

The Hazards of Nerd Supremacy: The Case of WikiLeaks - gnubardt
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/print/2010/12/the-hazards-of-nerd-supremacy-the-case-of-wikileaks/68217/

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hugh3
_Civil disobedience is fundamentally respectful of the shared project of
having a civilization, but only when the protestor gets arrested voluntarily
and without sneering at opponents. Instead, one hopes to raise consciousness
with a flood of respect and compassion, even for those who disagree._

This bit, I think, bears repeating. Too many people claim to be engaging in
'civil disobedience' without understanding the actual philosophy behind it.

Civil disobedience works like this:

1\. You find a law that is unjust (no Indians making salt, no blacks in the
front of the bus)

2\. You break that law, and that law only (Gandhi used to make the point that
if you're going to be a civil disobedient it's important to obey other laws
scrupulously, even the ones that others tend to disregard. This means: no more
jaywalking. Unless you're a jaywalking civil disobedient.)

3\. You get arrested and go along willingly and politely. Always be nice to
the policemen whose job it is to arrest you.

4\. Seeing you get arrested for breaking that law makes everybody realise that
this law is, in fact, unjust, and the law gets changed.

