on the other hand, there is something to be said for not provoking the anger of people in power.

I was at a bat mitzvah recently where the reading was from Numbers, involving Korath challnging the authority of Moses. Why, asks Korath, do you get to be in charge? Moses basically says, well, korath, if I’m not supposed to be in charge, then you will live a normal life. But if I’m supposed to be in charge, something funky is going to happen. Soon. Then the earth opens up and swallows Korath and his family and his followers plus all their livestock for good measure. Clearly, Moses was meant to lead.

I think the lesson i took away from this was that while questioning authority is a catchy slogan that sold a lot of buttons, and it is theoretically good to stand up to authority if you think you’re right, there is some actual risk to doing so, including but not limited to being swalleowed up by the earth, and potentially even with your livestock, and sometimes discretion is the better part of valor, whatever that means.