benhocking's Journal: Civil disobedience

I'm sick of hearing people defend illegal activities as being civil disobedience. True civil disobedience means willing to go to jail for your actions. A modern-day example of this is spending 3 days in jail rather than pay 50 cents for a toll that you've already paid for. The world needs all types of heroes, and this man is one of those.

Moo

[Chacham]

I'm sick of hearing people defend illegal activities as being civil disobedience.

And i'm sick of people who find excuses through nomenclature.

"I am not a non-Xian, i'm an Athiest."
"I'm not irreligious, i'm Reform."
"I am not eating less, i'm dieting."
"I never lie. I willfully engage in a campaign of misinformation."

And so on. To give a name, is to give legitimacy. Indeed, the opposite may be true as well.

You must run in some weird circles

[benhocking]

You must run in some weird circles (not that there's anything wrong with that). Although the last of those is familiar (as an implication only, of course), the atheist and dieting ones struck me as quite odd. (The Reform one means nothing to me — it's too unfamiliar to even be odd.)

I will say this — it is possible to not eat less and still be dieting. During my marathon training (OK, I also run in some weird circles), I've only increased my calorie consumption mildly, and hence I'm losing weig

Re:

[Chacham]

I was saying statements that are not necessarily verbalized, but are intended.

The examples were just what i thought of quickly. I knew you'd get the idea. :)

Looking at your statements again

[benhocking]

I'm still a little confused. None of those really sound better than what they're replacing, whereas people use the term "civil disobedience" as a rationalization for all kinds of behavior that would make Thoreau twirl in his grave. In fact, most Americans (if you trust polls) would think that being called an "atheist" was worse than being called a "non-Christian".

Re:

[Chacham]

Better or worse, it doesn't matter. The point is that the name is nothing other than that, a name. And yet by bestowing a name, it takes on an air of importance.

Or so it would seem.