They Want Order — We Want Justice
Post 29 in the Peaceful Resistance Series
The Difference Between Obedience and Liberation
You’ll hear it every time the system is threatened:
“We need order.”
“We need law and order.”
“We need respect for authority.”
But what they really mean is:
We want obedience.
Order sounds noble.
But without justice, order is just control.
Order protects systems.
Justice protects people.
Order Keeps Things Predictable
Order makes the powerful feel safe.
It stabilizes their place at the top.
It ensures that no one asks too many questions.
They teach you order is the highest good,
because a well-ordered society is easy to manage,
easy to police,
easy to exploit.
If you grow up hearing “follow the rules”
more than “follow your conscience,”
you learn to confuse quiet with peace.
You learn to call compliance a virtue.
You learn to fear the ones who break the silence.
Justice Disrupts for a Reason
Justice is not always polite.
It is not always calm.
It is not always neat.
Justice interrupts.
It refuses to keep secrets.
It refuses to keep harm hidden.
Justice asks:
Who benefits from this order?
Who suffers because of it?
Who is silenced to protect it?
Justice breaks things open so they can heal.
Justice tears down walls so everyone can belong.
Justice tells the truth, even if the system calls it chaos.
Obedience Protects Power — Liberation Protects People
The powerful love obedience.
Because it guarantees their comfort.
Because it guarantees their control.
They frame obedience as a moral duty.
They use words like loyalty, respect, tradition.
But liberation is different.
Liberation is dangerous — because it questions everything.
It refuses to place order above dignity.
Liberation says:
If the rules hurt the vulnerable, the rules must change.
If the law serves oppression, the law is unjust.
Obedience preserves hierarchy.
Liberation preserves humanity.
We Choose Justice
We do not want order that crushes dissent.
We want justice that restores the soul of a community.
We do not want peace built on silence.
We want peace built on truth.
We do not want loyalty to corrupt systems.
We want loyalty to each other — to the flourishing of all people.
So let them keep their order,
if order means protecting power.
We will keep our justice.
Because justice is what makes peace worth having.
NEXT - The Final Word Is Not Theirs
