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  • Essay / A Reflection on Henry Thoreau's Views on Civil Disobedience

    “Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.” Henry Thoreau wrote this statement in his essay “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” which corresponds to his book “Walden”. The disobedience he is referring to in this quote is the civil disobedience he wrote about in his book and essay. Civil disobedience ethically violates the law. It is an act of refusal to follow laws, rules or a person in authority but in a peaceful approach to obtain specific demands. Nonviolent means used in civil disobedience include picketing, peaceful demonstrations, boycotting, and refusing to pay taxes. Civil disobedience and protests are a right in every country where society enjoys freedom of expression. I believe that civil disobedience is the ultimate civilized way to express rejection of unjust laws and rejection of those in power. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Thoreau begins his essay with "the best government is that which governs the least", believing that government should be an expedient for citizens to meet their needs and rights and the minimum number of governments mean the most freedom. This justifies the moral necessity of civil disobedience, because the government has no right to impose laws on citizens that go against their principles, beliefs, morals and values. He also sees that there is a moral difference between practicing injustice and failing to prevent the injustice explained by the Mexican War. The Mexican War was caused by prominent figures who manipulated the government for their benefit against the wishes of the citizens. According to Thoreau, this is an oppressed and corrupt act on the part of the government since a moral will has been imposed on all citizens, whether they are for or against. He also believes that people who are against the war in Mexico but pay taxes are part of this injustice and participating in the war, but they should instead boycott the taxes that the government has imposed. Citizens can express and protest their government's desire for war by refusing to pay taxes in the same way that soldiers refuse to fight an unjust war. Thoreau believed in three types of men in every country, those who serve with their bodies like soldiers and martyrs, those who serve with their brains and heads, and finally those who serve with their conscience, which is the best way to serve because they do. with their minds and are aware of and oppose acts of injustice (Thoreau, 1849). It also ensures that a responsible man does not avoid punishment or prison for his mistakes, but instead breaks the law and is imprisoned for breaking the law that supports unjust government decisions or actions. He advocates the need to prioritize your personal ethics and values ​​over government-dictated laws. As Thoreau, I believe that civil disobedience is acceptable since it is our duty as citizens to stand up and accept only what we believe in (Thoreau, 1849). Just as Rosa Parks, as a citizen, refused to give up her bus seat because of her skin color and the way Martin Luther King Jr. led civil rights protests and marches, all these Events brought about social change through acts of civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is the duty of every citizen to fight for whatis just and to fight against what is wrong, even if it is an unjust law. Good or bad actions are not justified by laws; not all laws prohibit what is evil and promote what is good. It is everyone's duty to break the law if they believe the law is unjust. It's about defending his values ​​and what he believes in. Thoreau refers to civil disobedience in his essay as a duty, not a duty. reason because he believes that it is the right of the citizen to consent to his taxes being paid for the war. He also believed that individual freedom exceeds the freedom of the state. Henry Thoreau, a canonical American literary figure, questioned in his essay what an honest citizen should do toward a president he wholeheartedly opposed but who won a majority. Should those who are against him remain silent? This is the case that Lebanon is currently experiencing. On November 17, after thirty years of silence on the unjust acts in which the government participated, from the denial of fundamental rights to the Lebanese to the embezzlement that occurred between parliamentarians, Lebanese citizens decided to peacefully revolt against all political parties and all members of parliament. This act of Lebanese citizens is a form of civil disobedience since they are peaceful protests to demand their rights even after the government has repeatedly attempted to distort or politicize the revolution. The Lebanese finally decided to fight the passive democracy they experienced through civil disobedience. The protests and actions that took place last month throughout Lebanon were a very positive change for our country compared to the 30 years of oppression in which citizens lived. Over the past month, all citizens who are part of the Revolution movement have decided to take off their political hats and leave their religious shawls at home by simply taking to the streets to demand freedom and the resignation of the government. The Lebanese have been counting on the government for thirty years to keep their promises, but then they got tired of their lies and decided to take action and demand their basic rights as citizens. The Lebanese decided to be noble citizens not by respectfully submitting to their government, but by thinking for themselves about the life of an administration and this is how they began to think independently, independent of religion and independent of political parties. They have become patriots, not those who blindly follow their government, but those who follow their conscience and their principles of reason. They understood that they were unwittingly serving the devil by paying their taxes and following them to death. It is true that the government is the one they elected a few years ago, but that does not mean that everything the government does is right and fair and that we should do nothing but wait for the next elections. The Lebanese people decided to do something, they decided to revolt and plead because it is not a crime to be an individual and to demand your fundamental rights. Peaceful demonstrations, like those currently taking place in Lebanon, exist or have existed. previously all over the world, some succeeding and others failing. The current peaceful demonstrations, peaceful on the side of citizens, which are taking place throughout Lebanon are acts of socio-economic revolt and not geopolitical. We are used to witnessing political protests in Lebanon for the sake of one political party against another, but this time it was different. It was so that all,.