Why the world needs some disobedience

London

DOG lovers tend to find each other in life, for the rest of humanity is, after all, suspect. On a long flight recently, I fell into a conversation with a woman about dogs. It turned into a conversation about disobedience, and the world's current need for it.

When immense power is in erratic and belligerent hands, as it is today in the United States, the readiness of subordinates to disobey becomes critical. "Befehl ist befehl" - an order is an order - was the German principle that enabled the Nazis' industrialised mass murder.