Peaceful resistance to laws has a more positive impact on a free society because it allows people to express how wrong something can be and stress the need for change. In the "Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King demonstrates how nonviolence allows those who "refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue" (King). Martin Luther King explains how effective nonviolence can be. This demonstrates how those protesting aren't causing chaos, yet are still being able to get their point across.
"If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so. "-Socrates. Peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society because the society is not free unless it's able to check the government. As long as the protest of the law remains peaceful it is a good thing. It is the public telling the government that they will not let them gain to much power and crush their human rights.
A peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society showing that information will always and forever be free to everyone and that civil disobedience can set people free in a just nation. In this current age, information always seems to be locked away from the populace. In other words, the populace only gets to know what is deemed safe and secure by the federal government. For civilians who want to know more they get shooed away.
Peaceful resistance to laws positively affect a free society. Throughout history, there have been multiple cases of both violent and peaceful protests. However, the peaceful protests are the ones that tend to stick with a society and are the ones that change the society for the better. In April 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter about just and unjust laws while he was in Birmingham jail for peacefully protesting. King came to Birmingham because "injustice is here".
Peaceful resistance to laws positively impact a free society because it helps get people's points across, without breaking any rules. People are allowed to voice there opinion, without causing any physical harm to themselves, or anyone around them. Many equal right came about during peaceful resistances. Thomas Jefferson is an example of that. He led a revolution, and changed the lives of millions of African Americans, then and now.
Our disobedience enstils the passion our contemporary society continues to have for what we feel is just. Peaceful resistance to unjust laws benefits a free society by giving the American people a voice in government. History and contemporary media has proven that protesting our governmental ideals is a strong and powerful means of changing the government. Martin Luther King Jr. protested the horrendous treatment of African-Americans in the 1960s by bringing people together in order to end racial segregation in the United States. King included in his Letter From Birmingham Jail that "an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law.”
The first person that comes to every American's mind when they hear the words peaceful disobedience is Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. In the spring of 1963, King, among others, decided to finally take a march on Birmingham after months of delay. During this time, Birmingham, Alabama was one of the main contributors of the racial war. While leading the march, King was arrested and held in the local jail.
As Martin Luther King Jr. observes in his "Letters From a Birmingham Jail," it is a sad thing when people condemn the effects of civil disobedience without considering the conditions which festered and led to such a nonviolent protest. As Thoreau writes in his "Civil Disobedience," too much respect for the law can lead people to blindly to terrible things. Consider the Germans who, out of fear of the law, committed the atrocities of the Holocaust; or, the participants of the Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures, in which men were instructed to continuously 'shock' a hidden person, and which, goaded on by the authority figure, continued even until the subject of the punishment (in actuality an actor) 'died.' Those who choose to take action to take down laws that do not uphold the morals of the people as a whole work instead towards a society based on considered values that respect all of its
The question of whether or not peaceful resistance toward the law impacts society in a positive way is really a question of circumstance. If I were to refer back to the historical aspects of the subject, then my immediate answer would be yes, it does; peaceful resistance has often prevailed in situations that required immediate attention, yet were simply overlooked by the general public, despite their importance. One extremely important example of this would be the many boycotts during the civil rights movements of the 60's. Civil disobedience was a way to communicate the true inequality represented by the phrase, ''separate but equal'' by peacefully marching for their beliefs. For example, many white officials used various schemes to prevent
Peaceful disobedience had been a key point within the civil rights era, famous examples include Rosa Parks not giving her spot to a white man on the bus, MLK standing up with his fellow supporters for protesting racial discrimination. Their actions gained a national spotlight through the eyes of the masses, especially when the harsh actions of our civil servants (the police) were highlighted through spraying citizens with fire-hoses, beating them with batons, kicking people, etcetera. This spotlight had led a revolution to the end of Jim Crow laws and discrimination all together through ratifying (previous) laws. We as humans living in the 21st century see the laws which existed before the 1970’s discriminatory, but certain people didn’t have that mindset and seen laws as though they couldn’t have flaws within. That said - are we as humans living within 2017 going to view all laws which exist now as perfect?
People have always found ways to show their disapproval of governmental decisions and took action into it. Civil disobedience is the refusal to obey laws, without using violence. Uncivil disobedience is the refusal to obey laws, using violence. Civil disobedience is more effective in the case of Martin Luther King Junior, the walk-outs, and the sit-ins. Civil disobedience is effective because protesters will not kill anyone so, fewer lives are lost and because it shows that non-violence demonstrates strength.
Civil disobedience has been an enormous event throughout American history, but is currently increasing in our daily lives. I believe that protesting against the laws in a peaceful manner is an appropriate and a brilliant idea to get your opinions across to the American people. If certain causes or people are violent about their opinions, nobody would want to follow them because of the ignorance involved. When I see violence in a protest, I instantly disagree with their fight due to the forcefulness and viciousness of their cause. We need to conduct ourselves in a professional manner when expressing what we believe in, if you do not, people will not take you seriously.
Pick a crowd, any crowd and one is bound to find it divided when it comes to the subject of abortion. Defined as the voluntary termination of a pregnancy, abortion is one of the most controversial and polarizing topics which is currently dominating the news cycle. Each side has its reasons and is very passionate about where its stand. On one hand, there is the extremely conservative pro-life side which believes that life is sacred and that abortion is not morally permissible under any circumstances. On the other hand, there is the liberal pro-choice side which opposes any interference with a woman’s right to choose.
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world” These astonishing words that Mahatma Gandhi said made me suppose that Civil Disobedience is a Moral Responsibility of a citizen because when breaking certain laws, a citizen perhaps incorporate a good intention or a bad intention for breaking it. Citizens break the law occasionally to have their beliefs be heard so change can be assemble. Some ways that Civil Disobedience can be a Moral Responsibility would be breaking the law for the right intentions. An example of breaking the law for the right intentions could be The Salt March that Gandhi Created or, Rosa Parks standing up for her beliefs about her actions, MLK wanting equal rights with caucasian. Illegal Immigrants coming into the
Peaceful Resistance no matter what way you look at it, it 's still going against someone whether it involves words or actions, resistance still causes more conflict. The last 5 years we have had people say they want change through these “peaceful protest” but these peaceful protests have done nothing but turn to violent riots were theirs damage to vehicles, business families rely on destroyed, bystanders hurt, officers killed and our country torn apart. Back when Martian Luther King Jr was around and he had his Peaceful Resistance or rallies for equality, they were peaceful and brought our country together with something that needed to be changed, but the protest we’ve had the last 5 years… he would be ashamed of. Peaceful Resistance to laws does negatively impact our free society in America. First going along with what I said about there being “peaceful rallies” even though some people may be at these rallies to make a difference to support their opinion, not everyone can respect that.
