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Civil Disobedience Civil disobedience: “Refusal to obey civil laws in an effort to induce change in governmental policy or legislation, characterized by the use of passive resistance or other non-violent means” (Houghton, 2000). Although this definition seems broad enough to cover any aspect of a discussion, there is still much to be said about the subject. Martin Luther King wrote a fifty paragraph letter about the timeliness and wisdom in such an action, while Hannah Arendt managed to squeeze her definition into six (extra long) paragraphs regarding Denmark and the Jews. But, regardless of the fact that people relate this topic in many different ways, they always seem to end up with the same basic principles: civil disobedience is the resolve of a just conscience; it is a means through which mountains can be moved quietly and strategically; and if applied correctly, it can permanently alter the course of a single individual or an entire nation. In ancient times those who chose to undertake the perilous act of civil disobedience—the early Christians who defied the Roman Empire, Socrates, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—did not do so lightly, for in these times such acts were generally met with an immediate and often painful death (King, 2000). In effect, it took a strong conscience to resort to such actions. This same ideal held true in more recent times, as demonstrated by Denmark in their defiance of Nazi ideals and Martin Luther King Jr. in his actions against racial segregation in the United States. Against such powerful forces as these, there must exist a force... ... middle of paper ... ... by King, answering why II. Convincing the oppressors A. Means of convincing 1. How the Danes won the support of a few Nazis 2. How King won support from some members of the white race III. The accomplishments of civil disobedience A. The role of positive tension in the success of the act B. The end result of any civil disobedient act should be the satisfaction that a few minds have altered their original course of thinking. Works Cited Arendt, Hannah. “Denmark and the Jews.” The Norton Reader: AANP. Ed. Arthur M. Eastman, et al. New York: Norton 2000. 801-805 Houghton Mifflin, publisher. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000 King, Martin Luther, Jr. “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” The Norton Reader. 887-900
Civil disobedience is a main focus of discussion in chapter six of James Rachels’ The Elements of Moral Philosophy; this can be defined as a usually peaceful, but powerful act of protest against a law or demand from the government. Normally when one would non-violently refuse to obey a certain law, they would see that the law was unjust to them.
In Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience," he uses a hyperbole to support his belief that "one person can make a change," an idea still relevant today. Thoreau uses many forms of literary techniques such as multiple hyperbole, emotional appeals, and paradoxes. Thoreau uses these to sustain his ideas on civil disobedience. He believes if you believe in something, and support something you should do whatever it takes to help the cause. Many people in today's society believe to just go with the flow, rather than living like Thoreau has, and supporting his own beliefs no matter what the consequence. Henry David Thoreau had a lot of personal authority, he was all about his own independence. Many different people believed in being a non-conformist, and Thoreau was one of them, and he very well showed how much he supported it. Thoreau was not the only nonconformist, they're many people who followed his beliefs and they refused to be bound by anybody, or anything they did not support. Other non-conformists were Gandhi, Galileo, Malcom X and many more.
Civil disobedience is the refusal to obey certain laws, but in a peaceful form of political protests. Martin Luther King Jr. is the best example of a form of civil disobedience for the Civil rights Movement and many more through the late 1950s to the late 1960s. ‘’Martin Luther King Jr. used the power of words and acts of nonviolent resistance, such as protest, grassroots organizing, and civil disobedience.’’
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.
Civil Disobedience is a deliberate violation against the law in order to invoke change against a government policy. Civil disobedience can come in the form of running a red light or j-walking, or in more noticeable methods such as riots. Coined by American author and poet Henry David Thoreau, the term has developed to define the act of disobeying a law one sees as unfit or unjust. Usually the purpose of civil disobedience is to gain public attention to a perceived injustice and appeal to or gain support from the public in a non-violent way. The idea is to force the government to negotiate or else continue with the unwanted behavior; or in simpler terms, to “clog the machine” (“Civil Disobedience”). It is believed by many that the act of civil disobedience is justifiable in a democratic government like that of the United States. A Democracy is defined as a form of government controlled by elected representatives or by the people themselves. However, in order to have a stable government, it must be built on a stable society. Societal welfare is the general good for the public and how its members take action to provide opportunities and minimum standards. According to societal welfare, which is the sake of the emotional and physical well-being of the community, the laws must be abided and civil disobedience is morally unjust in our society. Once any member of the society questions the affairs of the state, the state may be given up for lost (“Jean Jacques Rousseau”).
The political concepts of justice and how a society should be governed have dominated literature through out human history. The concept of peacefully resisting laws set by a governing force can be first be depicted in the world of the Ancient Greeks in the works of Sophocles and actions of Socrates. This popular idea has developed over the centuries and is commonly known today as civil disobedience. Due to the works of Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. civil disobedience is a well-known political action to Americans; first in the application against slavery and second in the application against segregation. Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience” and King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” are the leading arguments in defining and encouraging the use of civil disobedience to produce justice from the government despite differences in their separate applications.
Even though there was optimism in the United States in the mid-eighteen hundreds, the country faced problems for which there were no easy answers. Writers faced many problems as well, due to different situations within the people and the country. Even though finding inspiration may have been hard to come by, it greatly benefited the people in growing their ability to write.
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.
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.
Disobedience to laws and governments that we the people see as wrong is a deep-seated part of our culture. It hearkens back to the Revolutionary war which the colonies used to create this great country from a previous government that the people saw as tyrannical. But this kind of disobedience, even being somewhat rare, can be seen in many cases throughout history. A step up from this is civil disobedience. Civil Disobedience can even be found as far back as Jefferson's time when he would advocate for "threat of revolution" and forms of changing the government that were placed in the constitution like "elections, amending process" and more (Rebellion, Revolution, and the Constitution). The same document even cites him as believing that unsuccessful
"It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right." This type of mentality and belief in a greater justice beyond the law persists throughout Antigone. Antigone’s wrongful actions relate to real life events. These inspiring events include The Salt March, the Boston Tea Party, and Rosa Park’s bus ride.
Would the Civil Rights Act of 1964 been abolished without the use of non-violent civil disobedience? The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the year all state and local laws requiring segregation ended. Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. While some people believe the use of violent disobedience to help promote their cause is more effective than using a non-violent approach, it may ultimately hurt the progress by diverting the message. Although some protestors would prefer violent disobedience to raise awareness, non-violent disobedience is the best option because it keeps the message focused without the use of violence.
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.
Civil disobedience this is how the internet defines it “The refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest”. The word explains it all disobeying in a Civil way. Many people have became famous for this for standing up for what they think is right. For example, Rosa Parks refusing to sit in the back of the bus, you can say that’s an act of civil disobedience she didn’t think it was right for her to sit in the back of the bus after a long day she disobeyed a law at that time but then we have a group of dumb people that think every law is wrong and its an act of civil disobedience. An example for this civil disobedience would be, people not obeying small laws like speeding, not paying taxes, small laws that to them they seem not right or not hurting anyone when broken. Maybe civil disobed ...
Civil disobedience is the refusal to obey civil laws in an effort to induce change in governmental policy or legislation, characterized by the use of passive resistance or other nonviolent means. The use of nonviolence runs throughout history however the fusion of organized mass struggle and nonviolence is relatively new.