...Martin Luther King, Jr said, “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” Civil disobedience is part of our culture. People stand up for themselves when laws, rules, or just when things are unfair and unjust. Martin Luther King, Jr is a prime example of civil disobedience. In his “Letter from Birmingham City Jail,” he describes his own thoughts on civil disobedience through real life experiences. David Thoreau is also a main figure in civil disobedience from his letter, “Civil Disobedience.” He talks about what he did to stand up for what he felt was right. There is a couple of reasons to believe in civil disobedience , one it can bring attention to main topics and also create real change in society. Civil disobedience is only...
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...What does civil disobedience mean exactly? Civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain, as a peaceful form of political protest. Civil disobedience is good because it makes changes with to violent moves. The passages that will be talked about as good examples of civil disobedience are “On Nonviolent Resistance,”, Mohandas K. Gandhi. The next passage is called “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” by the one and only, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. For the third and last passage, it is called “Civil Disobedience,” by Henry David Thoreau. These passages will make you think differently about what people are capable of. In “On Nonviolent Resistance,” Mohandas K. Gandhi writes about how violence isn’t always key to making changes. It can only...
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...marching for a cause, and strikes are healthy to a society because they give a way for the citizens to voice their opinions to make sure their society is truly free. One of the best examples of peaceful disobedience is in the civil rights movements with Martin Luther King Jr. and his peaceful disobedience, another peaceful disobedience is with Rosa Parks in her fight for racial equality, and the marches and strikes from the Mexican American plantation workers. These examples had a positive impact on the society and helped make America as free as it is today, along with examples of peaceful protesting today for greater freedom. Martin Luther King Jr. is well known for his participation in the Civil Rights movement and has gone down in history as an example of how peaceful protesting can promote positive change. One of the ways that he did this was by writing letters from inside Birmingham jail. The letters that Martin...
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...The purpose of Martin Luther King’s words used in the letter from Birmingham Jail was to correct the misconceptions and to advocate the approach of nonviolent civil disobedience. Martin Luther King wanted to get rid of racial injustice by writing the letter. Therefore, the cause is the words he used in the letter, the effect is the civil rights act. First, the cause in the letter was to correct the misconceptions held by clergymen. He wanted to make his point clear in order to get the effect he was hoping for. For example, on page 187, paragraph 3, Martin Luther King states, “But more basically, I am here in Birmingham because injustice is here.” This means he is simply trying to gain justice, and not trying to start a rampage. The tactics...
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...Versus Laws in The Eyes of King In the mid twentieth century, America was full of segregation and inequality between the blacks and whites. One man did everything in his power to get equal rights for the races until it eventually killed him, literally. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man who dedicated his entire life striving towards African American equality. Without using violence, King fought hard and strong for what he believed in, and was passionate about, which was civil disobedience, that is defined as a peaceful form of protest. Practicing civil disobedience addressing his demands for racial equality landed Martin Luther King, Jr. a spot in Birmingham Jail. The incarceration resulted in a large amount of free time which he used to complete a lengthy letter addressing the clergymen who criticized his actions, calling them untimely and unwise. These criticisms did not sit well with King and therefore, he formulated “Letter From a Birmingham Jail.” Although long winded, Martin Luther King, Jr. uses repetition, in “Letter From Birmingham Jail” to his benefit, in addition with ethos and pathos to sway his audience and develop his reasons for his civil disobedience. Ending at an astounding eleven pages, Martin Luther King, Jr. covers a great amount of information throughout “Letter From Birmingham Jail”. The length of this letter most likely was due to the fact he was locked in a cell with nothing better to occupy himself with, King admitted himself, in the last...
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...figure when it comes to the issue of the non – violent persistence or civil disobedience. He was born in Porbander in Western India. Ghandi made a huge change to the India and their society during his life; his actions and famous method of nonviolent approach against the British instead of violent one. He believed that method would bring and provoke less negative reaction in the British at that time. Like Mohatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr. was also an advocate and supporter of the same method of passive resistance, which he believed, was the better method at the time and situation. Martin Luther King Jr. was born in January 15, 1929 in Atlanta. He died due to assassination on a hotel balcony on April 4, 1968. Later on in his life, he became the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference which had a purpose to provide a new leadership to the movement of Civil Rights which ideology was based on Christianity, whereas the actions and procedures more based on Gandhi; Martin Luther King Jr. practiced Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence. Both Mahatma Gandhi’s and Martin Luther King Jr.’s core belief and the way to attain their goals were pretty similar in a way. Mahatma Gandhi believed that with nonviolent method of fighting with the political or social issues in his times was the best way. He did it through protests for example like the March that inaugurated the Civil Disobedience which he led to the sea in order to gather salt with his followers but...
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...Civil disobedience allows one to convey their thoughts and ideas in a passive, nonviolent way. It can be used when one believes that they are morally correct and know that there are others that will agree with them. Antigone, from Sophocles Antigone, and Martin Luther King Jr. in his letter, Letter from Birmingham Jail, both chose to fight for justice rather than preserve their own safety. They both violated laws that they believed were unjust in order to help people and were willing to suffer the consequences that their actions brought upon them. In other words, they believed that there was a higher good that required them to disobey specific laws. However, even though they both had the same intentions, the methods that they used to achieve their goals differed...
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...David Thoreau, 1849, “Civil Disobedience”) According to “Documents of Freedom,” Civil disobedience is when “Men such as Martin Luther King, Jr. violated unjust laws but willingly accepted the punishment that came with violating the law… often confused with simply violating laws that you do not like…Civil disobedience demands to accept the punishment otherwise, there would be no principled distinction between civil disobedience and mere lawlessness” (“The Documents of Freedom”). Peaceful resistance does positively impact a free society. Take Gandhi for example, he non-violently protested the registration law, through non-violent marches and labor strikes, all harmless, and in support of those who were treated unequally by the registration law, “The Boer government then agreed to end the most objectionable parts of the...
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...Civil Disobedience: A Tool for the People History is filled with examples of the ways the people sought political change including rebellion, assassination, and war. One more peaceful, relatively new idea on protesting the government is civil disobedience. Theologian Henry David Thoreau created the term “Civil Disobedience” in his 1849 essay. One partakes in civil disobedience when one defines opposition to laws on a moral basis and accepts the consequences in order to call attention to, or bring about change (Brownlee). It has been implemented several times over the course of almost one-hundred and seventy years, and today it still is used to great effect. Despite many calling civil disobedience an excuse for anarchy and labeling it superfluous...
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...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 an incredibly...
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...Civil disobedience has proven to have the ability to be just as effective, if not more effective, than other, more violent efforts of disobedience. Many have found that acts of civil disobedience has produced the same results that others have attempted to obtain through different approaches. There have been many cases of civil disobedience having generally positive results. Those such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks used civil disobedience while they were protesting against racial injustice. A more recent example of civil disobedience would be with Mr. Colin Kaepernick with his peaceful protests against issues in American by deciding to kneel during the national anthem of his team’s football games. These people were brave enough to peacefully disobey civil law in order to bring awareness, and ultimate change to issues that they were passionate about. Dr. Martin Luther King, during his protests against segregation and racial injustice, used a nonviolent approach in order to show his disapproval to the civil laws at the time. Dr. King would lead and participate in marches and give speeches against racial...
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...Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela Non-violence is a concept that people participate in social and political change without violence. It is a form of social and political change between passive acceptances and armed struggle. Non-violence way to participate in the social and political change is including nonviolent civil disobedience against, acts of civil disobedience or other powerful influence uncooperative antagonistic form; it is similar with pacifism, but it is not pacifism. Since the mid-20th century, nonviolence and civil disobedience become the main form of social change, and it also is respected political and social philosophy. As the practice of social and political change, non-violent has the essence difference with pacifism, it is contrary to the wishes of the oppressed, and it struggle with any injustice and power political. In my final paper, I will instruction three famous Non-violence movement leader: Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela; and also I will compare the similar and difference between them. Mahatma Gandhi was the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in Britishruled India. Employing non-violent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for non-violence, civil rights and freedom across the world. A very important turning point in Gandhi’s life is he arrived in South Africa to work as a legal representative for the Muslim Indian traders based in the city of Pretoria...
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...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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...tragic hero. For example, most display haughtiness and are destined to fall. In the example of “Antigone”, Creon, the powerful and ignorant leader of Thebes, exhibits many of the tragic hero’s attributes. Throughout the story, Creon shows his overwhelming pride in many different situations, often referred to as hubris. He is one that believes only he is right and is very close-minded. To illustrate, he says “He shall not save these girls from death,” as a response to his son, Haemon, that his decision is final and nothing Haemon says will change that. Creon takes pride in his decisions that he will be giving death to Antigone and sees no reason to listen to anyone else’s views, which will always be the case. Also, Creon feels superior to...
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...Civil Disobedience Civil Disobedience is “The refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest” {google dictionary, “Civil Disobedience”}. Selma, a motion picture on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is a perfect example of civil disobedience. Though, history hasn’t changed much since then. In Selma, Martin Luther King Jr. stood as an advocate for the rights of the people. He used nonviolent protests to stand up for what he believed was right. King and the people, not just of salem, but those who wanted equality for those of all races, marched on the grounds of Montgomery Alabama against Governor George Wallace and President Lyndon B. Johnson for the right to vote, not only for African-Americans,...
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