Civil disobedience is the nonviolent violation of a law that the disobedient considers unjust while peacefully accepting punishment. Since the concept of a free society has existed, the justifiability of civil disobedience has been a point of debate. Civil disobedience positively influences a free society. Civil disobedience is an act of free speech that helps citizens correct unjust laws. ”To foreclose the communication of ideas not only deprives persons of the rights guaranteed them by the First Amendment but deprives society of its most effective means for self-correction.” – the attorneys of the American Civil Liberties Union, 1967 Only by practicing their constitutional right of free speech can citizens in a society remain content. …show more content…
Though that may be, at least in theory, it is not true in the practical world. “[L]awful channels may exist on paper but not in fact; or they may be real but quite unusable in the existing circumstances. Even if there are lawful channels for . . . protest, it does not follow that using them will be . . . as effective as the far more dramatic protest of the civil disobedient.” – Carl Cohen, 1971 Even though some lawful ways to protest exist, they cannot replicate the potency of civil disobedience. Furthermore, “When [civil disobedience] is justified there has been a serious breakdown; not only is there grave injustice in the law but a refusal more or less deliberate to correct it.” –John Rawls, 1969 If the lawful methods of correcting an injust law are not effective, there must be a last resort open to all citizens so they may improve their …show more content…
In 2013, as a NSA employee, he illegally leaked information to the press about NSA activities that he saw as unconstitutional. He deliberately disobeyed the law to make a statement and raise awareness; as Snowden said in 2013, “The N.S.A. has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting . . . That is not something I am willing to support or live under.” It is the right and duty of every citizen in a free society to obey their conscience to make the world better; every citizen likely must become a civil disobedient at some point. Although some people claim that Snowden severely damaged the United States’ terrorist defenses, Snowden did not release any information that would have given terrorists or other countries an advantage over the US. He acted justly and according to his