Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Quote of the Day: Obedience
“When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.” – C.P. Snow, English novelist and scientist (1905 – 1980)
We are seeing this illustrated in China right now due to Xi’s Zer0 Covid policy. People were allowed to burn to death in a flaming apartment building rather than permit them to break Zero Covid by escaping. Forty-four died in that fire, trapped in a building. How many would have died of Covid had they been allowed to exit? Probably no one. Certainly less than 44. Similarly, we see the same thing unfolding in Iran, where the demand for absolute obedience to Sharia law is now taking a toll on hundreds of lives.
In this country, obedience to much less strict Covid policies has cost thousands of lives and ruined tens of thousands of others. The lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and school closures almost certainly did nothing to reduce Covid deaths, while ensuring tens of thousands will eventually die painfully from cancers and heart conditions not caught early enough to treat effectively. Worse, despite mask mandates, vaccine mandates, and lockdowns having accomplished nothing of positive value, there is now talk in some areas (Los Angeles, for one) of reimposing policies that failed the first time they were tried.
Ultimately, the only way to deal with unreasonable calls for obedience is defiance and disobedience. We are seeing that in China and Iran right now. The consequences are bloody, but disobedience and protest seem to be achieving positive results. (China’s government seems to be backing down from Zero Covid. Maybe.) In this country, we also need to begin pushing back against government demands for blind obedience. If we do not, we will cease to be citizens and will be reduced to the status of serfs and subjects.
Published in Group Writing
Our county’s Health Department is loudly protesting their loss of the ability to compell obedience.
Good.
How do you deal with reasonable calls to obedience? Do you think that such calls even exist?
We reasonable follow reasonable calls but rebel against hurtful stupidity.
Amen
Hubby’s gym still has a vaccine mandate, after the city and county both removed theirs months ago. He was told by management that they hesitate to remove the mandate for fear of losing members. The members who mostly live in Seattle are the most obedient, paranoid people around. A goodly percentage of them are still wearing masks everywhere. So they don’t care about losing him as a member, only the fearful mice. He refuses vaccination, and I totally support him in that. So he is now one of the only members who is required to present a valid negative Covid test to be allowed to use his club. Many of the local health facilities have closed their test sites, for lack of demand.
Such as?
Be careful what you wish for. I would have loved for there to be more disobedience regarding Covid mandates.
That being said, does that make what Antifa is doing all right? The BLM riots?
It’s a double-edged sword.
Frankly, our side is behind in the disobedience game. We get obedience enforced on us, but laws and customs we would enforce are toothless.
There is a clear difference between non-violent and violent disobedience. Did anyone argue burning down public health department offices would have been an appropriate means of disobeying Covid mandates? Or that not wearing a mask was violence? Or that wearing a mask while throwing a brick through a window was non-violence?
Oh, they are definitely better at it than we are. Like it or not, conservatism means at its core, following the rules, and not changing the rules. Obedience.
Of course we’re not inflexible about it, and we will change rules, and we do break rules. Just not as many as they do.
Point taken.
Nope. Short-sighted. I am sure that you and I agree on much of the territory implied, but (for example) civil disobedience to the current regime’s unconstitutional or unconscionable diktats is conservatism in full bloom.
I think that you are casting far too broad a net in saying that obedience is the core of conservatism.
Disobedience is a tactic, not a strategy, not a goal, and we are welcome to use it for the right goals.
My guess is that you agree with most of that.
[Edited egregious typos]
Thank you for this post!
My first thought was: Obedience to what? To what authority? Or to whom? And to what purpose.
But maybe conservatives are more “free thinkers” and independent, and internally motivated, and like reasons for whatever they do, and therefore are less obedient generally. And progressives, it occurs to me, may be more externally controlled and followers, and more passive and obedient generally.
Come to think of it, disobedience and defiance seem to be externally motivated and directed (or authorized) and more obedient to the authority that they chose to recognize — in the Summer of Love vandals and protesters; and whatever disobedience and defiance may have been displayed by the Jan 6th protesters seem to be more internally motivated.
Interesting. Which group was more disobedient and then who were more internally directed: the 2020 protesters, or the Jan 6th protesters? And then I would wonder, again, obedient to whom and to what authority? And to what purpose?
In other words, the violent vandals, murderers, and arsonists were more obedient to their masters than the relatively peaceful and compliant Jan 6th protesters were to their masters.
Well, looks like the CDC mask recommendation is back. How much damage has been done to children’s immunity by the masking regime?
*******
This is part of the Quote of the Day (QOTD) project at Ricochet, in which any member is free to share a quote, with or without commentary. Here’s the QOTD Signup Sheet for December, with many more open dates still available.