Civil Disobedience Essay
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win”, said Mahatma Gandhi. Civil disobedience is public the refusal to obey certain laws and is done non-violently. This form of protest has been a method of political/social change since the beginning of time. Many leaders, such as Gandhi, M.L.K. Jr., and others have used civil disobedience to create change in society. Although civil disobedience has its faults, it is still an effective method of change. Civil disobedience is an effective method of social change because it makes the opposing look bad to the public eye, accepting punishment willingly expresses devotion to a cause, and it influences others to join a cause - making it stronger.
First of all, civil disobedience is effective because it makes the opposing force look bad to the public eye. For instance, the Amritsar massacre was a massacre that took place in Jallianwala Bagh. General R.E.H. Dyer and the British government had unfairly banned many things - including public meetings. In spite of this, about 20,000 Indians were in the walled garden of Jallianwala Bagh listening to someone publicly speaking about Gandhi's message. Dyer ordered 50 Indian soldiers to open fire on the crowd. Hundreds were either dead or …show more content…
The Sit-In movement is a great example of this. On February 1, 1960, four African American college students walked up to a whites-only lunch counter at the Woolworth’s store in North Carolina and asked for coffee. When they were refused service, the students continued to sit there. Despite threats, the students sat and waited to be served. The action of these four college students influenced others and they began doing the same. Sit-ins soon became a strong movement. After the number of people participating began to increase, the sit-ins became one more piece to the puzzle of
First of all, civil disobedience is effective because it makes the opposing force look bad to the public eye. For instance, the Amritsar massacre was a massacre that took place in Jallianwala Bagh. General R.E.H. Dyer and the British government had unfairly banned many things - including public meetings. In spite of this, about 20,000 Indians were in the walled garden of Jallianwala Bagh listening to someone publicly speaking about Gandhi's message. Dyer ordered 50 Indian soldiers to open fire on the crowd. Hundreds were either dead or …show more content…
The Sit-In movement is a great example of this. On February 1, 1960, four African American college students walked up to a whites-only lunch counter at the Woolworth’s store in North Carolina and asked for coffee. When they were refused service, the students continued to sit there. Despite threats, the students sat and waited to be served. The action of these four college students influenced others and they began doing the same. Sit-ins soon became a strong movement. After the number of people participating began to increase, the sit-ins became one more piece to the puzzle of