Thoreau and Civil Disobedience

Henry David Thoreau not only wrote Walden; he is also responsible for a small pamphlet titled Civil Disobedience, which recommends that – when a US president is taking a wrong turn – good citizens have a duty to protest.

FURTHER READING

“In March 1845, the United States acquired a new president – James K. Polk – a forceful, aggressive political outsider intent on strengthening his country and asserting its pre-eminence in front of other world powers, especially Mexico and Great Britain. Within a year of his inauguration, he had declared full-scale war on Mexico because of squabbles over the Texan border, and was soon rattling his saber at Britain over the ownership of Oregon. To complete the picture, Polk was a vigorous defender of slavery, who dismissed the arguments of abolitionists as naive and sentimental...”

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CREDITS

Produced in collaboration with:

Mike Booth

[ilhamonytube]

I love Thoreau. His quote I remember most is, "It is better to have your head in the clouds and know where you are, than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them and think that you're in paradise."

[jamesskinnercouk]

Thinking and questioning is always an act of disobedience.

[PawanSharma-yrdk]

I appreciate his writing one of his quote I love the most "Happiness is Like a Butterfly, the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder…" (Henery David Thoreau)17-Apr-2014

[robertpaulson]

Can't recommend Henry David Thoreau enough in this time of great tyranny and injustice.

[mephistophelesthesilentchi]

Well done, School Of Life. For it is the passive democracy, that Socrates had warned us of.

[michaelwilliamson]

Hands-down one of my favorite writers of all time. Love this man!

[nimiew]

Returning to this video during a chaotic time in the US. It's helping put things into perspective

[kakunamatata]

He was "Thoreau"n in jail :)


Okay I'll leave.

[vinifg]

Perfect! Henry David Thoreau was a great human being.

[bolivar]

1. I know, "letting your life to stop the machine" was a metaphor, but it reminded me of one of my heroes who had done that literally! I mean the " Tank Man".

The man who stood in front of a column of tanks the day after the Chinese military had brutally suppressed the student led protests on Tiananmen Square in 1989. Every now and then we must watch that video again.
It is a strange thing to say but really, what touched me deeply were the plastic bags in his hands. So he was just an ordinary person... He didn't plan a heroic act or anything beforehand. He probably just bought some stuff for dinner and was on the way home. And there he saw the tanks, thought that it was unfair and he didn't hesitate for a second to stand in front of ALL of them!!! Imagine... It cannot be a decision taken in that very moment. It must be the result of an entire life "meaningfuly lived" until that moment, that led him to do the right thing at the right time!


2. Of course a great example of thinking for yourself is Socrates! He had lost his life on that front. There is a wonderful documentary about Socrates on youtube, by Alain de Botton, the founder of this channel. In just 25 minutes you will gain a lot of valuable insights that could seriously change your life. It is really fun to watch too!

3. On his novel " Resurrection" Tolstoy said exactly the same thing as Thoreau. He said:

“Yes, the only place befitting an honest man in Russia at the present time is a prison”

Coming from one of the countries in the world with the most amount of writers in prison I do agree!

One of our most important intellectuals in Turkey, a sociologist named Ismail Besikci, was in and out of prison all his life. He had spent in total, 17 years of his life in jail and he had written most of his books there...Well, 32 of his 36 books are banned in Turkey, because of his engagement in the Kurdish issue...

I have seen a documentary about him once and it was so impressive to see the man in the court. Absolutely calm, talking to the judges as if they were his students. There is something very impressive in the calmness of the people who do know that they are right!

And may be, may be one of those judges had learnt something from him precisely because of this.

Another very valuable writer from Turkey, Asli Erdogan, who came out of prison recently, where she had been held for 5 months without trial, said something I will never forget:

" You cannot climb the tree of truth with hopelessness".

But she also made another important point, saying that under an oppressive regime, there is no big difference between being inside or outside of a prison!


4. These people get their strength from their sense of dignity and their loyalty to their values. And because they have a "clear mind", they know that they are doing the "right thing". Here is a quote I love, from Gandhi:

“It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”

5. "We pretend it all happened only once, at a given time and place. We turn a blind eye to what surrounds us, and a deaf ear to humanity’s never-ending cry."
(Alain Resnais, Night and Fog )

If we don't want to end up deaf and blind, we must learn to think clearly in order to see clearly and take the right action.

[MrLokyus]

Thank you for all your videos, The School of Life!

[henriomoeje]

One of my favorite people to teach. He's in our curriculum in TX and hopefully he's not taken out as we revise the TEKS.

[Samia]

Beautiful presentation.Human beings often are required to be reminded of their rights.

[kayzadiyah]

Thank you The School of Life for making this video, now I can understand Civil Disobedience for my English class now.

[STELLA_VELUX]

I think that a lot of people needed this, thank you

[mekman]

Much appreciated. I'm not moved by the Trump phenomenon, it's is in a way a a whole body backlash to the subtle pernicious aspects of progressivism. We don't know where this thing is heading, but much like an over due Bible reading, to remember sometimes who one really is, it's great to know how important it is to "come out from under the world, and be separate." It's something I needed to hear, to be reminded how important it is watch ones own mind. It's not easy, but at the very least I like to keep score, no matter how many times I experience the same blind allegiance to discord the script and it's solution are the same. Joining rather than beating wouldn't necessarily end the abuses, (I've watched everyone die who gave up) but make me more subject to them, allow them to place me firmly in a box, and discourage and ignore any real progress or innovation that could be made. Innovation is a frightful thing.

Edit: of course one day, we may all be moved by Trump, but for now, it's nice to see some of the bullying return onto progressivism, I can imagine a lot of people who thought this day would never come.

[vitamindubya]

So if he were alive today, he'd post SOOO much political stuff on Facebook

[oliviahesson]

This is so important. In school nowadays, whenever someone complains about Trump or the government, they are told to shut up and get over it. I always reminded them of how crucial it is to have freedom of speech and the freedom to oppose even those in power, but I was never able to put the message into such good words.

[roxanne]

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately"

[chakradharaalla]

"...resign his conscience and put himself under the service of an unscrupulous man in power"....I bow down for this line!