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You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times

Book by Howard Zinn · 4 quotes · People, World, Compassion

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You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times Quotes

“I am convinced that imprisonment is a way of pretending to solve the problem of crime. It does nothing for the victims of crime, but perpetuates the idea of retribution, thus maintaining the endless cycle of violence in our culture. It is a cruel and useless substitute for the elimination of those conditions--poverty, unemployment, homelessness, desperation, racism, greed--which are at the root of most punished crime. The crimes of the rich and powerful go mostly unpunished. It must surely be a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit that even a small number of those men and women in the hell of the prison system survive it and hold on to their humanity.”

JusticePovertyRacismPrisonGreedPunishmentJailUnemploymentDesperationHomelessnessRetributionImprisonmentIncarcerationCriminal Justice SystemCrimesCycle Of Violence
Book:You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times
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“Civil disobedience, as I put it to the audience, was not the problem, despite the warnings of some that it threatened social stability, that it led to anarchy. The greatest danger, I argued, was civil obedience, the submission of individual conscience to governmental authority. Such obedience led to the horrors we saw in totalitarian states, and in liberal states it led to the public's acceptance of war whenever the so-called democratic government decided on it... In such a world, the rule of law maintains things as they are. Therefore, to begin the process of change, to stop a war, to establish justice, it may be necessary to break the law, to commit acts of civil disobedience, as Southern black did, as antiwar protesters did.”

JusticeOppressionRule Of LawCivil DisobedienceAcquiescenceDangers Of Obedience
Book:You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times
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“I have come to believe that our lives can be turned in a different direction, our minds adopt a different way of thinking, by some significant, though small event. That belief can be frightening, or exhilarating, depending on whether you just contemplate it or do something with it.”

ThinkingWayMindBelieveDifferentBeliefJusticeOur LivesEventsDiversitySocial JusticeSignificantDifferent WaysContemplatingFrighteningWay Of ThinkingExhilaratingDifferent DirectionsSmall Events
Book:You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times
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