Question authority: are we sheep or free people? Baaaa


"Question authority" is a good title for a bumper sticker. My other favourite used to be "Whom would Jesus bomb?" until "Whom would Jesus torture?" became more topical over recent months. A couple of articles raise the question of why do we obey authority, even when it is patently stupid and obnoxious: Robert Higgs asks if we have all became "sheep" for submitting to every demand of the inspectors at airports (Yes in my view - Baaaaa); and Maria Luisa Tucker wants to know why we hand over our ID to anybody in a uniform who asks for it ("Dokumente bitte!"). Rosa Parks just sat down in a bus and said no 50 years ago. What if there were 10 million Rosa Parks who just said no?

"Question authority" is a good title for a bumper sticker. My other favourite used to be "Whom would Jesus bomb?" until "Whom would Jesus torture?" became more topical over recent months. A couple of articles raise the question of why do we obey authority, even when it is patently stupid and obnoxious: Robert Higgs asks if we have all became "sheep" for submitting to every demand of the inspectors at airports (Yes in my view - Baaaaa); and Maria Luisa Tucker wants to know why we hand over our ID to anybody in a uniform who asks for it ("Dokumente bitte!"). Rosa Parks just sat down in a bus and said no 50 years ago. What if there were 10 million Rosa Parks who just said no?

Posted: Fri - December 9, 2005 at 04:48 PM        

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