Thursday, December 10, 2009
The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right. True or False?
'Civil Disobedience,' by Henry Thoreau is a critical document that heavily criticizes unjust government. Thoreau believed that if a government was unjust, the people were allowed to openly oppose the law, and distance themselves from the government completely. Therefore, Thoreau's ideas lead me to believe that government is truly run by the people of the nation. The most compelling idea Thoreau presented to me was in the line, 'The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.' Is this statement true? Well, what I think is right might not be right in the eyes of everyone. But if i think it's right then why should I care what anyone else thinks? This is where government becomes tricky, because no one rule can please everybody.However, I believe that this statement is true when referring to government; if you feel as if the government is mistreating or abusing you, you have the right to stand up for what you believe is right. It is astonishing the way Thoreau binds these arguments together to form one compelling document.
MLK: The Reason
Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'Letter from a Birmingham jail,' is a very insightful and well-written document. He vividly expresses his opinions while adequately answering his critics questions. The introduction 'My Dear Fellow Clergymen,' is very important because it tells everyone that he is referring to the religious philosophers of this time. King eludes to many religious themes in this document, For example, 'Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns.' I think that this use of religion is very clever, because it shows that what he is doing, was done before. Therefore, he should not be penalized for doing something that was originally done in the Bible. I believe the most important paragraph in this essay is when he was answering the question, 'why direct action?' King explicitly explained why he would have to enforce direct action, e.g. "you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society." All in all, this is a very moving and inspiring piece of work, that surely changed the mindsets of many racist folks of this time.
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