..."You must never be fearful of what you are doing when it is right." Spoken elegantly in the words of a leading historical figure in Civil Disobedience, Rosa Parks perfectly captures the meaning, integrity, and even necessity of nonviolent rebellion in situations of legal and social injustice. It is not only the right, but the moral duty of the people in a free society to stand up to the law if it violates the God-given rights of its people. If the citizens of a free society are never to protest legislation that oppresses them, how can such a society even be considered free? People of a free society have the ability and the obligation to stand up for their beliefs through nonviolent means. It is an obligation because we are conscious beings...
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...However, as Thoreau stated in Civil Disobedience, “most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes inexpedient.” Government, and the democratic system, is not always the most effective way to ensure justice to all. Peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society because it gives a voice to the minority, provides the people with an ultimate check on government, and allows for a morality based society. In a democratic country, the majority wields the bulk of the political power. Since democracy literally means rule of the many, the largest group controls the system. According to...
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... I think its negatively impact to society because why should we have rules when no one seem to follow them. In The case against civil disobedience "its a question asking is the problem simply that whites have power and blacks do not?" . I think this is true because I feel that whites had more freedom then the blacks did . But I feel that everyone should be treated equally.In seeking to improve tomorrow, it is our duty to remember where we have been and reflect on where we are"I think this is saying that tomorrow will better only if we do not make the same mistakes we did it the past . Its saying we have to improve .If we had a peaceful to laws to positively impact to a free society it would be better...
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...Pro Civil Disobedience Civil disobedience is a righteous way for a person or a group to make their point to the world. Great leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Dr. MLK) and Mohandas K. Gandhi (Gandhi) harnessed the idea and brought it to its prominence. Civil disobedience in its purest form is a particularly strong concept because it requires a self-purification process. This process enlightens civil resisters to the reality of longsuffering for a cause without any type of retaliation. Also, there are arguments against civil disobedience. One such argument is “wait” because change will come. Another is that civil disobedience precipitates violence. These arguments are extremely weak. Because of these weak arguments along with the strong concept of self-purification, I am a proponent of civil disobedience. Dr. MLK was a firm believer in the self-purification process. In Letter from Birmingham Jail, he speaks of undertaking a process of self-purification. “We began a series of workshops on nonviolence and we repeatedly asked ourselves: ‘Are you able to accept blows without retaliation?’ ‘Are you able to endure the ordeal of jail (King 158)?’” Dr. MLK knew that in order to appeal to the public, they must endure the punishment without retaliation. This is explained when he says, “Laying out our case before the conscience of the local and national community (King 158).” Dr. MLK had a grasp on the notion that if his people were to become violent, they...
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...When it comes to the pretention of Civil Disobedience and what can be seen as acts of indirect and direct civil disobedience. H.A. Bedau and Henry David Thoreau come to mind because of how they both saw things in different light but at a meaningful level they both thought the same about the government even through they expressed there ideals in completely different ways. Their ideas cross on many different paths as to which even Bedau talks about Thoreau in his essay in regards to being “responsible” for your actions. The main premise of Bedau’s argument in his essay of “civil disobedience and personal responsibility for justice” is to compare the idea of what is civil disobedience and who is responsible for the actions. Bedau spends a great...
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...Means for Equality Martin Luther King wrote a very effective and powerful letter to those who opposed him in attempt to justify his means for equality. He really appealed to the reader’s logic, ethics, and emotions throughout the letter. His argument for the logic of the audience really stood out when addressed those who categorized him as an extremist; he listed people in history who were “extremists” these people included: Jesus, Paul, Martin Luther, Abraham Lincoln and a few more. What King was really saying is that they only called him extremist because what he wanted was something they were against, not because his means were extreme. His appeal to ethics was critical when he wrote about how we should only be obligated to follow the just laws and that the unjust laws can be disobeyed in an attempt to make a change. This act or lack of action is called Civil Disobedience. Civil Disobedience has been used many times throughout history and he uses some of these examples in his letter: Socrates, Early Christians, and the Boston Tea Party. These are effective points because his opposition probably saw these examples as acceptable, but in their eyes his form of civil disobedience was not. Martin Luther Kings appeal to emotions his strongest element and is really evident through the entire letter, when he writes about the cruelty of the Birmingham Police Department, about telling his daughter that they cannot go to the new amusement park, and many more examples. King wrote...
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...There are many reasons why peaceful resistance positively impacts a free society.Although many view that opposing civil disobedience is absolutely disastrous, many incidents have led to more preferable conditions in our society such as the Rosa Parks bus boycott incident, women’s suffrage movement, and Gandhi’s opposition to the British rule. One of the most memorable acts regarding civil disobedience is the Rosa Parks bus boycott incident. What happened on December 1st, 1955 was a historical moment that screamed equality for all. One afternoon in Montgomery, Alabama, a middle-aged African American woman named Rosa Parks had wanted to return home from work, so she rode a bus for transportation. Seeing a full bus, a white passenger walked...
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...- 2 – The LD File Civil Disobedience Index Topic Overview 3-7 Definitions 8-10 Affirmative Cases 11-19 Negative Cases 20-25 Affirmative Extensions 26-34 Civil disobedience worked to free India. 26 Civil disobedience overthrew the communists in Poland. 26 The tradition of civil disobedience in America goes all the way back to the founders. 26 Civil disobedience can serve to prevent situations from escalating into violence. 27 Civil Disobedience has been used to promote peace. 27 Civil disobedience was used to promote racial equality. 27 Civil disobedience is used to try to prevent the destruction of the environment. 27 Civil disobedience is effective at changing the law. 28 Legal channels can take too long. 28 Consent to obey just laws does not imply consent to obey unjust ones. 28 Distinguishing between just and unjust laws to disobey can be universalized. 28 Civil disobedience can be stabilizing to a community by spreading a shared sense of justice. 29 Sometimes it is only the unjustified response to civil disobedience that has harmful consequence. 29 Civil disobedience is traditionally non-violent. 29 Civil disobedience is a form of exercising free speech- which is essential in a democracy. 30 Civil disobedience has been used to fight slave laws 30 Civil disobedience played a role in ending the Vietnam war. 30 Civil disobedience shouldn’t be punished-...
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...have to. Civil disobedience and rebellion is justified, particularly in the United States. Locke and King support their view with a variety of arguments. Thomas Hobbes, on the other hand, views any kind of rebellion as unacceptable. This essay will review the effectiveness of both positions, but in the end civil disobedience is justified in the United States. John Locke argues that resistance against one's government is acceptable under certain circumstances. Locke believes that we have God-given rights,which are: life, liberty, limb, health, and property. If at any point our government fails to protect those rights then we are allowed to step in in a non-violent way. It is up to the individual to enforce own executive power. Martin Luther King Jr.’s argument is very similar. He discusses multiple biblical figures. They fought for what they believed in an a non-violent, yet extreme way. King says: “... Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative...
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...destiny is shaped.” A people’s response to the edicts of their government determines the destiny of their nation. Civil disobedience is a veraciously debated topic, with most individuals choosing the position of for or against. However, they fail to recognize the arguments true nucleus, and therefore cannot properly interpret the effect of civil disobedience on a free society. The impact of civil disobedience on a free society does not lie in the act of peaceful protest itself, but rather in the law an individual chooses to defy. The right to civil disobedience is mandatory for a freestanding democratic republic to survive, but...
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...the Consititution. By doing so, we are practicing the rights to protect, assemble peaceably, and oppose laws, as stated in the First Amendment. While to some, civil disobedience may seem as an idea that destroys a society, to others (including myself) is just another way to bring about awareness and change to a society. In Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail", civil disobedience is shown throughout King's actions. King's peaceful protest movements showed resistance to several negative impacts of injustice. In the essay, King states that although Alabama clergymen were criticizing his actions, his argument was...
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...I think Muhammad Ali's anti-war stance was not only civil disobedience, he was a conscientious objector. he was forbidden by his religion to fight in war. He believed that not only as a black man he should not join in this war, but as a Jehovah's Witness. He felt so strongly in this belief that he was willing to be incarcerated. The supreme court heard his argument and by unanimous decision reversed his conviction. If he had not disobeyed the courts he would have been forced to do something he did not believe in. If we didn't have civil disobedience, how would laws change with which we don't agree.? If a law was made to discriminate against a group of people, we need to show how we feel about it. We need to show if this law is enacted just to benefit another group of people. Civil disobedience helps to shine a light on injustices suffered. It also shines a light on some laws that keeps these injustices suffered by some, current and effective....
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...“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality” (Desmond Tutu). Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. were two men who were very passionate in what they believed in. Henry David Thoreau was an American essayist, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, and historian. He is well-known for his essay “Civil Disobedience”, where he expresses the need for more people to be individuals and think and act on what they believe in. Martin Luther King Jr. was an activist in the civil rights movement. King was known for his writing, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” where he, similar...
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...Thomas Jefferson had once said “To secure these rights,Governments are instituted among men,deriving their just power from the consent of the governed”.In the Quote,Jefferson is explaining that,the power of the Government is being held by the same people,and to secure the rights we want,we have different people who are not part of the Government that can help us to have the rights that is best for our country. The argument in this essay will be about Civil Disobedience,now Civil Disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines,as a peaceful form of political protest.This essay will include great examples about Civil Disobedience such as,”The Letter From Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King,”The Declaration...
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...According to Arundhati Roy, "There is no discussion taking place in the world today that is more crucial than the debate about strategies of resistance." There is no greater strategist in American history, no teacher more relevant to our post-election malaise, than Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. King was more than a moral visionary; he was a creative tactician. All of us-especially leaders of the peace movement-have much to learn from King's teachings on strategy and tactics. In the late 1950s a major change took place within the civil rights community, a shift from representative government to direct action democracy. When the young Black movement broke away from the confines of electoral politics, society began to change. Before 1960, the...
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