Lord Sumption: Civil disobedience has begun

When I was in high school (25 years ago) we learned about civil disobedience as an important part of the evolution of the legal system, and as a civic responsibility. Examples like abortion and segregation laws were brought up as important times that people pushed back against the mainstream and brought about important changes.

I get the sense that this attitude would be frowned upon now. Anybody going against mainstream thought is a "denier" or anti-x-er, there is no room in public discourse for any dissent.

I'm reminded of the (maybe PG) essay about asking people whether they would have been slave owners or abolitionists, and everyone pretends they would have been an abolitionist, when the reality is that would have been a strongly nonconformist position to take in many places. I think dissent is much harder now than it would have been back then.

Sadly, the days when other opinions were allowed to be aired, no matter how unpalatable, are over - except maybe here on HN!