...Without peaceful resistance, there is no social change. Without social change, society remains constant. Peaceful protest most definitely is a necessity for change within a free society. Ultimately, without protest a society can not truly be free. Peaceful resistance allows people to stand for their beliefs. The best example of this event comes from Mahatma Gandhi's peaceful resistance allowing him to make a difference without violence. Gandhi's view of civil disobedience showed that it was the purest form of constitutional agitation. He began the protest of British rule in India. When the British arrived in India, the began to collect sea salt from the sea close to India. If the Indian citizens wanted salt, they had to purchase it from the British and pay the high tax. After Gandhi heard of this news, he began peacefully protesting. His mass case of civil disobedience, which consisted of he and his followers marching and protesting on the British bay resulted in his arresting, yet the Satyagraha continued and the British rule was eventually removed. Gandhi stood for what he knew was right, however used peace to bring forth the change he desired....
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...Throughout the history of America we have resisted our government’s laws as a nation. Sometimes that resistance becomes violent, and sometimes it stays peaceful, but overall we try to get the point across to our government. I believe peaceful resistance to laws positively affects a free society, and we should cherish the right to resist unjust laws. Peaceful resistance to laws gets the point across, does not destroy property, and actually makes a change. Throughout American history we have resisted our government’s overreach into our freedom. If thousands of people show up to peacefully resist a law it means something to the politicians. Look, for example, at the Civil Rights Movement. During that movement there were thousands of people who...
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...cause that the government deems worthy, though we will not shed it for what “we the people” believe on the home front. Or do we? Quite often through the peaceful resistance that is so common here, violence is the product of men and women’s strife: during the Boston Tea Party, the March From Selma in Alabama, the resistance in China’s Tiananmen Square, during the first spark of the Women’s Movement in the U.S. and abroad during the First World War, more recently the Black Lives Matter protests in Dallas, or anti-Trump protests in America’s big cities. Regardless of intentions, a great many public resistances turn violent. Therefore, it can be reasonably claimed that peaceful resistance is a false term. Resistance in any form has a negative impact on a free society due to the chaos it ensues, yet it is necessary considering the change it inspires to overcome oppressors. There is no such thing as peaceful resistance. In a direct resistance, like the ones we have seen in the past, such as the...
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...Peaceful protest has been a method that has been practiced by many organizations and individuals that has proved the success of the method and has been advantageous to the improvement of society. A form of peaceful protest that has shown to be a success was the technique of peacefully resisting to laws that organizations or individuals saw as unfit. This technique has been used many times before and still today as it is seen as symbolic to many people. Peaceful resistance to laws positively impact a free society proven by the success of Martin Luther King Jr's principle of non violent protest like the Montgomery bus boycott and currently San Francisco's 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's peaceful protest against the unjustness of police...
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...change society. Peaceful resistance to laws does not only have a positive impact on society, but is essential to society as is creates the social tension needed to bring about awareness and change and ultimately creates a more compassionate culture. Peaceful resistance brings hidden social abuses...
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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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...Peaceful resistance to laws for the benefit of the greater good have a positive impact on free society. Even in a democracy, when necessary, peaceful resistance holds the government accountable. Sometimes laws are legally right but morally wrong. Yet, the government appears stronger than individuals, and peaceful resistance is the only way to restore the balance of power to achieve social justice. While it is a not always successful in accomplishing its initial goal, peaceful resistance draws attention to the issue, changes the hearts and minds of others, and potentially creates a real change in the long-term. Civil disobedience is a not a recent concept, since it has been used throughout history, from the Plebeians protest at the Sacred...
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...Peaceful resistance positively impacts the free society in which we live. Through peaceful resistance, one can express their views without the violence or uproar that often comes with it. It has solved many fundamental problems in the US government. Henry David Thoreau expressed his distaste for the Mexican-American war by refusing to pay his poll taxes. He did not believe in no government, did not want to start an uprise, or create an anarchy but instead create a more just government. Thoreau wanted a government in which protected its people and was fair to all. He also opposed slavery and wanted equal rights for all. “There is but little virtue in the action of masses of men. When the majority shall at length vote for the abolition...
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...TWO TYPES OF PROTESTS MY OPINION / BELIEF I strongly believe yes and no peaceful resistance to law is a positive and negative impact to a free society. Peaceful protests are the key to having your freedom of speech against federal law . History has proven what a peaceful protests can do and what a riot can cause. I strongly believe that whatever you stand for whether violent and nonviolent protesting; is a freedom you are given, although you need to know what you are actually standing for and not just another bandwagon effect. Peaceful protests can have a positive impact or a negative impact. I strongly believe peaceful resistance to law is a positive and negative impact to a free society. There is a difference between two types of...
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...“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. The beauty of nonviolence is that in its own way and in its own time it seeks to break the chain reaction of evil.” (King, 1967) Peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a strong believer in nonviolent and peaceful resistance; he believed the act was ‘‘a courageous confrontation of evil by the power of love.” Through peaceful resistance people are able to oppose laws that they do not endorse. To Dr. King, it was the most efficient way the oppressed could fight their way to freedom. Half a century later, peaceful resistance continues to benefit free society by allowing its citizens...
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...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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...Peaceful Resistance Throughout the history of America, there have been many peaceful and violent resistances to laws that people did not agree with. Events like the Woman’s Suffrage, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Boston Tea Party are some of the most popular protests in American history. Though not all always work, peaceful resistance to laws have a positive impact on the society and the people in it. In a society, the government’s goal is to protect and serve to people in that society. With that comes making laws to try and accomplish the protection and service of the people. But as it is in any society, there will be people that are going to disagree with some of those laws. For example, the Civil Rights Movement in 1954 was a peaceful protest that ended up being very positive for the community. “The outcome was a landmark for black equality that initiated Civil Rights Movement.” (Bill of Rights Institute) The Civil Rights Movement gave the entire black community equal rights, which had a positive impact on them and the rest of the community because it brought people closer to each other and there was much less segregation between people. There has to be a balance between the government’s contribution to laws and the society’s contribution to laws. “If...
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...On balance, peaceful resistance to laws deemed unjust are provocative in nature, however, civil disobedience becomes necessary when considering how American progress did not result from inaction, but rather peaceful opposition. In other words, to sit idle and to watch the practice of unjust laws is contradictory to American values of liberty and justice. The Founding Fathers purposefully instilled civil disobedience as a crucial element to the American identity in order to protect the individual’s political beliefs. By forming this nation under one of man’s greatest creation - the Constitution - our Founding Fathers acknowledged that peaceful resistance positively impacts free society by preserving democracy and civil rights. Peaceful measures...
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...Peaceful resistance has been evident throughout history. It has played large roles in the foundation and development of many countries, the United States being a key example. The growth shown through peaceful movements that protest oppressive laws and views has been beneficial to society as a whole; led by the views and actions of people like Martin Luther King Jr., Henry David Thoreau, and Ghandi. When a country claims to be free, certain natural liberties are implied. One can assume that they would have a certain degree of involvement in their government, and if they cannot speak out about what they might see as a corrupt ruling, one might begin to question the legitimacy behind the so called "freedom" that they are supposedly granted. Peaceful resistance allows a person's values and opinions to be heard in an orderly manner. When someone presents their views in a calm and respectful way, the opposing side will be more willing to listen to what they have to say. Growing up children are often told to treat others how they want to be treated. Acting out peacefully shows that you want to be treated with grace and respect too. This goes for the opposite as well. Acting out violently and irrationally would produce a harsh reaction from your counterpart....
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...Peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society. It stresses our natural rights as written in 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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