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I am not missing that: I do not believe that to be the case. My apologies for not addressing that directly in my original comment. Uber isn't fighting against

by akerl_ 12y ago

I am not missing that: I do not believe that to be the case. My apologies for not addressing that directly in my original comment. Uber isn't fighting against discrimination, they aren't fighting against poverty or famine or some global crisis. They are a business engaged in political maneuvering as part of their goal of changing the regulations in their favor. Whether we think their end goal is good or not, we shouldn't pretend that they're doing this out of altruism. Civil disobedience and similar acts are effective tools in protesting against injustices in the government. But in using such acts as tools against any inefficient or obsolete laws, we throw the baby out with the bathwater.

baddox 12y ago
Please don't misunderstand. I don't mean to compare the nobility or importance of changing taxi regulations with the American civil rights movement, the Indian independence movement, or other notable historical instances of civil disobedience. But I do not believe the civil disobedience is only effective for causes of that scale.
- akerl_ 12y ago
  Sorry if I implied you were making that comparison. The comparison is my own: I do feel that civil disobedience should only be utilized for things of that scale. For things where the dispute is over efficiency or cleaning out obsolete laws or correcting over/under-regulation, actual political involvement applies. Campaign vigorously, support and send candidates who feel passionately about your cause, withhold support from those who do not. Hold rallies, organize protests. Be involved. But disobeying laws that were enacted via legal means and do not violate human rights crosses a line. Imagine you're upset because your ISP charges massive prices and their quality of service is terrible (like this would ever happen). Contacting their support, reaching out to their corporate office, blogging about their poor service, and taking them to court over broken SLAs are all valid things to do. Refusing to pay your bill because the service is subpar is not. It's not a perfect analogy, but hopefully it does a better job describing why I draw the line where I do.
  - baddox 12y ago
    > But disobeying laws that were enacted via legal means and do not violate human rights crosses a line. But I do think these taxi laws blatantly violate human rights.

by akerl_ 12y ago

baddox 12y ago

Please don't misunderstand. I don't mean to compare the nobility or importance of changing taxi regulations with the American civil rights movement, the Indian independence movement, or other notable historical instances of civil disobedience. But I do not believe the civil disobedience is only effective for causes of that scale.

akerl_ 12y ago
Sorry if I implied you were making that comparison. The comparison is my own: I do feel that civil disobedience should only be utilized for things of that scale. For things where the dispute is over efficiency or cleaning out obsolete laws or correcting over/under-regulation, actual political involvement applies. Campaign vigorously, support and send candidates who feel passionately about your cause, withhold support from those who do not. Hold rallies, organize protests. Be involved. But disobeying laws that were enacted via legal means and do not violate human rights crosses a line. Imagine you're upset because your ISP charges massive prices and their quality of service is terrible (like this would ever happen). Contacting their support, reaching out to their corporate office, blogging about their poor service, and taking them to court over broken SLAs are all valid things to do. Refusing to pay your bill because the service is subpar is not. It's not a perfect analogy, but hopefully it does a better job describing why I draw the line where I do.
- baddox 12y ago
  > But disobeying laws that were enacted via legal means and do not violate human rights crosses a line. But I do think these taxi laws blatantly violate human rights.