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The Importance Of Peaceful Resistance In The United States

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The ability to conduct peaceful resistance to something one does not believe in has been an important part of the United State’s society for a long time. Average citizens are given the opportunity to make a political statement and try to impact the laws of our society, while in other places people may be killed for trying to speak their mind. If someone is not harming others or encouraging chaos, peaceful resistance to laws can benefit a free society. Peaceful resistance allow people to speak out against something they don’t believe in and show those in power that their constituents do not agree with with something they did. Though there are other ways to try to impact the decision of those in power, such as writing letters or voting, getting a large group of people to protest, those in power might not listen. During the civil rights movement, African Americans were protesting for their rights with little results. However, when one woman refused to give …show more content…

In some societies, speaking out against those in power may get someone’s whole family killed, but in a free society like ours, we have the ability to act out against the government without having to worry about how anyone but ourselves may be punished. In 2013, Edward Snowden leaked information on how much the United State’s government monitored their citizens. He has fled the country since, but he doesn’t have to worry about if his family will be punished by the government by his actions. While I do not agree with his actions, they have led to good discussions on the role the government plays in our daily lives and how much they can monitor the people. Snowden has caused change and debate over the level of privacy one should expect from the government, and has caused an issue that wasn’t as big before to be more hotly contested. The people now are aware of another issue with the government and can do more to protect

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