Tracking back the independence of the United States, we are impressed by First Shot at Lexington, the Boston Tea Party, and Great Victory in Saratoga, in which Americans demonstrated their persistent pursuit of freedom. This civil disobedience was victory and wonderful, laying a foundation for a newborn superpower. However, in modern society, civil disobedience is always inappropriate, regardless in a despotic country or a democratic country. In a despotic country, civil disobedience is ineffective. Since the dictatorship holds the most power and right, oppressing people to the largest extent without affording them a possible chance to revolt, it is not significant but merely risky for people to show any civil disobedience towards the tyranny. With the most power, there is no reason for a despotic country to allow civil disobedience. To begin with, take a case in China as an instance; less than two years ago, the Chinese government decided to establish a p-xylene (gaseous chemical raw material factory in Maoming city (a small city in southern China), which was objected by most of Maoming residents because such factory would post a threat to both local environment and local residents’ health. They organized large-scale demonstrations in Maoming city. More severely, civil disobedience can give rise to bloodletting. The Tiananmen Square Massacre is a case in point. On June 6th, 1989, one million people assembled in the Tiananmen Square and demonstrated for liberty and
People partaking in sit ins were told to take abuse, and were arrested. This movement was used to show that violence was coming from the white community and helped achieve the goals of the civil rights movement towards racial equality. A more recent example of civil disobedience is the woman's march occurring January 21st 2017.
"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 impacts a free society, as it forces people to confront issues, leading to advancements for the true majority of society. As Martin Luther King said in "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," nonviolent direct action creates such a tension that an community is forced to negotiate the issue that is once ignored. This is especially important as usually oppressors have no concept of the severity of a situation, as they have not lived it themselves. People with privileges don't typically see the invisible cruelties needed to maintain the status quo.
Civil disobedience is a very strong term used to describe situations in which people are standing up for what they believe in and going against authority. When the word disobedience is used, it is automatically thought of as a negative scenario. Not all civil disobedience situations are bad. For example, in Antigone by Sophocles, Antigone shows civil disobedience when she stands up to Creon so her brother can have a proper burial. From Creon’s view, Antigone was being extremely disobedient to him, but from Antigone and the town’s view, Antigone was standing up for what she believed in and knew was right.
I consider civil disobedience to be an easily-ignored pillar upon which our democracy was founded. In fact we are only established as a nation now because our founding fathers engaged in civil disobedience themselves. We were in a “social contract” of sorts with Great Britain and when we felt that they had not upheld their part of the contract (they did not allow us to create courts to maintain order, or to create a navy to defend ourselves, or to sustain our economy due to an inability to trade with any other countries), Thomas Jefferson concluded that it was our not only our right, but also our duty to break away. And it was Thomas Jefferson that combined all of the works of the great thinkers before him such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke
If slaves never disobeyed the former laws defending slavery, there would still be slavery in America. As a human being, one disobeys purposely to make an impact on certain issues or events that society disagrees on and that is how progress is made. Disobedience is indeed a valuable trait that promotes social progress. In order to change or make an impact there has to be some form of disobedience.
Should the law be a higher priority than one’s own morals? Henry David Thoreau, a well-known American Transcendentalist, once wrote that “the government itself, which is the only mode which people have chosen to execute their will is equally liable to be abused and perverted before people can act through it” (A1). After witnessing many unjust and immoral activities, such as slavery and the Mexican-American war (something he viewed as unnecessary violence fueled by avarice for land), Thoreau lost faith in the government. In order for people to avoid becoming “agents of injustice” themselves, he encouraged them to act according to their conscience rather than blindly following the law. Although I believe that in an ideal world people should
Civil Disobedience Civil disobedience is defined as, the refusal to obey certain laws or governmental demands for the purpose of influencing legislation or government policy, characterized by the employment of such nonviolent techniques as boycotting, picketing, and nonpayment of taxes. Henry David Thoreau gives a complete rundown of civil disobedience in his book, Civil Disobedience. In “Letter From Birmingham City Jail”, Martin Luther King, Jr., he talks about how he was put in jail for peaceful protesting “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps..” (King), which is part of civil disobedience. Civil disobedience can be necessary in certain circumstances.
People have always found ways to show their disapproval of governmental decisions and took action into it. Civil disobedience is the refusal to obey laws, without using violence. Uncivil disobedience is the refusal to obey laws, using violence. Civil disobedience is more effective in the case of Martin Luther King Junior, the walk-outs, and the sit-ins. Civil disobedience is effective because protesters will not kill anyone so, fewer lives are lost and because it shows that non-violence demonstrates strength.
The advancement of this country is the beneficiary of civil disobedience. One man’s idea cannot govern alone. As Thomas Jefferson once said, “When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is
Civil disobedience is a key component to free society in and of itself. As a primary example, America herself was born from it; The American Revolution began with civil disobedience. If the colonists did not rebel, if they did not fight for their freedoms- albeit violently further on- where would we be today? Where would we be if the Boston Tea Party never happened, if the American people never disobeyed?
The conflict between authority and disobedience has stayed relevant since Adam and Eve chose to disobey in the Garden of Eden. Since this moment, every civilization has dealt with this relationship. Egyptians faced the exodus of their Israelite slaves from their land, Romans fought with the slave Spartacus who raised an army to fight against the Roman empire, and in the eighteenth century, the French government had the challenge of its civilians revolting against their authority. The balance between authority and disobedience represents a pendulum relationship. When a pendulum swings to one side, it eventually swings to the opposite side with an equal amount of force; thus, the more authority executes its rights on a civilian, the more the
In life, there are times when the superior powers of the world make a judgment that you oppose and wish to go against and rebel in a peaceful refusal of those laws. This is the definition of civil disobedience which has been one of the many solidifying mechanisms of American government. Henry David Thoreau, writer, philosopher and political critic; Martin Luther King Jr., minister and key activist in the Civil Rights movement, and Plato, classical Greek philosopher, were some of the finest contributors to examples, philosophies and insight into the meaning of civil disobedience and were true inspirations on solidifying my own beliefs and opinions on civil disobedience. The role of civil disobedience in the present day matters just as much as
People's justification to engage in civil disobedience rests on the unresponsiveness that their engagement to oppose an unjust law receives. People who yearn for a change in a policy might sometimes find themselves in a dead end because their “attempts to have the laws repealed have been ignored and legal protests and demonstrations have had no success” (Rawls 373). What Rawls says is that civil disobedience is a last option to oppose an unjust law; therefore, providing civil disobedients with a justification for their cause. Civil disobedience is the spark of light that people encountered at the dead end and they hope that this spark of light will illuminate to show that an unjust law should not exist at all. Martin Luther King, Jr, in his “Letter from
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world” These astonishing words that Mahatma Gandhi said made me suppose that Civil Disobedience is a Moral Responsibility of a citizen because when breaking certain laws, a citizen perhaps incorporate a good intention or a bad intention for breaking it. Citizens break the law occasionally to have their beliefs be heard so change can be assemble. Some ways that Civil Disobedience can be a Moral Responsibility would be breaking the law for the right intentions. An example of breaking the law for the right intentions could be The Salt March that Gandhi Created or, Rosa Parks standing up for her beliefs about her actions, MLK wanting equal rights with caucasian. Illegal Immigrants coming into the