...According to Oscar Wilde, disobedience is an honorable trait for someone to have, and to be called disobedient is a compliment. Disobedience is an advantage for someone to have because by having it, social progress is made. But other people see disobedience as a not so honorable trait. I agree with what Wilde has to say because without disobedience and rebellion there would be no progress. Without rebellion or disobedience, people will not be prompted to change injustices. Through them, people bring the issues and injustices that they are trying to change out into the light for everyone to see. Through those ways, they try to make the world a better place and show people why the issues that they face are wrong and that something should be...
Words: 281 - Pages: 2
..."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...
Words: 800 - Pages: 4
...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...
Words: 719 - Pages: 3
...Disobedience is the catalyst of social progress; conformity is the hindrance of social progress. Wilde believe that through disobedience society is able to progress in the right direction. In rebelling against the status quo, we are able to produce positive changes to improve our society as a whole. This progress has been shown through the course of time in history as well as literature. In history, there have been countless rebellions, revolts, and revolutions that have resulted in a country’s progress. The Haitian revolution of the 19 th century possess good examples of change being brought about through disobedience. By the 1700’s, Haiti had become a lucrative island in the Caribbean, producing (generating) substantial amounts (supplies) of sugar on...
Words: 1288 - Pages: 6
...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...
Words: 611 - Pages: 3
...colonies should no longer be a part of Great Britain. Through a combination of organized protests against wrongful taxation, the Sons of Liberty established America’s freedom. A strong rebellion created and nourished by the Sons of Liberty in 18th century America represents one of the greatest achievements of civil disobedience. The group of shopkeepers, rebels, and artisans met in the Summer of 1965 to discuss the problems with the recently imposed Stamp Act and Sugar Act. The Stamp Act required that paper products used in the colonies, such as...
Words: 1337 - Pages: 6
...Disobedience can be a valuable trait for promoting progress, though only when there is a clear objective. Disobedience in the face of authority, whether cultural, political or both, has been used throughout history to circumvent impediments to progress. This progress comes in many forms, which all tend to be linked. Social progress through the pursuit of equality and the improvement of living conditions leads to technological advancement to help achieve these societal goals. Disobedience to authority is a widespread occurrence throughout history. Disobedience disrupts the status quo, empowering individuals that would otherwise have been unknown. This allows people with new ideas to influence the world, at times leading to progress. The...
Words: 492 - Pages: 2
...The Eureka Rebellion was a rebellion in 1854, instigated by gold miners in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, who revolted against the colonial authority of the United Kingdom. The Battle of the Eureka Stockade, by which the rebellion is popularly known, was fought between miners and the colonial forces of Australia on the 3rd December 1854 at Eureka Lead and named for the stockade structure built by miners during the conflict.[2] The rebellion resulted in the deaths of at least 27 people, the majority of whom were rebels. The rebellion was the culmination of a period of civil disobedience in the Ballarat region during the Victorian gold rush with miners objecting to the expense of a miner's licence, taxation via the licence without representation,...
Words: 273 - Pages: 2
...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....
Words: 778 - Pages: 4
...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...
Words: 797 - Pages: 4
...Sedition, rebellion, and uprisings: historically, the most volatile threats to establishment. Because a nation's Achilles’ heel lies within itself rather than in the hands of its adversaries, our founding fathers emphasized the significance of a consolidation of power between a government and its people. In order to accomplish this mission, America's forebear's assembled the constitution along with the Bill of Rights in order to not only protect the masses from despotism, but also to protect the government from insurrection. And yet, what becomes of a nation in the event that its leaders threaten the common good and safety of its people and fail to uphold certain inalienable rights? While American citizens rely on nothing more than principles established by a two-century-old document for protection, their governing body can employ brute force as its personal insurance at will. Faced with ultimatums that pit civic duty against political dissent, courageous figures throughout our nation's history have elected to speak...
Words: 698 - Pages: 3
...For other uses, see Rebel (disambiguation), Rebellion (disambiguation), and Revolution. "Insurrection" and "Uprising" redirect here. For other uses, see Insurrection (disambiguation) and Uprising (disambiguation). A generic symbol for an uprising Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order.[1] It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors aimed at destroying or taking over the position of an established authority such as a government, governor,president, political leader, financial institution, or person in charge. On the one hand the forms of behaviour can include non-violent methods such as the (overlapping but not quite identical) phenomena of civil disobedience, civil resistance andnonviolent resistance. On the other hand it may encompass violent campaigns. Those who participate in rebellions, especially if they are armed rebellions, are known as "rebels". Throughout history, many different groups that opposed their governments have been called rebels. Over 450 peasant revolts erupted in southwestern Francebetween 1590 and 1715.[2] In the United States, the term was used for theContinentals by the British in the Revolutionary War, and for the Confederacy by the Union in the American Civil War. Most armed rebellions have not been against authority in general, but rather have sought to establish a new government in their place. For example, the Boxer Rebellion sought to implement a stronger government in China in place of the...
Words: 3726 - Pages: 15
...Discuss the rise of imperialism in India, with special reference to the establishment of British colonial rule in the subcontinent. Why did the British succeed while other empires failed? • Imperialism is when a country dominates another country politically, economically, culturally, etc. o And for the British this was the bigger picture that they had in mind for India. • The British succeeded in India because: o Disunity among Indian princely states. India was more a collection of militaristic princely states. The British successfully used this to play off one state against another. Clive succeeded at Plassey, because Mir Jaffar was willing to betray his master Siraj-Ud-Daulah in lie of being the Nawab. Mir Jaffar himself, was betrayed by Mir Qasim later on. o Superiority over other colonial powers. The other colonial powers in India competing for the share of resources were France, Portugal, Denmark, and Holland. Of the 4, Denmark and Holland could never really be serious competitors to the British. The battle of Amboyna happened in 1623 and this left the Dutch in South East Asia while the British had South Asia. o Portugal focused primarily on the Western coast, Goa, parts of Kerala, Karnataka, and this left the British with vast swathes of unoccupied territory. o France as the major contender to Britian in the race for colonialism. The British Army was more well equipped, more professional, more disciplined compared to the French army, suffering from indiscipline...
Words: 2316 - Pages: 10
...Dissent homework Dissent means, as a noun, strong difference of opinion on a particular subject; disagreement, especially about an official suggestion or plan or a popular belief; or, as a verb, to disagree with other people about something (“Dissent” Cambridge Dictionaries Online). Its synonyms are disagree, differ, objection and protest, whereas its antonyms are assent, agree and accede. Civil disobedience is, according to John Rawls, “a public, non-violent and conscientious breach of law undertaken with the aim of bringing about a change in laws or government policies”, and “given its place at the boundary of fidelity to law, is said to fall between legal protest, on the one hand, and conscientious refusal, revolutionary action, militant protest and organised forcible resistance, on the other hand” (“Civil Disobedience”). For example, the Boston Tea Party is generally considered as an action of civil disobedience, as well as legal protests. Puritans were dissenters, because they were against the unnecessary ceremony, rituals and hierarchy in the Church of England. They believed these things are obstacles between God and humans. Antinomian means one who holds that under the gospel dispensation of grace the moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation (“Antinomian” Merriam-Webster). They, who were “some Puritans in both England and Massachusetts Bay,” believed, under the covenant of grace, “an individual was virtually freed from the...
Words: 488 - Pages: 2
...In Emerson, Thoreau, Krakauer, and Donovan’s writings, there are many underlying themes that become evident throughout the stories. One of the most prominent themes expressed is the element of self-reliance. All four authors convey self-reliance as a desire of one to accomplish feats without assistance from parents, and that it helps to give a sense of importance and independence. Civil Disobedience, Self-Reliance, Into the Wild, and “It’s All On Me” all include self-reliance as a vital element. In Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience, the importance of self-reliance is stressed, stating that “Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step forward to obtaining it.” Thoreau, in this quote from his story, calls for self-reliance, not self-reliance for one man, self-reliance as a nation. He believes that if the people will do right, rely on themselves rather than the government, then the overbearing government would not have to be as powerful. Thoreau believed in the motto, “The government is best which governs least.” He trusted the people to be reliable enough to run a government which did not have to govern much. This trust he puts into the people of the newfounded United States is an example of early transcendentalism....
Words: 505 - Pages: 3
