Civil disobedience

  Thoreau explains that the moral need for civil disobedience is when the government is unjust and against our conscience. Throughout the selection Thoreau says “that government is best which governs least.” This shows how Thoreau distrusts the government. That is, when a government is unjust, people should refuse to follow the law. And a person is not obligated to clean our world from the evil, but he/she is obligated not to participate in such evils. He also claims that according to the government a person must fight for what they think is unjust, but in his point of view a person must follow his/her conscience because it is the driving force that makes a person think of change and making the world fair. Thoreau illustrated the slavery as a principle to justify his claim. He mentioned his own experience as a model for how to stand against the government as he protested against slavery. He refused to pay taxes and spent a night in jail. In this way, he dissociated himself from the government, "washing his hands" of it and refusing to participate it because he thought that if he paid the taxes, he would be supporting the government he feels is in the wrong and has no moral authority.

In his essay on “Self Reliance” , Ralph Waldo Emerson states that “whoso would be a man must be a non-conformist”. He declares that nothing is at last sacred and trustable but the integrity of your own mind; to trust thyself and live by your conscience and instincts as well as accept the place the divine providence has found for you. He feels so strongly about it that he assert “imitation is suicide” killing your own individuality. I do feel that there is too much conformity in this world. People’s  fear of the regard of the society is stronger than their own love to themselves and their unique abilities. It seems that people are told what to say, feel and act through media, peers and even other standards such as facebook that is used more often by our generation. Media is a part of our everyday lives and it can’t be escaped.  A perfect-body image? What does it mean in our society ? Media has drawn a picture in people’s minds and made the public conform that everyone should look in a certain way to be accepted in the society. But if everyone betrayed their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their beings the world , great men will be added to the history. In addition, to media facebook is a place satiated with conformists who seek imitations of others just to fit in and not to be made fun of. But if you stayed in this situation for long, conforming  your personality, self-esteem, and individual regard to others fearing the judgmental society, then we would all fall into the darkness.