<p>Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority?</p>
<pre><code>Questioning ideas and decisions of authority is an essential part of society. It keeps power among people in authority in check. It has been displayed in many historical accounts and works of literature.
Classic examples of questioning authority are found in the dystopian fictional novels of the world renowned author George Orwell. One main example of this Orwellian literature is 1984. The novel describes a dystopian society of futuristic England. It depicts a totalitarian regime that is ruled by a dictatorial character allegorically named "Big Brother." It shows how Big Brother indoctrinates the people of England by forcing them to watch propaganda that his political party supports. It also shows how far he will go to make sure everyone agrees with his ideas and policies by maintaining a thought police, rewriting history and linguistics and torturing those who question him. This novel was written by George Orwell mainly to warn people about giving people too much power and influence and encouraged questioning authority.
</code></pre>
<p>Besides fictional works, many places in the world also indoctrinate their people. In the memoir, Tales of a Red Scarf Girl by Ji Li Jiang, we learn about the experience of a person who lived in Communist China during the Cultural Revolution. Ji Li Jiang was a girl who had a bright future ahead of her in Communist China. Unfortunately, during her teenage years, China started the Cultural Revolution in which China started to get rid of certain things that they believed were bourgeois and represented old China. Her whole family was humiliated because they were believed to be bourgeois and fascists. Jiang was even pressured to testify against her own parents. The most outrageous thing about the Cultural Revolution was that the people were brainwashed to believe that this was good for China by the Communist Party to the point that anyone who questioned their view was outcast-ed by Chinese society.
Besides examples of dystopic societies and indoctrination, many of our great minds came up with amazing ideas by questioning authority. Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei were two of these many minds. During the Renaissance, several of the Catholic Church's beliefs were used as gospel throughout Europe. One of these views was the Ptolemy's model of the solar system, which stated that the planets revolved around the earth. Copernicus and Galileo challenged this belief and proved that all the planets (including earth) revolved around the sun. Unfortunately, both of these minds were condoned by the Catholic Church for this belief for centuries.
Questioning authority will help to keep people in authority from getting too much influence and power. It will also allow new and improved ideas to be made. Therefore, questioning authority is very beneficial for the well-being of society.</p>