...Walden Woods, Henry David Thoreau - Romantic intellectual and literary authority - stated in “Resistance to Civil Government” that one is to “break the law. Let [his] life be a counter friction to stop the machine.” The government can sometimes evolve into a destructive machine that Thoreau warns us will destroy the American individual by hindering free thought. To participate in some portion of a government’s immoral legislations, according to Thoreau, is to give way to ideas that will spiral the country out of control at an unstoppable rate. Essentially, it is one’s civic duty to disobey laws for ironically the nation’s protection. Civil disobedience also...
Words: 785 - Pages: 4
...and fix the unjust law. There have been times when citizens have felt the need to revolt against the government because of an issue that is unjust. There were such cases during the time of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Henry David Thoreau made such actions to prove their point. Civil disobedience is justified when its goal is to obtain equal rights and service for everyone, without causing physical damage to people and their property, and without breaking the just laws that are already enforced. It should only be practiced when the government fails to uphold justice and fix laws that don't allow everyone the equal rights already given to some. In his essay, "Civil Disobedience" Thoreau wrote in 1849 after spending a night in the Walden town jail for refusing to pay a poll tax that supported the Mexican War. He recommended passive resistance as a form of tension that could lead to reform of unjust laws practiced by the government. He voiced civil disobedience as "An expression of the individual's liberty to create change" (Thoreau ). Thoreau felt that the government had established order that resisted reform and change. "Action from principle, the perception and the performance of right, changes things and relations; it is essentially revolutionary" (Thoreau ). Thoreau refused to pay the poll tax because the money was being used to...
Words: 1384 - Pages: 6
...One such proponent is Henry David Thoreau, who advocates for a simpler way of living in his magnum opus Where I Lived, and What I Lived For. Thoreau, being one of the most influential speakers for Transcendentalism, the belief of self-focus and improvement, argues that life is often taken for granted when one lives in society. Using his own adventures of living as a hermit and learning to appreciate nature more, he proposes that society often speeds up one’s day, until they are no longer able to enjoy life as well as one at a well-off pace. This sample of fighting against society and instead for focusing on one’s own pleasures is further echoed within the essay Facebook Friendonomics, written by Scott Brown. Within, Brown argues that many of the social platform Facebook often collects their friends similar to trophies, ironically...
Words: 1062 - Pages: 5
