Disobedience: How Far Is Too Far?

There is no doubt that throughout history of the world, we have seen disobedience, both for good causes and for bad. But the question of whether disobedience is necessary for social progress and societal development as a whole is multifaceted, like the human race itself. While Wilde is correct in that disobedience and rebellion can lead to immense social progress, one must also see the flaws in this ambiguous argument, and we must ask the question, “how far is too far?”

Within society, there are often groups that are marginalized based upon several factors, such as the color of their skin or the people that they love. Oftentimes, these groups of people are forced to rebel against the majority, promoting acceptance of who they are, and chiding

After all, we have all been taught to follow rules for a reason: they are often necessary for the safety of citizens and the efficiency of society. We could take a stance of putting the trust in protesters to be non-violent and only rebel for a good cause, but quite unfortunately, that could be more trust than we are capable of reasonably giving to the people of the world, especially to a generation of people that have easy access to lethal and dangerous weapons. Even though I know that there are unjust laws around the world, and even further stigma surrounding certain groups of people that both need to be changed, expecting human beings who are fighting for basic rights and treatment across the world to protest in peace and non-violence is utterly quixotic. How could someone stay calm and collected after being discriminated against all of their life for something that they cannot control? But it is too often in today’s world that quite the opposite happen, where someone can say something slightly “politically incorrect” and lose their job and become a villain of the modern day. A teacher in the UK was recently suspended from his job for accidentally misgendering a trans male student, an understandable occurrence, especially if the teacher is not familiar with the