Preview

The Cause Of Civil Disobedience

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
508 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Cause Of Civil Disobedience
Peacefully resisting laws is the first step to change. From Dr. King to LGBTQ rights peaceful protest has been a powerful tool. The First Amendment of the United States’ Constitution allows for peaceful assembly to protest. When citizens peacefully disobey a law it has positive effects on society. Civil disobedience happens for a variety of reasons. “For some, it’s for very personal reasons. For others, it’s out of love, rage, anger or lack of real progress with electoral politics,” (Johnson). Civil disobedience is ultimately an act of emotion. When one commits civil disobedience it is because they feel strongly about a situation. There are a multitude of ways to commit civil disobedience from “Marches” to “Rallies” to “Sit-ins” (Johnson). By committing these acts change becomes a possibility. The voice of discontent has been expressed to a wider audience. Mark Johnson, Director of Advocacy at the Sheppard Center in Atlanta, says through civil disobedience, “we take back some of the power we have lost to the institutions of society and use the power in a nonviolent way …show more content…
Edward Snowden released information as to how the NSA works. It showed they were tracking Americans with no link to terrorism without obtaining warrants (Cassidy). The N.S.A. obtained “ninety-seven billion pieces of information” and out of that only “three billion of those pieces came from U.S.-based networks.” (Cassidy). There are legal ways of still obtaining this information. The NSA can “always go to court to obtain a wiretap or search warrant-and it will be a very good thing for the country.” (Cassidy). There are still options for the United States of America in the war against terrorism that do not infringe upon the privacy of people who have done nothing wrong. Edward Snowden revealed that the United States has the spying capacity to spy on us and that the fear inspired by Orwell of ‘Big Brother is watching’ is possibly

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    When answering the question does peaceful resistance to laws positively of negatively impact a free society, one word takes precedence - peaceful. Too many times we overlook that word and the result is just resistance to laws. In recent days, something that was titled peaceful demonstration turned into violent protest. The violence is often the intention of the "resistance" groups from the onset. The latest example comes from those who protested the outcome of the presidential election of Donald Trump. Their intention was violence and destruction in the name of protest. Egged on by media corporations with political leanings, these enraged individuals are given a free pass. This gives actual civil disobedience no chance to create positive change. The majority of protestors have no idea what cause they are associated with, just looking for their shot to get on television. The next "protest" must outdo the last and so on and so on. It is now commonplace to destroy property, set fires and attack innocent bystanders to get your point across.…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    All American citizens give up some of their personal liberties for the good of society: it is the basis of the constitution and every law. When citizens feel a law is unjust, they have two options: follow it or fight it. While the usual method of fighting it involves legal challenges or petitioning legislators, civil disobedience has achieved much notoriety after its famed success during the Civil Rights movement. The Framework for a Free Society describes a free society as one in which government “is constrained by the rule of law under which every individual and entity is treated equally.” A free society stresses toleration and respect of differences in belief and culture. Thus, peaceful resistance positively impacts a free society as it…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    That civil disobedience is an unnecessary disruption and any unfair law passed by legislative can be changed. Bills that become laws though take an average of 263.57 days if it even gets passed. And why would they change a law they liked in the first place? It’s noble and democratic to take the long way but if the issue is important to the benefit of citizens no should never be an answer. We should take control of the situation just as Benjamin Franklin said we could in the Declaration of Independence. “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”. We are the ones in charge and thanks to this textual evidence and the first amendment we have a right to protest and create…

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    With recent, record-breaking protests such as the ones on the weekend of January 20-22 (as well as pre-existing ones such as the North Dakota Access Pipeline protests), more and more people are participating in the phenomenon that is peaceful resistance and protest, and, as officials say about the Women’s March during the weekend (to connect with an example), “not a single arrest was made” (Seipel, “The Hill”). Again, there are direct results, as the NDAP protests caused alternate considerations by the Army regarding the pipeline (Brodwin, “Business Insider”). The United States was a country created on the basis of revolution; the Declaration of Independence is the archetype document of resistance; even the Resistance in Star Wars is viewed as good with their attempts at disobedience. Thomas Jefferson sought for the balance of the inherent right of revolution with the need to conform to the set laws that exist to protect the well-being of all; with civil disobedience, Jefferson’s ideals are ensured. No one is claiming to be above the law, nor are they attempting to usurp the standing government. The people only want the efficient, peaceful change and positive transition that can only come from the peaceful resistance to laws. Peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts society as it brings about the change without violence and needless bloodshed and fighting and challenges thinking from different viewpoints in a mental and emotional standpoint that…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It becomes a kind of despotism where we seek to silence rather than engage.” Civil disobedience is a necessary part of free society, as it provides an avenue from which all people can make themselves heard, regardless of political power or economic status. Furthermore, it is necessary to keep the spirit of the first amendment alive, as peaceful protest is a way in which people exercise their right to free speech; without peaceful resistance to laws, little progress would be made in a free society, and the views of the majority would be imposed on the rest of the population. Acting as a catalyst for change, peaceful resistance one ingredient of the recipe that drives a free nation towards growth and…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power Civil disobedience is a symbolic or ritualistic violation of the law, rather than a rejection of the system as a whole. Non - violent resistance is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests. This a really interesting discussion due to the fact that it has so many layers which could change the way you think about the initial question entirely. For instance since the nation is free it would be reasonable that breaking the law would be a way to exorcise your freedom, laws are usually set to either prevent controversy or conflict. For the sake of the argument…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some argue that civil disobedience represents a genuine cause, but reject the methods of direct action simply as disruptive, immoral, and an illegal standard to combat inequality. Civil disobedience is stigmatized to be corrupt and ineffective; however, I believe these labels do no justice to the cause the act of civil disobedience embodies. Unfortunately, the reality becomes a simple and cruel true: Justice prolonged is justice denied. Not everyone is granted the luxury of timely inalienable rights. Had it not been for those who protested and engaged in the Boston Tea Party how long would have the conversation or much less the American Revolution been delayed? Had it not been for Rosa Parks and the countless others who engaged in civil disobedience how long would it have been before society was desegregated at the choice of the oppressor? When one engages in peaceful civil disobedience, one is given the platform to address the…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Peaceful resistance to rules and regulations among society goes down historically as something so inevitably iconic as an occurrence known as civil disobedience. It is no doubt that civil disobedience, the act of opposing a law deemed unjust and peacefully disobeying it henceforth, spurs such great controversy in our society. Civil disobedience impacts society in a positive manner that does not hinder nor deteriorate the good name of the just nation that is home, but moreover poses as an influence for what is better accepted by humans as lawful.…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Peaceful resistance to laws does not only positively impact a free society, it is essential to a free society. In our great nation, it is our First Amendment Constitutional right through the exercise of assembly, speech, press, and petition. Civil disobedience in order to resist a law is perfectly justifiable, as long as the law is unjust. Morris Leibman's "Civil Disobedience: A Threat to Our Society" is accurate when is said that "There can be no law to which obedience is optional". This is correct, there needs to be compliance in order for safety for the general public, however peaceful resistance to a law, when no one is being hurt, and done within the law is perfectly acceptable. What is meant by this is peaceful resistance is peaceful assembly, lobbying…

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Peaceful resistance to laws can help a free society and cause little to no harm if a group or individual feels as if their civil liberties have been violated or infringed upon. Martin Luther King Jr. displayed class while also being in the public eye as a protester. The key word within the essential question is peaceful. Peaceful means to be done without violence or harm to anybody or anything, nor to cause a disturbance. Many protesting citizens and even non-citizens of today's generation of people both young and old, believe or have assumed their minds to think that the only way to overturn something they are not in favor of is to act out in violent manners in order to display what they may think is power to the people. Protesting in a peaceful manner may not be very warm and welcoming of rebels, but they…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Civil disobedience is a vital and necessary part of life in a democratic system of government. It serves to keep the government from overstepping its bounds. There are times in the history of countries where the governing body has become complacent and has begun to violate the rights of their citizens. Civil disobedience is an effective way of discouraging and preventing such transgressions. Without the threat of dissidence from the public, there is nothing to keep governments honest except for the honor of those governments, which is highly questionable even in the noblest of nations. The role of elected officials in the United States is to represent their constituents, be they from their district, state, or party. If there is nothing to hold these politicians to this purpose, can we truly be sure they are ruling in a representative way and not in self interest?…

    • 721 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Civil Disobedience Unjust

    • 559 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “If a plant cannot live according to its nature, it dies; and so a man.” As related by Henry David Thoreau, one of the most famous contributors to the concept of civil disobedience, there are some conditions regarding unjust laws that must be changed for the welfare of the people. If this is something the government cannot understand or agree with, it is the responsibility of the people themselves to work to the best of their abilities to change them. Most commonly, this is done through marches, hunger strikes, or sit-ins, all intended to be peaceful and nonviolent, to raise awareness for the cause being protested. Although there are some flaws regarding this system, it is a necessity in our society in order to progress and improve.…

    • 559 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    History will reveal the major part civil disobedience has played on overcoming governmental injustices. Today, people know Gandhi’s Salt March to Martin Luther King’s demonstrations. Gandhi’s actions helped gain India’s its independence and King’s tactics were instrumental in winning rights for black people in the United States. Others situations include the successful protest of 1998 rioters in Indonesia against the despotic system of government under the Suharto regime.[3] In the US during the early 1900s strikes organized by mistreated workers led to the introduction of labor unions, end of child labor and improved job benefits.[4] Those in the opposite mindset believe that civil disobedience is counter-productive and that the court system should combat unjust laws. However what all these causes listed above has in common was that, “there was no other avenue open to redress grievances” making civil obedience the only way to protest…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When governments continuously disenfranchise their population by lack of economic opportunity or education, they have a right to revolt against their governments. Both violent and nonviolent protests develop under the same conditions and fight for the same causes, therefore, both forms of civil disobedience are justifiable. Historically, marginalized groups, especially black communities in the United States, have experienced terror by the hands of police for centuries. After centuries of harassment, black communities have taken a stance against the injustices committed by those who are sworn in to protect them. Civil disobedience, whether violent or non-violent, is universally a justifiable method to achieve social change.…

    • 959 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Bill of Rights was the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States and protected our freedoms. Since 1791, over two hundred years ago, the American people have relied on these rights and fought to expand them. The process used to amend the Constitution has often involved civil disobedience. Through this peaceful process we have been given additional rights in the form of amendments that are just as important as the original ten including: abolishing slavery and women’s right to vote. People also protest against current issues when they believe there point of view is correct and are willing to accept the punishment to bring the injustice to the front of American’s minds using civil disobedience. One example of this is a sit in that occurred at a Montana university where 16 students were arrested. The people who commit civil disobedience in these situations believed that in order to right a wrong they themselves had to commit a crime and were punished for…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays