Disobedience has paved the way for many of the most important decisions in our history as the United States of America. In some instances, the act of disobedience resulted in a major change in history itself. A widely known example would be the events leading towards the American Revolution, where a simple band of colonists took on the entirety of the British army. The British Parliament placed many taxes, including the Stamp Act, Tea Act, and many other significant taxes on the citizens living in the city of Boston.
Irish author Oscar Wilde claimed that disobedience is a valuable human trait, and that it promotes social progress; thus, without it, social progress would not be made. Civil disobedience is to social progress as hard work is to academic success. With hard work comes academic success, and with civil disobedience comes social progress. Though some see disobedience as a negative trait, it is what has promoted social progress in history by challenging social standards and requiring new social rules to be made. Civil disobedience challenges social standards by expanding views on the current guidelines.
Another point is that civil disobedience is a beneficial behavior in bringing about stability to this society. In fact, Martin Luther King Jr is the one of the most associated with nonviolent civil disobedience he saw color people getting treated unjustly and getting prosecuted because of their skin color. Another example would be the STC protest that occurred this month; six people refused to get off the bus keeping police on the scene for five hours till one in the morning. The six people got arrested but later they were released.
Without individuals who were disobedient to to rules of society, the world as we know it would look very different today. When Oscar Wilde said he saw disobedience as to only way to create progress, he was correct. In our society today, and in many cases from the past the only way real change is made, is when people don't follow the rules, and speak out for what they believe in. In the story of Matilda, by Roald Dahl, a young girl saves the day when she doesn't follow the rules of her strict principle, instead she sees how people are being treated wrong, and does something about it.
Disobedience, it is our inner braveness that stands up for our battles. Disobedience, it is what shapes our society and how we are as people. All it takes is a brave man to let his thoughts out and into our complex world. Are we going to tolerate being treated as slaves? Are we going to let people create our own destiny to our future?
Herbert J. Storing, an Associate Professor of Political Science, in “The Case Against Civil Disobedience,” writes, “One of the practical consequences of this institution [civil disobedience] is to divert disobedience and even revolution into the channel of law” (97). What Storing is saying is that civil disobedience will encourage people to break the laws and they will hide under civil disobedience to avoid the law. Also, civil disobedience might split society by creating disagreements with the people, and it could create a political instability. However, Storing fails to see that those who break an unjust law, as discussed above, do not avoid the law, in fact they show respect to the law as they willingly accept the consequences. By accepting the consequences, they show that they are not acting for their own interests but for society’s.
There are times when people must rebel to make a change. It has happened throughout different movements to change unjust laws, and go against unjust people. One big example of civil disobedience during the civil rights movement were sit-ins. Sit-ins were when people continued to peacefully sit in on a restaurant when they were denied service. It was almost a way of life for many people.
Positively a peaceful resistance to laws can impact a free society. All cases are different; as for Rosa Parks she gave a disobedience act. As for her in her favor it did give a great stand and soon encouraged many to join her. This act that Rosa Parks stood up for soon changed dramatically in our history. What Rosa park did was an "act in civil disobedience but a face in discrimination" as noted in the article Rosa Parks and Civil Disobedience by Prerana Korpe.
Thesis Oscar Wilde wrote that disobedience is one of the most important virtues and that all progress has been made through it, this holds true today as civil disobedience when executed in a careful and violence-avoidant way for the right causes can be powerful tool for progress with social systems Example 1 (History) Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. used nonviolent civil disobedience to progress the Civil Rights movement. King organized boycotts, sit-ins, and marches to protest Jim Crow in the state of Alabama and in the south. These tactics were successful in helping African Americans progress toward civil equality after centuries of extreme inequality in the United States. The actions of King and his supporters led to the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the rule of Brown v. Board of Education which overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and officially outlawed segregation in the United States.
Oscar Wilde observation about disobedience and furthering social progress for the most part is valid. Rosa Parks is an example of disobedience that lead to progress being made. Instead of obeying authority and sitting in the back of the bus, Parks decided to sit in the front. This was a small contribution that lead to a worldwide movement for equality. Parks is just one example of disobeying authority that lead to furthering social progress.
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.
This is a great question; our time is going through a modern revolution as things are changing standards of life must evolve as well for all. I feel that the civil disobedience that is going on today is very sad in my opinion, during our time there should not be any type of difference that people are treated based on their skin color. Our era is having a time of public strife; and I suppose the civil disobedience is needed because of the police on African American life; often time’s people of color arrest ends with violence as it seems in the media. Everyday we hear of something very sad happening to someone there are now protest for people of color.
Civil disobedience, also defined as peaceful resistance to laws, is the refusal to obey any laws without any violent acts. Civil disobedience positively impacts free society because these acts spread awareness on unjust laws, and cause the governments to double check laws and question if they are really necessary. People may say that all laws are meant to be followed because they protect us, but that does not mean that all laws are just. All laws have been challenged by someone at one point leading to jail time, and some people that have been imprisoned did time because they stood up to a law they broke that was unjust. Our lives have been deeply impacted my civil disobedience.
In the United States we live in a free society where the government is based off the needs and wants of its citizens. The definition of civil disobedience is the act of opposing a law one considers unjust and peacefully disobeying it while accepting the consequences. Basically it is saying that if you want a change you can protest it but at the same time you are putting yourself in a position to be punished if you completely disobey the law. If a law is passed that a group of people disagree with, then they have the right to gather together and protest that law. This right to protest is part of one’s freedom of speech found in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights.
“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