues that citizens of good conscience should actively oppose unjust government policies through nonviolent resistance. Thoreau does this by critically evaluating the federal government, using antithesis for comparisons, and appealing with ethos. Thoreau’s purpose is to show what is wrong in American society in order to show what can be done to fix these wrongs. Given the advanced diction used in this essay, Thoreau was aiming for an educated audience interested in hearing different ideas about what is flawed in America and how it can be resisted. Thoreau’s essay on civil disobedience is a seminal work in the American literary canon, and it is clear that his treatise on concentrated, thoughtful resistance has been influential in subsequent social and political movements which themselves have been recorded by writers.
Civil Disobedience Analysis Henry David Thoreau in his essay “Civil Disobedience”, brings up many valid points about the government. The essay might be a little ahead of its time but Henry talks about the injustice of the government and how it wrongfully forces people to do its will. The government has gone passed the line and has been abusing its power. Thoreau expresses in his essay “that government is best which governs least”, and then also goes on to say “that a government is best which governs not at all.” What Thoreau is saying is that the people should be making most of the decisions in society, not a group of men in a position of power. In the American government, and many others alike, there are taxes you must pay.
Thoreau on School Segregation Henry David Thoreau is known as one of history’s greatest critics of American government. Thoreau argues that a government should be run by the group with the most legitimate viewpoint, not the group with the most power. In 1849, he wrote Civil Disobedience in which he urges his readers to use their conscience to determine if a government is acting within its bounds or if it is committing injustice. Thoreau argues that a citizen must do what is right and not simply comply with the law’s demands. He cites the existence of unjust laws and declares that we as citizens should not be obligated to follow them.
In his piece, Diderot tries to contrast between indigenous and western lives with regards to the structure the society is built on. He shows the differences between the make sure that people follow the orders. In the discussion he made between Orou and the chaplain, Diderot pushes this opposition further. He has Orou remark: I find these strange precepts contrary to nature, and contrary to reason. I think they are admirably calculated to increase the number of crimes and to give endless annoyance to the old workman (198) With these words the Tahitian chief changes the idea about Enlightenment to show that it is nothing but rules that are contrary to natural law and have an obstructive effect on society.
Each country, especially the United States, had an almost isolationistic view of their role in the world. Today, however, we face the challenge of enemies who do not think rationally and will die for what they think is the greater good, so the view of seclusion is not longer valid. The suicidal attitude of these new adversaries makes these types of people’s actions very hard to predict and track which leads to a danger that is unpredictable and around which we cannot devise a defensive plan. Another idea is that the civilized world believes that the economically developed countries take care of the less developed countries. In an article written by James G. Pradke called “Idealism vs. Realism: a Modern Approach to Capitalism Vs. Socialism,” dated April 16, 2010, he quoted Merriam-Webster’s dictionary (2010) which “claims that realism dismisses idealization and presents a theory which focuses on concern for fact or reality while rejecting
Thoreau wrote the Essay on Civil Disobedience, in which he addressed the question, “when do larger moral imperatives justify violating a law supported by the majority”. His response was that when a law “… is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law’’. This follows from basic English Common Law, in which you can do something as long as it doesn’t hurt someone else. Thoreau’s philosophy is that you disobey a command (law) when it is hurting someone else. Another area of his thinking is that government is symbolic of a ‘machine’, and man should commit non-violent disobedience to ‘gain access to the machine’.
In other words he told the society that they are stuck on unserious matters, while important political events are taking place. Bill Clinton’s goal was to make people get over the scandalous relationship and concentrate on America as a nation or basically subconsciously reproached the nation. Mr. Clinton, in this speech built the next strategy: not to fit the stereotype of a man bringing his apologies, not to be miserable, but to show how strong he is by saying these words aloud and therefore to how strong he can be in any other problem. He claimed to apologize, but at the
Martin Luther King Jr. states “Oppressed People cannot remain oppressed forever.” (Cahn, 2009 p. 387) As we have seen throughout history, this is a true statement. Oppression is not something that sits well with any type of person that is under the oppression. To resist the oppression, one must carefully chose those laws that they fill are unjust and oppresses them, and once they are chosen then one can make a stand against the oppression. Oppression is unjust law that limits the power of the people that are oppressed into feeling powerless. The United States fought of the oppression over the colonies in the late 1700’s by first peacefully protesting the unjust taxes waged against them.
Both King and Thoreau discuss civil disobedience and when it is just to break unfair laws. Another topic they discussed is the merit of authority, and how they were disappointed by the action the majority takes towards certain issues. Henry Thoreau mostly emphasizes on how civil disobedience is important because he believes that governments should consider everybody's opinions. Both have the same common logic, but they express their views in a completely different manner. King uses better emotional appeals so that his audience feels compelled to his cause, King also uses figurative language to create a powerful tone that provides his essay with a meaningful effect; while Thoreau uses more ethos and common logic.