Comparing Crito And King's Argument Against Civil Disobedience

Leaders protect the community by having laws. Although some laws are just others are unjust because it goes against moral rights. Rule breakers are influential because they fight for what they believe in, while facing hardships. If there are no rule breakers or activist then there cannot be a healthy community. Rule breakers have to break the law to make communities healthy because the leaders can’t always see where they made mistakes.

While reading “The Crito” By Plato and Martin Luther King’s “Letters from a Birmingham Jail” I will use these two pieces of literature as a springboard to answer whether it is moral to break a law that you consider unjust. I will start first by analyzing Plato’s dialogue “The Crito”. The conversation takes place in a prison; this is where Socrates is awaiting his execution, and will be serving out the last days of his life. Socrates is visited by Crito, an old loyal friend, a generous friend who lacks ethical teaching and I also question his morals.

Civil Disobedience reveals, just because your Government made the laws, doesn't mean that you can’t at least try to peacefully protest against it. In the “Declaration Of Independence,” Thomas Jefferson states,”... whenever any form of government becomes destructive,

Martin Luther King Jr once stated, “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” in his Letter from Birmingham Jail in 1963. He was invoking the principle of civil disobedience. He wasn't justifying breaking laws just because, but instead, meant that you break the law and accept your punishment, in hopes that people will come to see that the law is unethical. Civil disobedience plays an important role in how our society has been shaped up until this point.

Civil disobedience is an act or way of disobeying the law/government. You don’t cooperate with the law(s). Many people don’t cooperate with a law and so they protest in a way without using violence. Protesting is part of an act of civil disobedience, it’s a way for people to show or prove their point of view. In the article “ On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” states when a person’s conscience and law clash, the person would follow their conscience rather than the law.

Civil disobedience is defined as the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest. Antigone, written by the playwright Sophocles, depicts an act of civil disobedience when Antigone goes against what the King of Thebes; Creon, said because she believes that the action she will undergo is more important than the law. A similar action is carried out in “ Letter From A Birmingham Jail”, written by Martin Luther King Jr. Each of these pieces are prime examples of civil disobedience because they are both peaceful protest against the law.

Henry David Thoreau spoke out against the unjustness of war and slavery. Martin Luther King Jr. fought for equal civil rights. Both were highly influential men who led the way in protest through civil disobedience. Through their words and actions, they left behind a legacy that would continue to inspire others for years to come.

is the prime example when talking about civil disobedience, for in the 1960s he was the head of the civil rights movement. MLK’s method required one to think logically; with his reasoning segregation was not only unjust but illogic. He achieved his goals through peaceful marches and sit-ins and often used rhetorical questions to accomplish his shared goal of ending segregation. MLK also did what he did for the long run and so that future generations could live peacefully while Antigone did what she did to bring respect to the gods and the dead. MLK believed an unjust law is no law at all so breaking it in his mind is moral and right.

Indiscriminate peaceful resistance to laws is harmful to a society. Peaceful resistance to unjust laws, however, is not only good for a society, but fundamental to a free one. If the people put up no resistance to unjust laws, they are merely slaves of the state, without freedom. An unjust law is a law which either violates the natural rights of the people or forces them to act against their conscience. Although a few situations call for armed resistance, as the Declaration of Independence notes, most situations do not and peaceful resistance will almost always further the common good.

Many movements from the eighteenth to twenty-first century have proven that civil disobedience can be an effective method to garner support in an attempt to come closer to true justice and equality so that, eventually, all will be equal as intended..

Peaceful resistance to laws, also known as civil disobedience, both positively and negatively impacts a free society. If everyone were to disobey laws, an anarchy would exist; America would live in chaos. But, if everyone were to obey every law, then the spectrum would shift to the far left, and America could become a socialist country. Moreover, if civil obedience did not exist, America would not be a country today because nobody would have rebelled against the British! So, civil disobedience is both necessary and destructive depending on the situation.

Civil disobedience is a justifiable method to making changes in laws or acts. Many people risk the little freedom they have left to have even more. People like Martin Luther King jr. and Thoreau changed laws for standing up for what they believe in. If you had the chance to change something you disagree about, wouldn't you want to change it.

Throughout the history of society, civil disobedience has become a key tool in combating laws seen as unjust. It was used thoroughly in the civil rights movement and was integral to the advancement of equality. The reason that civil disobedience plays such an important role in the advancement of rights is because of how effective it has been. The best way to make people aware of and relate to a movement is to make it well known. Events such as Bloody Sunday and the Montgomery Bus Boycott helped the civil rights movement gain much of the momentum that guaranteed its success.

Therefore, civil disobedience is essential to a free society and positively impacts the society. It allows the citizens to convey their ideas on the topics that matter to them. Peaceful resistance stimulates change in a

Hopefully, people in the future will only use civil disobedience as a way to harmlessly, but powerfully, stand up for their beliefs and fight for a