Peaceful Resistance Does peaceful resistance to laws positively or negatively impact a free society? This is a question asked among all Americans since the beginning of the American Revolution. The answer to what seems to be a question with no answer is yes. Peaceful resistance is noted as a type of civil disobedience, which is the refusal to comply with certain laws as a peaceful form of protest. Whether at home, in school, or in public, citizens of the United States commit this type of disobedience. It’s usually done to have leaders of high authority change, create, or repeal a law due to them being either unjust or against the constitution. How exactly does peaceful resistance positively impact a free society? Well as citizens of the United States, we have the responsibility to change laws set by the government in …show more content…
Most people want to have a peaceful protest, but some people don’t know their limits and take things too far. This can be seen in the Freddie Gray case in Baltimore, Maryland and the case of Keith Lamon Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina. In both instances some of the protesters became violent and started vandalizing property.. Another cause of violent protest is that some people love to cause problems, usually to make the protesters look bad or because they just love the chaos since they benefit from it in their own sinister ways. The final problem is the size of the protest since the size of the group protesting shows the government how much we want change.
So how exactly do we protest without the violence? What we need is a way to spread the word to lots of people while avoiding physical confrontation and taking things too far. The solution is through social media, because information travels fast on the internet, people are only violent with words instead of fists, and it has more boundaries than in real
Why is it wrong to peacefully show the government why "we the people" are upset with it? The most powerful example I can think of is the sit ins during the civil rights era. The civil rights movement had strong leaders, many of which believed in non violent measures to achieve their goals. When four young men sat at a Woolworth's counter and were refused service they continued to sit there through threats, and it changed the country.
When it comes to America's History you can clearly see how peaceful protest has brought this world to what it is today. If it wasn't for people such as Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks who voiced their opinions in a nonviolent manner, it's possible that our world would not have reached this equivalent state. While it is true that peaceful resistance has positively affected our society for centuries, these brave people have faced the consequences. For example, King was arrested after one of his nonviolent protests and sent to Birmingham Jail. While there he wrote the now famous piece "A Letter From Birmingham Jail".
Peaceful resistance to laws has a more positive impact on a free society because it allows people to express how wrong something can be and stress the need for change. In the "Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King demonstrates how nonviolence allows those who "refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue" (King). Martin Luther King explains how effective nonviolence can be. This demonstrates how those protesting aren't causing chaos, yet are still being able to get their point across.
The most well-known examples of peaceful resistance come from the civil rights movement. In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. defends his protests by stating that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Dr. King’s letter was a response to white men who had called his protests untimely. Dr. King points out that protesting will always be untimely, but that it must be done in order to see change. King was correct.
Non violence protest has been practiced by multiple people all over the world, and it has shown to be successful. Specifically Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with his form of non violence within the Civil Rights Movement. He is a legend, he has influenced many people to follow his tactics, in order to make the world a better place and to progress the country. Cesar Chavez is a Civil Rights Leader himself and writes an article on DR. King’s 10 year anniversary of his untimely death and his article was on how non violence protests are better than any form of violence by using elements of pathos and ethos.
Initiating a violent protest will alert their communities of the issue but in a negative way. While a peaceful protest is more likely to positively bring awareness to the issue and spark change. Standing alone can be hard because it means going against social proof. People who stand alone on certain issues and beliefs notify their communities to the existence of a
From the beginning of mankind’s recorded history, opposition to established governing bodies have always been recorded. Whether through coup d'etat or a peaceful protest, resistance to authority always causes change in some way. The United States Government changes; laws are meant to change as well. America prides itself on the history of its peaceful protests and revolutions, demonstrating positive effects on a free society. Because peaceful resistance wasn’t creating progressive change, radical disobedience was the key to change in the 1700’s during the American Revolution.
"If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so. "-Socrates. Peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society because the society is not free unless it's able to check the government. As long as the protest of the law remains peaceful it is a good thing. It is the public telling the government that they will not let them gain to much power and crush their human rights.
Peaceful resistance to laws positively affect a free society. Throughout history, there have been multiple cases of both violent and peaceful protests. However, the peaceful protests are the ones that tend to stick with a society and are the ones that change the society for the better. In April 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter about just and unjust laws while he was in Birmingham jail for peacefully protesting. King came to Birmingham because "injustice is here".
In rarer cases some will protest on things that may cause fights. The college campus has the right to shut down a protest if it may cause a fight. This is said under the category “Fighting Words” in the first amendment. Its states that if the protest may cause the intended audience to commit an act of crime, the protest should be dismissed.
Cesar mentioned that, “If we resort to violence…the violence will be escalated and there will be many injuries and perhaps deaths on both sides, or there will be total demoralization of the workers” (Garcia, 77). He created this idea that violence does not solve anything, and will only create bigger problems. However, a nonviolent movement is a protest
The consequences of peaceful protesting is, the marchers from Selma to Montgomery, had to go back and march three times. The first march wasn 't what they wanted to achieve and got sent back to the bridge. The second march was when they were crossing the bridge. The police officers attacked them with stick, teargas, clubs, arrested innocent people, guns were fired, knocked people to the ground, whips, rubber tubing wrapped in barbed wire was a weapon that the police officers whipped at the marchers. The third time they went to march, they won Federal Protection and they successfully marched for their cause.
Using nonviolent resistance does not include killing off anyone that doesn’t share the same opinion, it is simply protesting to prove and persuade a need for change. Also, peacefully protesting attracts attention from all over the world; thus, educating more people about a serious issue in society. If no one takes action, no one will realize the problem and it’ll only continue to grow. Also, many political leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King, Jr. are extremely known for their delightful use of civil disobedience. Even better, all of them were successful in bringing about a change in society.
Rallies may start off peaceful but others who may agree with those protesting don’t always do it peacefully this causes riots and looting, which is the farthest thing from peaceful. There is a fine line from marching down the streets peacefully and making your opinion know like Martin Luther King Jr did in 1965, in Alabama to help fight for the right of African-Americans to vote. Then someone saying it’s okay to loot and destroy cars and stores because they are expressing their opinion.
Nonviolent action does not follow any violent opposition or passive support of repression, but it is an active dedication to use nonviolent strategies. These strategies include education, strikes, boycotts, civil disobedience, direct action, noncooperation, persuasion, and protest. They are utilized to resist or prevent any violent forces with the aim of promoting some change (Kadayifci-Orellana, 2003). Nonviolent actions show that it is a better and moral practice to solve certain problems, instead of initiating a blood-spattered military