...While it is true that disobedience often causes social progress, it is not always the most practical method with which we can protest unjust laws. In situations where other methods of protest have proved to be ineffective, civil disobedience can sometimes be the only way with which we can change unjust laws. A quintessential example of this is how Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, even though African Americans had to give up their seat to white Americans during that time period. During this act of civil disobedience on December 1, 1955, Parks refused to move to the “colored section” on the back of the bus when the whites-only section of the bus was filled. By refusing to give up her seat, Parks protested against the segregation laws during this time. Because other forms of protest against the...
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...Throughout “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, King makes a similar statement about civil disobedience and the law. He states that civil disobedience must occur after four steps are taken. Collection of facts to determine whether there are injustices, negotiation, self purification, and direct action must occur before civil disobedience transpires. He argues that “there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes an injustice when it is used to maintain segregation” (5). Ultimately, a law becomes unjust when it promotes injustice. This is when civil disobedience can occur as laws that promote segregation and inequality are unjust. King appeals to a higher law whenever a command of the state conflicts with his moral principles. Natural law can be described as King’s guide to civil disobedience. When the state does not conform with natural law, civil...
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...In the society, we as citizens of the United States live today has a duty being civil disobedience. It is the meaning of breaking a law that is to believed as immoral or unjust to a fellow citizen. Throughout the years starting from the year of 1848, the idea of civil disobedience has been progressively developing within our nation. This conception has been established by allowing Americans fulfilling their duty of civil disobedience by engaging in amicable protest and armistice demonstrations to perpetuate the injustice that is being provided. Withal, in the essay “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” written by Henry David Thoreau, the author believes that it is the citizen’s duty to practice civil disobedience to demonstrate the unjust laws that are being presented from the government. Thoreau states that the fellow citizens should demonstrate civil disobedience when it “requires you to the...
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...30 April 2013 Civil Disobedience When should civil disobedience be justified? Civil disobedience is defined as the refusal to obey government laws, in an effort to bring upon a change in governmental policy or legislation. Civil disobedience is not an effort to dissolve the American government, because without government our society would result in chaos. Sometimes, when there is an unjust law and the government won't take the initiative to fix it, the public must act as civil disobedient to bring awareness and fix the unjust law. There have been times when citizens have felt the need to revolt against the government because of an issue that is unjust. There were such cases during the time of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Henry David Thoreau made such actions to prove their point. Civil disobedience is justified when its goal is to obtain equal rights and service for everyone, without causing physical damage to people and their property, and without breaking the just laws that are already enforced. It should only be practiced when the government fails to uphold justice and fix laws that don't allow everyone the equal rights already given to some. In his essay, "Civil Disobedience" Thoreau wrote in 1849 after spending a night in the Walden town jail for refusing to pay a poll tax that supported the Mexican War. He recommended passive resistance as a form of tension that could lead to reform of unjust laws practiced by the government. He voiced civil disobedience as "An expression...
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...Condemning Civil Disobedience Recurringly, civil disobedience is an abstract idea revolutionaries made to combat unjust legislature. Unjust legislature should be dealt with accordingly, but civil disobedience is not that way. Natural rights as a citizen should not doubt preserved, but when it comes to subduing unjust law, sometimes the best option is to just let it persist. Doing nothing is better than disorganizing your country through civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is the nonviolent protesting of oppressed or unjustly treated groups, usually resulting in unlawful acts. These acts are driven by passion, pain, and desire to reform the government. But in reality, is civil disobedience the correct approach to having your voice heard? Thoreau stands to civil disobedience saying, “ Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?” [Thoreau, Paragraph 16]. The acts are claimed to be moral and to benefit the public, however, these limelight “martyrs” are radicals in reality. Going against the law in any shape or form is unpatriotic and when one might say the government themselves go against the law themselves, sadly that is not your place to take action against. Checks and balances are upheld to make sure unjust or...
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...Civil disobedience is the act of refusing to obey the law; it is rebelling against the government. This is a highly sensitive subject when it comes to questioning whether it is justified or not. When the government legalizes a law that is too harsh or goes against religion, it stirs a protest among many. In addition, the act of rebellion wouldn’t be commendable if the act strengthens justice or remains passive-aggressive. A number of times, people believe it is never justifiable under the circumstances that it is normally dangerous and may cause other problems. However, Civil Disobedience is justified only when the law is threatening, the act is passive aggressive, and it strengthens justice. "Unjust Laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?" (Thoreau). At what point does the law no longer become what the people need? When the law itself causes more harm then obedience. Also, when it contradicts religion and moral standards."What we've learned is that our government is doing things worldwide that definitely directly affect our privacy as Americans but affect the privacy of other people globally as well" ("Why One Expert"). It is not a rare occurrence that we see unjust actions....
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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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...Civil disobedience is the act of refusal against laws, taxes, or demands by a government usually staying peaceful in nature. Martin Luther King Jr. and Antigone implement civil disobedience to defy unjust law; however, both approaches used to go against the wrong laws are different. Martin Luther King Jr. became the leader for the civil rights movement to put an end to segregation through civil disobedience by stressing the importance of peacefully protesting; while Antigone purposely went against the law, knowing the consequences, to follow God’s law instead of man-made law in a holy effort to bury her late brother Polyneices. Martin Luther King Jr. goes against unjust laws through civil disobedience by initiating peaceful protests. He believed that using nonviolent tactics are better at showing the immorality the unjust laws’ and calls for black people to fight the long battle against segregation. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, he reveals the unjust treatment going on in Birmingham and why it is important for him to be there helping, “Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already...
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...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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...- 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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...numerous civil disobedience demonstrations. Although civil disobedience has not always shown to be positive, the gain form it overshadows the loss. As is was said by Henry David Thoreau in "It is Civil Disobedience", "Unjust Laws exist." If we conform to such laws we are doing our society a moral injustice. As Rosa Park once said, "You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right." Due to this type of philosophy we are able to live in a world of civil equality for all humans beings. If people had rejected this philosophy and expected the law to always be just, there would have never been progress. Through demonstrations held by Martin Luther King and other civil rights advocates we have seen be arrested for laws which...
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...In 1891, Irish author Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) observed, “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.” Civil disobedience can be valuable and promote social progress when used for valid reasons. However, when using disobedience for invalid reasons, it promotes wrongdoings instead of social progress. Humans must differentiate between progress and ignorance to positively impact a free society. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, he argued that peaceful debates and arguments would put an end to segregation. King was a devout Christian member of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, and a...
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...Thoreau wrote “Civil Disobedience” in 1849 in response to issues that resulted from, what he saw as, an unjust government. Civil disobedience is a peaceful form of protest to achieve changes in political policies. James K. Polk was president at the time. He initiated war on Mexico and supported slavery. Issues that caused Thoreau to want a change in government, among others, were the Mexican-American war and the topic of slavery. Throughout his essay, Thoreau pokes holes in the system of democracy and states how a lack of conviction in one’s conscience can lead to an unjust and intrusive government. Thoreau does not want an absence of government, but a revised, less involved one. Civil Disobedience provides thought provoking ideas and the basis for how to achieve political reform in a passive, but effective, mechanism. Thoreau takes a laissez-faire view on the...
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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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...I believe that the peaceful resistance to unjust laws do in fact positively impact a free society. In order to properly display and explain my reasoning, I must first provide the definition of what an unjust law is. An unjust law is any law that does not align with the natural law as known by reason and common sense. Once one is able to understand this definition, it is easier to explain the positive impact that peaceful resistance has on a free society. The effect is positive because it gives voice to unjust laws. I would like to use the example provided of “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” written by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. One of the first points that Dr. King address is that he knows that he is supposed to be in jail. He peacefully resisted and accepted the given consequences. The later goes on to explain what peaceful resistance is and how to properly achieve it. He...
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