Throughout history, there have be many examples of literary and musical pieces that have changed the course of the history, for example, Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” and Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall.” Pink Floyd and Henry David Thoreau both express individualism and the idea that one should not participate in the injustice of the government.…
Peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society because it is exercising the rights of it’s citizens as well as proving that the government is not always correct, and the biggest changes normally come about from civil disobedience. Civil disobedience has been used to speak against the United States government when it showed that those in power wouldn’t change for the better. Civil disobedience was not well known for the abolition of slaves. David Thoreau called for it in “Civil Disobedience,” written in 1849, claiming that the government showed faulty in handling slavery. Thoreau claimed “the government itself… is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it,” (Thoreau par 1).…
King believes that certain preparations should occur before one participates in direct civil disobedience, including attempting to first negotiate; “In ANY non-violent campaign there ARE four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine if whether injustice exist, negotiation, self-purification and direct action”. These steps serve as a framework for correctly practicing civil disobedience, failing to abide by this framework neglects the alternatives to creating civil unrest. Mindful of the importance of negotiation in constructively breaking the law, Socrates forms his MAIN argument off of the inability to control the ensuing chaos if he WE re to break the law after failing to negotiate. While personifying the law, Socrates speaks for…
Disobedience is a valuable human trait and it promotes social progress. The beginning of time starts with disobedience. Humans tend to attract to trouble like a moth to a flame. When someone is born they start off disobedient. Humans have to be taught how to behave. It is to be imbedded into our brains to make the right decisions.…
Throughout our history as a free society, countless nonviolent protests have arisen as a means to try to create change. Peaceful protest is not a new concept, even in America. Henry David Thoreau, a Transcendentalist writer in the 19th century, refused to pay taxes because he did not support the Mexican War. In Civil Disobedience, Thoreau claims that so many men today blindly follow the government’s wishes and that “in most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the moral sense.” Peaceful protest is a way for men to “be men first, and subjects afterward,” expressing their opinions and acting as a catalyst for change in a free state. Without peaceful resistance, there would be little diversity of ideas; the government would control all policy without much regard to minority opinion, and scant progress would be made. Peaceful resistance is a means in which citizens are able to influence the laws and encourage progress. From Thoreau’s time to now, civil disobedience, to put it in Mr. Thoreau’s terms, has played a positive and necessary role in…
Peaceful resistance is impossible, especially in this modern society. Peaceful organization turns to riot even when good intentions are present. Inaction and guiltmongering do nothing to help society. It is sad to see people who believe they are doing all the good in the world turn to these methods and use violence though convinced it is really peaceful. "Peaceful" protest accomplishes nothing. American government is predicated on this. The only things that change are violence and political action. Asking nicely saved nobody, and the American Revolution is proof of this. The colonists asked for a long time for fair representation in Parliament but no change came and, in fact, increases in taxes and injustices happened. It was not until the injustices came to a head in gunfire that there was a change, which was an overthrow of the British Empire and the Americans took control of their own lives and governed themselves. Peaceful resistance did nothing.…
Peaceful resistance to laws certainly has a positive impact on a free society. There are many examples of when peaceful resistance has positively impacted a free society from the past and even some events that have happened recently. One of the most famous instances is obviously Martin Luther King Jr. and his fight for Civil Rights. He lead by example and lead by his beliefs. In the "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" he questions many southerners on how they could be Christian but turn a blind eye to how African Americans were being treated. Once he was out of jail he often preached this message as well. This changed the mind of many white southerners and helped Martin Luther King Jr. get more support.…
A idea that can be easily applied to life and the world’s society is civil disobedience or rebellious. Henry David Thoreau writes a story about his disobedience that he came across that many young ones can learn from. Thoreau’s disobedience had him sent to jail. He was sent to jail because he did not want to pay his taxes that would have supported the war against mexico and gave money to slavery. Although Thoreau was trying to do something right and maybe people would follow what he was doing but it was just a minority of him against the government which you will not win. It is something that can you easily learn from, not following the law and being rebellious will not get you anywhere only gets you in…
Peaceful resistance to laws positively affects a free society. Since we're Americans we've been learning about American History since we started school. Breaking the law is not always a bad thing. IF the law goes against something you believe in , and you know it's not right break the law. Yes, if you're caught you'll be jailed but it's worth it to stick up for something that you believe in. Take for instance in the Civil Right's Days when Rosa Parks was fed up with the unequal treatment blacks received opposed to the whites. If Rosa had abided by the law who knows where we would be. She was tired of the unequal treatment, if she was on the bus first why should she give up her seat to a man who just got on the bus. Rosa was jailed , but her…
as changed in many ways. From good to bad, to debates and agreements. But, however we need peaceful resistances. We need to work as a society and make a change for the better. We need to accept and agree to the differences. The laws are something we cannot change or give opinion on. It is what t is, but society needs peaceful resistances to laws to positively impact society. We cant impact our society with the negatives. Negatives such as breaking the law, civil disobedience, and threats of the law. We have to be remembered for the good resistance that we have.…
To wrap it up, I believe that peaceful civil disobedience is beneficial to society. My reasoning being that the peaceful disobedience generates headlines about the injustice the group is protesting, and leads to discussion about the issue that would have otherwise went unknown to the public. Even if the government does not change, the public still deserves to know. However if the disobedience becomes violent, then it has the opposite effect and the public sides against the…
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.…
Non-peaceful resistance certainly seems to get noticed more or the social media seems to broadcast or post it more. I believe that has a lot to do with it, if it was less sensationalized maybe so many unruly people would not be so quick to jump on board a non-peaceful resistant event. Peaceful resistance to our laws, nation, communities, or leaders can have a positive impact on a free society. I believe that peaceful resistance tries to do just that, bring peace to a situation or issue. Peaceful resistance is trying to start a peaceful dialog, open up the lines of communication, expressing ones concerns for certain situations without violence, unruliness, destruction and without chaos. You can peacefully have a plat form from which to share your views and feel like your voice is being heard, your onion does matter, and peacefully you can strive to instill change, to instill justice, to instill values and morals. There have been numerous highly outspoken civil rights leaders that have demonstrated time and time again monumental peaceful resistance all without themselves ever being violent. Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr., and Cesar Chavez just to…
Civil disobedience is the peaceful refusal to comply to a law or regulation if this law is considered unjust. Throughout history, certain individuals and groups have displayed civil disobedience to be heard and acknowledged. Often times, civil disobedience gives suppressed people a voice. It allows said people to shed light on an issue that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. As long as these actions stay peaceful, there is no harm in civil disobedience. In fact, to significantly impact a free society, one must ensure that people are truly free to their basic human rights.…
Chenoweth and Stephan's arguments and research show that non violent campaigns are more successful than violent campaigns against violent political regimes. Though violent protests can show to be successful and they do get the point across though in a very different way, non violent protests I will have to agree, are the best and most efficient way to go about combating a violent opposition. With cases such as Dr. Martin Luther King, and Ghandi being two of the most noted cases. (not to say that there are not many more)…