> Please refrain from putting Travis K. in the same category as Rosa Parks
Civil disobedience isn’t inherently good, momentous nor socially activistic. (See the story behind Homer Plessy [1], who was hired by railroad owners in a bid to cut costs related to a segregationist state law. It famously backfired when SCOTUS created “separate but equal”.)
It is simply “the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws of the state, and/or demands, orders, and commands of a government” [2].
This is exactly what you are rallying against here in your quote.
"This is a toxic attitude. “Don’t worry if you’re breaking the law; they’ll have to change to stay relevant!”"
Uber X enabled a cheaper form of public transport by adding some efficiencies, but also by actively skirting regulation that was in place for Hire Cars and Taxis (that also made them more expensive options) that was designed for public safety.
Following this, Governments changed laws to allow for this new class of driver with new regulations that lowered the cost of compliance.
This is exactly the same as a new financial instrument designed to allow some other form of innovative public good that breaches current regulations that were designed for safety. With the expectation that regulation will ave to change for them.
In both cases the regulations being breached were designed for some kind of public safety. The breakers believed they were delivering some kind of greater good. I'm not saying the method is right or wrong... it appears to get results.
As far as I can tell, your history is a bit confused.
I've never read anything about Plessy being "hired" by railroad owners - rather there was a civil rights group, the Citizens Committe, who were comprised of a variety of folks opposed to the seperste
car act.
They asked Plessy to voulenteer to be test case, to which he agreed. (And yes, it did backfire).
The railroad company was an ally to the cause due to costs of adding more cars, so they agreed to help.
Also, while that sentence does come from Wikipedia definition, I've never heard it used outside the scope of activism / civil rights work in 35+ years of activist work.
Please refrain from putting Travis K. in the same category as Rosa Parks.