Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Live Blogging: Resistance to Civil Government

Enjoy!

138 comments:

clewis said...

Hey there!

Damian L. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
shaunam said...

About the quote that is up on the overhead, I think that it is our responsibility to stand up and say what we want if we disagree. But, we should do it in a rational way, and suggest ideas to fix it.

Anonymous said...

I really like what maria said that is who determines if something is immoral

clewis said...

I agree with Maria. How do we know what is immoral and not?

Tina L said...

About immoral rule, what would immoral rule be? Thoreau says that people only get to power by force; do you agree with this?

erinl said...

I think that if you are going to criticize something that you have to follow through on your belief...going along with Kristen

jessie w said...

Well, who necessarily defines what immoral rule is? I also agree with what shaunam said about how if we disagree we need to stand up for what we believe.

lauraf said...

I agree with Shauna, and if we disagree with it, then you have to have a legit argument against it and reasons.

Annika_EP said...

I am just going to respond to Leclaire's question, even though she didn't say we have to. I think that like anything else in life, it is only an option, not an obligation. However, if you do disobey, you have to be willing to accept the consequences, because that IS the obligation. Some people are just naturally timid, or hate confrontation, so they may not want to. Free will is very important.

Anonymous said...

What is immoral? I mean who can say, someone might find something immoral while others cherish it.

erinl said...

I think that each person has to determine what they think is right and what they believe in. There isn't necessarly a standard that everyone can go by.

Damian L. said...

shaunam

But sometimes being rational with someone who is stubborn isn't enough.

Unknown said...

I agree, Shauna. If something is immoral and is hurting people, I think that everyone has the resposibility to stop it, even if it does not directly affect you personally. If tyranny is affecting certain parts of the world, it can always spread, so I think we have to work to prevent oppression.

clewis said...

There was this movie that I saw- Hotel Rwanda- and he believes that it is wrong and he wants to rebel, but he also wants help these people. I guess this is a good time to think if it's right to rebel or not.
You guys should see that movie! It's really good!

adamb said...

Tina, I agree that people always get power through some force. That is not always a bad thing though.

Anonymous said...

I think that it is necessary because no change would ever happen. But you have to really commit to it. Some people just rebel for the sake of rebelling.

emilya said...

I don't think it is necessarily our obligation to disobey immoral rule, it is our choice. If we don't like something, it is up to us to rebel.

carley_benson said...

imoral is a matter of opinion

tanal said...

I agree with what Shauna said and that if we disagree with something, we have to be able to have reasons to back up our decision.

Anonymous said...

Tina l- I agree that people do get power by force, those who don't fight never win. Powe ris a force and force of fury that consumes us and makes us monsters.

jberry said...

I think that immorality is when human sufference and the influence to undermine society.

adamb said...

Exactly Carley, just like evil is a ppint of veiw, everything depends on where you stand.

kyle said...

Adam
What is the point of having power? Why do people need to have power over others?

emmab said...

I think that it IS our obligation to disobey "immoral rule" because we shouldn't wait for the majority to agree with us. If you wait too long to rebel, then your chance at succeeding might be gone. It takes only one person to make a difference.

shaunam said...

damian-

I agree with that, but at the same time, if you have enough drive and interest and information to back yourself up, usually, they have nothing to fight it. And if that person won't listen, take it to someone else who has equal power.

jberry said...

josh---

how do you control the power?

will we ever be able to totally control power?

clewis said...

Yeah everybody's morals are different.

tanal said...

I don't necessarily think that people always get power by force, but people can if we let them.

carley_benson said...

immoral
defintion

1. violating moral principles; not conforming to the patterns of conduct usually accepted or established as consistent with principles of personal and social ethics.
2. licentious or lascivious.

Unknown said...

Everyone is making a good point that what is immoral cannot exactly be defined. But I think that we can all tell when something is not right, and when change needs to happen. I think if the rule of the government is causing a lot of poverty and death, then something needs to be done.

Damian L. said...

Jberry

What makes society so sacred that you cannot fight it?

clewis said...

This reminds me a lot of Vietnam and 1984.

Tina L said...

Josh- does all power make us monsters?

jessie w said...

From what everyone's been saying, I think we need to establish what "immoral rule" is. I agree that we aren't necessarily obligated to rebel against immoral rule but that it's a choice.

Anonymous said...

Carely benson- I was just wondering, how can you justify that immorality is a personal opinion, aren't opinions influenced by the world and the people around you.

carley_benson said...

like i said, immoralality is a concept that shifts with belife systems

carley_benson said...

like i said, immoralality is a concept that shifts with belife systems

carley_benson said...

like i said, immoralality is a concept that shifts with belife systems

erinl said...

I like what Maddie said, that the Japanese took responsibility for when they were bombed. I think that you have to take responsibility of your own actions when you decide to rebel.

saram said...

I agree with Tana and Shauna. Without reasons to back up what you are unhappy with, you just look stupid.

Annika_EP said...

Tina- I am just going to answer your question anyways. I don't think power makes everyone a monster, because some people are really strong and made better and stronger by power. They can do really constructive things! But some people aren't able to handle power, and the power controls them.

adamb said...

Kyle, individuals usually do not need power. Some people do crave it, but someone does need to have power over another, it is a natural order that has been there forever, it can be bad or good, but there needs to be something to keep order and when order isn't kept, a group or person takes the power.

carley_benson said...

i think if you decide to rebel you have to take responsiblity for the consequences

Tina L said...

Emma- I agree.
Thoreau wrote this in the middle of abolitionism, so do you agree that he thought minorities, the slaves, could make a difference if they just stood up for themselves? Do you share Thoreau's scorn of majority (WOAH WAY TO GO DEVON, bringing it up at the same time!)

clewis said...

damian-
I think it is because we don't want to get hurt and human nature is to want to fall back on something. They want to do things themselves so they need someone else to lead them. It takes a certain kind of courage to lead people against injustice- I know.

tanal said...

jess--

about your comment about will we ever be able to have total control over power, this reminds me of 1984 and big brother, he tried having total control over the people, but it didn't exactly work because it caused people to rebel even more.

Anonymous said...

Tina l- I think that all powe rmakes us monsters because, once we acheive power what stops us from gaining more. Power a disease that we nurse and not destroy, we bring it close to us and allow it to eat us form the inside out.

jessie w said...

Definitely taking responsibility for your actions comes with taking a stand for what you believe. They go hand in hand. You can't do something and not expect some sort of consequence.

Unknown said...

Thoreau says that the government is pretty much useless and that people only follow it because they are either afraid to fight it for fear of punishment and because the government is a tradition that they don;t want to eliminate. Do you guys agree? Do you think that the government is only a tradition that doesn't really accomplish anything?

Damian L. said...

Sara

But why is it not stupid when more than one person follows a belief?

krump said...

And also, some people rebel just to rebel. Like Kristen said, Throeau's first line is "That government is best which goverens least." I think he is saying that we need some basic order, but also freedom. This was kinda confusing, I couldn't decide if I agreed or not.

carley_benson said...

question?

is power always a negative? a truely corruptive force?

Tina L said...

Carley- definitely, you have to take responisibilty. What do you think of rebelling for no reason?

clewis said...

Christa-
Like I said before, people are too scared, they need someone to fall back to.

Anonymous said...

Jberry- I don't think you can control power, we use it as a tool, a tool that is a hurricanie of chaos.

emmab said...

Okay I'm going to completely disagree with what jessica just said.

carley_benson said...

i belive no one rebels for no reason,
some sort of pressure weather in there own mind or not has to be utalized (sp?)

adamb said...

Joshb, you said that poer makes us monsters. I don't think that is true at all. People can become corrupt, but people with power have done a lot for the world, for instance, Abraham Lincoln.

Damian L. said...

Carley-

No, it is only corruptive if the person lets it take them.

Laine G said...

What do you think he was trying to trancend?

c_ar_ley_be_nson said...

power -
the possession of control or command over others; authority; ascendancy: power over men's minds.

to have pwer dont you have to have power over somthing? wouldnt that be a negative?

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't say Abraham Lincoln had power, his power is restrained by the people around him. True power is unrestrained, free and chaotic.

shaunam said...

Carly-
But what if you have power over yourself? If you think about it, alot of people don't, they are very easily influenced.

brynnh said...

What makes a change? can one person make a difference of does it always have to be a group effort?

saram said...

I agree with josh. I think that to have true, absolute power, there is no boundaries and no restraints. You can do whatever you want wherever you want whenever you want twenty four hours a day seven days a week.

jberry said...

shauna and carly-


I think that there are only a few people who actually truly want control and power over their lives completely.

krump said...

Nice explanation carly! Also, he was trying to get people to go along with him, power in numbers.

Tina L said...

Laine- I think Thoreau was trying to transcend the beaten path that most people take.

c_ar_ley_be_nson said...

more effective to rebel within.
they lose control under the very athourity they want to have control over.

they dont have control in there own circle.

jberry said...

i think that it takes force in order to change.

maddyg said...

What Shauna siad reminded me of something I was thinking of, and it really is kind of about peer pressure and all of us can civilly disobey by standing up and making decisions only based on morals.

Damian L. said...

People want what they believe is power and control when most of the time it is not.

erinl said...

I think that the most effective way to rebel is outside the confines of society. Otherwise I don't think that anyone would take you seriously.

Unknown said...

I think the

shaunam said...

Unless you have power over yourself, many people do not have the drive to stand up for themselves no matter what. So the most effective way would be to find the person who has enough drive, or collaborate with other people as a mass.

kyle said...

Laine-
He was trying to transcend organized society and the problems (especially with freedoms) that come along with society.

c_ar_ley_be_nson said...

force is needed in order to change.
things stay the same unless you change them i.e. force

jberry said...

What do you guys think about this statement?



We as humans follow others because we are afraid of following ourselves.



Do you feel like you aren't your true self ... or are you influinced by others excessively?

Tina L said...

Damian- What do you mean by most of the time power and control is actually not power and control?

c_ar_ley_be_nson said...

damien?
so what is power and control then?

c_ar_ley_be_nson said...

damien?
so what is power and control then?

jessie w said...

What do you think about Laine's comment about conflict? Do we really live for it? What would life be like without it?

krump said...

Maddy and Shauna--This reminds me of 1984. He realized there is power in the proles, in the masses of poor people. However, there was no way to band them all together, to teach them to follow each other. In the end, when only one person rebelled, he was defeated. Everyone else was afraid of society, afraid of being caught.

c_ar_ley_be_nson said...

everyone is influenced by somthing!

think! would you be who you really were ever? t.v. influences children. parents do. everything has an actiona and reaction.


we are never truly ourselves

what would we be?

Unknown said...

I agree with Carley. The best kind of rebellion comes from within. In 1984, Winston couldn't physically rebel without being killed, but inside he knew that the way he was living was wrong and that change needed to happen. I think that knowing when to rebel is really valuable. On the other hand, thoughts without action do not really accomplish anything and could be considered worthless if nothiing comes of them.

Anonymous said...

I think that we latch on to these small things because we want to feel powerful. There are many big problems in the world, but most of us feel like we have no power over it. These small "victories" make us feel like, although little, we made a change.

saram said...

I agree with Shauna. A majority of people wouldn't stand up for themselves if they would be standing alone. However, almost everyone would stand up for what they believe in if everyone else was. So, is that really standing up for yourself if you're only doing it because everyone else is?

emmab said...

The most effective form of rebellion is showing that you will put your own life at stake for the cause. I think that a huge mass of people rebelling may appear more powerful though; The more people together, the more intimidating. If only one person is rebelling, then they need to go to extremes to get their point across and make their rebellion powerful.

jessie w said...

And are power and control necessarily connected? Thoreau went into the woods to take control of his life, but did that necessarily give him any power?

tanal said...

I think that the most effective form of rebellion would take place in the confines of society because you would want other people to react and stop and think about what you are rebelling about.

jberry said...

jessie---

I think that we do depend on it
We as society wouldn't have anything to live for wihtout conflict. Our lives would be useless. What other purpose would we have to live?

c_ar_ley_be_nson said...

*jessie



how would humans learn without conflict?

brynnh said...

Erin- What do you mean by rebeling outside of society? Do you mean going and living in the woods, because then I don't think you are making as big a difference as you could if you rebeled within society.

tanal said...

Emma--

I agree with you that larger groups rebelling are more effective than a single person or a smaller group, because a larger group would stop observers or people just walking by.

Tina L said...

Do you think one person could make a difference, like walking out when none of the rest of the class is? Or is it essential to have a lot of people behind you?

jberry said...

Tana--

What makes something worth rebelling against?

c_ar_ley_be_nson said...

tina.


one person has changed the world before


its a matter of

inspiration

jessie w said...

jberry

I completely agree. Honestly, without conflict, what would life be?

and Carley
I don't think humans could learn without conflict. I don't know how people could do anything without conflict

c_ar_ley_be_nson said...

to have somthing worth rebeling is hard.



its diffrent for every one individual

Tina L said...

Carley- that's beautiful. But could you expand?

krump said...

Jessie--That's kinda hard to think about because we, as humans, will always have conflict. Even if there wasn't any, I'm sure some would get started because its a part of humanity. If there was no conflict, there wouldn't be many jobs, there wouldn't really be unnatural death, and our society would be bland.

kyle said...

Tina-
I think that if one person has the strength of many, they can make a large difference, but any one person can make a difference, however small it may be.

maddyg said...

Do you guys think that our lives are better or worse off being more complex rather than the simple life Thoreau talks about?

erinl said...

Jess-
I think that we are easily influenced by others because you have your friends that you're always around and their ideas are pounded into your head. Eventually you're only hearing what they think and it becomes your own ideas as well. I think that people are also scared to be different. It takes a lot of courage to stand out in a crowd.

brynnh said...

Jessie-
Some people have control over thier own lives but have no idea how to influence others into standing up for themselves, on the other hand some people are out of control though they are often to ones others are influenced by.

Damian L. said...

Power and control is held by our minds and we cannot know what true power really is because everyone sees it differently.

c_ar_ley_be_nson said...

yep


i mean think jessie, your right.


conflict is a much a part of this world


good and evil
balance?














if there was no light how would we know the dark????

adamb said...

Jessie, to respond to your question, I think that conflict is needed to advance and learn. Life without conflict would be very dull because we do live for conflict. It is what brings excitement to our lives.

tanal said...

Tina--

I think it would be a larger impact if everybody was following you out of the classroom, but I do not think that it is essential. I think that it is more important that you stand up for what you believe in and not
if you have followers.

c_ar_ley_be_nson said...

damien?


so true power does no exist?


it is an imaginary human emotion?


explain further

krump said...

Maddy-- I think that whichever our life is, we will wish it is the other one. When my life is crazy complex and chaotic, I'll wish for a break, but when it's too simple and boring, I'll be wishing for something to do. It goes along with the conflict ideas, if our world didn't have conflict it would be too bland.

Unknown said...

Tina-
I think that one person might make an even bigger difference than a group. Maybe if people see that one person is willing to do what is right, they will be ashamed at their own fear and be willing to join the cause. Big groups may influence people to join their cause but I think that is more because it is the popular course to take-- it is often more like peer pressure.

c_ar_ley_be_nson said...

does anyone eles think the idea of transedentalism is a human need


by human need i mean somthing people have been striving for since the begining.

dont humans always need to overcome somthing???

tanal said...

jberry--

I think that anything you truly believe in is worth rebelling for

erinl said...

Brynn-

Sorry I was trying to say that people should make a big deal out of a rebellion. For example: class color day, sophmores were blue and some kids made a big deal out of it and only wore blue. Those were the kids that got attention, not the kids that wore mostly back and like a blue hair tie or something small.

c_ar_ley_be_nson said...

simple.


a group rebelion will mean more to the world

a single one will mean more to the indivdual

Tina L said...

Carley, I agree.

And it is sort of what Jess was saying about complexity, that it's something we have and we always strive for more, and this is what gives us advantage and power.

krump said...

Brynn--nice idea! The ones who want to influence other people are the people who are influenced and the ones who actually do impact other people don't necessarily always mean to.

Unknown said...

Carley-
I think that transcendentalism does stem from a human need because it talks about connections with nature and finding yourself. I think everyone, at one time or another, feels the need to find their own personality and identity, and everyone wants to be connected to the nature that surrounds them every day. They kind of want to be purified, and transcend the ordinary.

Damian L. said...

No, true power exists just we are unable to comprehend it and place a substitute that we can understand in its place.

emmab said...

I think Thoreau is saying that life SHOULDN'T be so complex. When he went to Walden Pond he left material things behind. He enjoyed the simplicity that the isolated nature brought to his life.

c_ar_ley_be_nson said...

i hate blogger.


im trying to respond to much

:(

krump said...

Erin--If people don't make a big deal, the rebellion isn't successful. I agree with Carly, the more people that rebel, the more people notice the rebellion. If only one person wore a blue shirt that day, it wouldn't really make any difference in the assembly.

Tina L said...

Carley, about us never being our true selves, I disgaree.

I think we couldn't ever be our true selves without all the influence in our lives. We wouldn't be anything. We'd just be...there.

Different things influence different people, too. and The same things may influence different people different ways.

c_ar_ley_be_nson said...

emma



good.

is transedentalism letting go of the complex?

c_ar_ley_be_nson said...

tina-


i disagree



we are constanlty influenced

we are a combination of everything weve been taught.




even if we were somhow abandoned at birth
we would still b influenced by the first thing we saw.


if that one thing your mother/father told you that stuck in your head hadnt been said.


how would you be diffrent?

brynnh said...

Tina-
I agree with you, we need to look at others lives to figure out who we want to be. Without some influence we could never figure out who to be.

Tina L said...

Christa- that is what I thought, too. That if one person stands up for what they believe in, then perhaps others will follow, and make a difference to the world, like Carley said. Do you think that even if no one else joins the cause at all, and it just makes a difference to the individual (also like Carley said), it is worth standing up for?

Unknown said...

This relates to what they are talking about in the inner circle, but what do you think about the quote "There's more to day than dawn"? I think it might mean that there is more life in new beginnings than in anything else, or, like Sweta said, there is more to life than just breathing. You have to do something with your life and fulfill a dream, or do SOMETHING.

emmab said...

Carley:

transcendentalism isn't necessarily letting go of all that is complex, but rather exploring what appears complex in a deeper way.

erinl said...

Maria-
I agree with you in that people have to make a HUGE deal out of the rebellion to make a difference. A majority has to rebell.

c_ar_ley_be_nson said...

im just saying


how do you kno that is waht you want to be?


maybe its just what youve been told

Tina L said...

Carley- you're right. I would be different. and i think that's a part of what makes us so unique. the mixture of things cannot be imitated by anything.

Unknown said...

Tina-
I agree. I think that even if no one else follows your rebellion, if you stand up for your personal beliefs, nothing else matters.

c_ar_ley_be_nson said...

emma


or is it figureing out that other things that seem simple are more complex.

krump said...

Christa--He talked alot about morning, especially in chapter 2. The "to be awake is to be alive" quote relates to morning, he believes that as soon as you wake up, before the day starts and before you are influence, is when you are at your best.

c_ar_ley_be_nson said...

tina


i just think its funny.


i mean.
even if 2 people saw the same thing all there lives


they wud interpret difrently





still diffrent


still influeneced