Argh

The well-being of a society is enhanced when many of its people question authority.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

Some people believe that if a large percentage of a population questions authority, then the whole group to which the population belongs is bound to suffer.  However, some groups thrive when there is radical dissent from authority among a large percentage of the population.  For example, it seems to me that the Age of the Enlightenment was a result of more and more people questioning the established authority of the church, and asking difficult questions about the causal structure of the observable universe.  While some people might argue that this wide-spread questioning was destructive to the status quo and created more harm than good, I would point to the obvious increase in quality of life for the average person.  For example, in the middle ages, if the average person were to contract a bacterial infection of the chest, then there was a good chance that the person would either suffer a long period of illness or die.  In the former case, these long periods of illness would detract from the sick person's ability to contribute to the household, and as a result, even if the family did not contract the same sickness, they would inevitably suffer from the loss of the contribution of their sick family member.  Once people began to question the church, and its established authority concerning the causal structures of the known, observable universe, in many cases these same people were able to create remedies for bacterial illnesses.  The courage to question authority has resulted in antibiotics and as a result the quality of life for the average family has drastically increased.  Therefore, it is not true that when some people question authority, the whole group suffers.

A more interesting proposal might be that if a large percentage of a population begin to question legitimate authority, then the entire group of people may be bound to suffer.  For example, most people would agree that the practice of genocide is morally evil.  Conscience and empathy for our fellow human beings simply does not permit this form of radical doubt and questioning.  But, what happens when large groups of the population do begin to doubt this legitimate tenant of conscience and act on their doubt?  In the case of the Third Reich German state during the second world war, millions of Jewish people were tortured, treated like garbage and murdered in cold blood.  In the case of Darfur, millions of people were tortured, slain and thrown away like garbage.  This happened because people began to question the basic authoritative tenants of human conscience, the tenants that demand empathy, respect, and cooperation among the human species.