Although Anonymous operates effectively and consciously, no organization fighting for civil disobedience is always perfect, but the actions they have taken that are seen as controversial are vastly different than other organizations that are considered to be more radical. One of the controversial actions was when protests were going on at Ferguson and the police officers took off their name badges so that protesters could not identify them. People viewed that as the police being guilty and trying to hide from any wrongdoing, so Anonymous uploaded the information of the police officers so that protestors could identify them. The problem with this is that many police officers did not have their name badges on in order to protect them and their …show more content…
This act hugely allows Anonymous to differentiate themselves from a more radical group such as the Weather Underground as they were intentionally seeking to use violence and intimidation through their movements in the pursuit of political aims. The work of Anonymous can still be defined as civil disobedience even when they do make mistakes since they do not adhere to straight violence but instead deliberate violation of the law for a greater purpose. The main way that Anonymous differentiates themselves from other major movements is how the organization operates off of the highly intelligent programmers and coders who form into one unified group; it is each and every individuals intelligence that contributes and defines the group that Anonymous is today. Other movements are usually based off of a few key leaders that carry the knowledge of what needs to be done in order to be successful. Their base of followers do not necessarily carry the same essential information that the key leaders maintain. …show more content…
In particular cases they have cracked down on members of Anonymous, but for a lot of cases they let Anonymous find and publish information on scandals. Anonymous’s interest is not in hurting the US government as they are more interested in the freedom of information. They do not want to take down the US government so the government does not feel as threatened to get involved with the organization. They usually get the most involved with Anonymous when Anonymous makes corporate attacks. With more radical groups, the government cracks down more because they consider it terrorism. With anonymous, the things they have done may not be legal, but they could be seen as morally correct so the government tends to let more things pass. This to me shows a huge emphasis on how the acts they perform are considered good forms of civil disobedience as the government does not make a huge effort to crackdown on the organization. It is also important to realize that if the government did try to crackdown, they would not be able to have full control since they are intelligently operating within the internet and in order to completely shut them down they would need to shut down the internet. If the government did try to take a hold on Anonymous though, there is a possibility they could almost form more into a terrorist group like in cases involving scientology where other organizations have tried to push back,
Oscar Wilde, an Irish author, once suggested that if one were to ever look at the discourse of history, they would find that disobedience is man’s original virtue, and through disobedience social progress is made. The study of history is the study of social progress. Social progressions are the changes that occur in society that progress or improve social, political, and economic structures. Social progress can be achieved in several ways, but just like Oscar Wilde, I believe that disobedience is a valuable human trait that just so happens to be a huge part in the progression our society has made and continues to make.
“No radical change on the plane of history is possible without crime,” This quote from Hermann Keyserling is just one of many statements that help describe the meaning and true raw power of Civil Disobedience. Civil disobedience as defined by Merriam Webster is the “refusal to obey governmental demands or commands especially as a nonviolent and usually collective means of forcing concessions from the government”. The most promising and understandable of the definitions of Civil Disobedience would be that given to us by Gandhi from India “Compassion in the form of respectful disagreement”. Even the Veterans Fast for Life from here in the United States must agree when saying, “when leaders act contrary to conscience, we must act contrary to leaders.” To understand why civil disobedience is so important in our lives you must first look into your heart and realize that the integrity of mankind has no need of rules.
In response to the annexation of Texas in 1845 by the United States, Henry David Thoreau's wrote the essay, Civil Disobedience. Thoreau felt that this purely economic move by the United States expedited the Civil War, which he, and many Americans, disapproved of. In his essay, Thoreau argues that government should not be in control of the people and that the people should be able to rule themselves freely however they please. In addition, he clearly states and points out that in many instances it is best when individual rights take priority over state authority.
If something isn’t right, there is a way to fix it. Violence of course is never the answer therefore, non-violent protests were started. Non-Violent protesting had a slow start then it spread around the world when it hit media attention. Non-violent protest also had more effectiveness than violent protests. Non-Violent protests may have taken a while, but the results were successful.
Over the centuries, some leaders have believed that private citizens should rebel against injustice in a non-violent rebellion. These leaders have had courage and passion to start or encourage revelations; they have committed acts of civil disobedience to protest these laws put up by a corrupt government. The leaders were willing to give up their lives or freedom because their conscience would not let them rest and accept the unjust laws. Some of these leaders include Henry David Thoreau, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Aung San Suu Kyi, and Malala Yousafzai.
In our country’s history, Civil Disobedience has had positive effects upon legislation and societal norms. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution states five basic forms of expression that are to be protected by the government: Speech, Press, Assembly, Religion, and Petition. The Founders, in essence, created a means by which the average citizen can achieve political and social change. Justice William J. Brennan Jr. stated in 1989 that, “If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that government cannot prohibit the expression of an idea simply because the society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”* When citizens speak out or
Civil disobedience has been around for a long time. In Bible times Christians would disobey laws that would go against their beliefs, such as the law that they couldn’t preach. (Acts 4) Christians still disobey laws in many countries that do not let them practice their faith, some end up in jail or killed.
Henry David Thoreau, a philosopher and creative artist as well as an anti slavery activist, wrote his short story “From Resistance to Civil Disobedience”. In this story he’s arrested for not paying his state taxes. At the time the state was engaged in the Mexican-American War that was not only fought over boundaries expanding slavery but was also enacted by President Polk under his own decision. Thoreau thought the war was too aggressive and without just reason.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. received a Nobel Prize and was honored by the President of the United States for his contributions to society. On the other hand, he was prosecuted, convicted, incarcerated, and had his sentence reaffirmed by the Supreme Court. These explanations seem rather contradictory. If what he did was noble, why was he jailed for his actions? When we take into account these manifestations of the government's attitude towards Martin Luther King, we can safely make the assumption that the government is not always justified in the laws that it creates. Our government's original purpose was to keep order and ensure freedom to its people. As history has shown us, as in the case of African Americans, the government will expand its role and take away liberties of the few. The individual is justified in acting out in civil disobedience when the government restricts the liberties of the individual.
The government is the USA is not lawfully allowed to deny citizens the right to come together and verbally denote their disagreement with the government and its laws. Its a given right that citizens of the USA are able to speak up
Rodney King a black man who lived in Las Vegas was severely beaten by four white police officers. The officers were brought into court and tried on charges of assault. The officers were acquitted of the assault charges. Immediately protestors took to the streets, to express their angry over the judge’s decision. Protestors found the ruling to be unfair and was fed up with the ill-treatment. The violent protest turned into a riot. A lot of damage occurred; over 50 people were killed, over 2,300 people injured, 8,000 arrests and estimated over $1 billion in property damage. The riots exposed the police abuse, poverty, and lack of economic opportunity. If it was not for the violent protestors no light would have been shed on the way black were being
By definition, civil disobedience means to actively refuse to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government or of an occupying power without resorting to physical violence (Wikipedia 2007). Many of the influential people in history have felt passionately about what they believe. These passions caused them to rebel against a government or authority. Many times they felt so strongly about what they believed and how they were being treated was wrong they became disobedient. They would take physical and verbal abuse for being disobedient but would never retaliate. They believed in what they thought was wrong and tried to change the way they were governed. Albert Einstein once said 'never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.' Albert Einstein's views seem to be reasonable. The claim by Albert Einstein is accurate because people should stand up for what they believe, they should know when they are right and their government is wrong, and they should trust in themselves and their own beliefs.
Historically, the Anonymous has been engaging in activities that qualifies the group as hacker group as opposed to troll organisation. The group began its operation on December 2010 by attacking the MasterCard for blocking the Wiki Leaks website donations (Coleman 1). In January 2011, the Anonymous group attack the Tunisian government website for using illegal means against protesters. In February...
“We are #Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget #ExpectUs #MillionMaskMarch #OpVendetta #UK”. That message is from the many tweets off of Twitter that the group Anonymous. That message has been one of their many slogans. In Anonymous’ case how do you have an all-encompassing slogan when you have no structure or hierarchy? When you are just a loosely aligned group of internet users how do you become an international group that is an example of an alienated counter-culture Anonymous is many things. Lots of different people have their opinions on them. One thing for sure is that they use Twitter to voice their alienation. The alienation I believe is the strongest is the feeling and belief that they are a counter-culture. They think they are exposing the corruption of the majority and the societal system. Anonymous thinks they are the moral opposite of that corruption. However, the group has many battles to fight. There are many who mock the group. To find research on the group, you have to go to nontraditional media sources often including their home website 4chan. The alienation felt by Anonymous is that of a counter-culture. First however, you must learn what is Anonymous is, how they started, and what they did. That may answer where they will go next.
In particular there are many groups of people who need to fight for their rights from the past like slaves and women who had no rights to gaining them to present like immigrants who fight for their right to be in America to the future, which could be so many options like abortions illegal or legal. It doesn’t matter whether they are alive at the moment or not even on the earth yet like pregnancies they should deserve the right to live too because they are part of life now. People fight for many reasons like right to be them, right to vote, right for genders to be equal, and the right to speak their mind. Activists protest to show people that it is important to fight for what they believe in and makes the caus...