CheeLinks       Search       All Topics       The World             Next       Previous       Collapse Subtopics

Topics:
Obedience to Authority
Zinn, Howard
Nonviolent Resistance (Civil Disobedience) Miscellany
The Powerful Can Make Others Fight Their Wars

Howard Zinn on civil obedience

doc-titleFailure to Quit
quoteCivil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that numbers of people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience . . . Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running and robbing the country. That's our problem.