Oscar Wilde Civil Disobedience

Throughout history and into today, many groups of people have used disobedience to promote change. Some, like Oscar Wilde, believe that “disobedience… is man’s original virtue;” however, many others believe that disobedience only disrupts society and does not effectively produce change. Considering that both points of view have valid arguments, Wilde’s claim that disobedience is a virtue that promotes progress is only true to some extent. Disobedience may be one of the most readily used and effective methods for producing change in a multitude of situations, but it also has the potential for violence, and people can easily take it too far. An early example of effective disobedience can be seen in the women’s rights movements of the early

At first, many demonstrators followed Martin Luther King Jr.’s peaceful protest ideology by attending the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, becoming part of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and participating in other methods of mild civil disobedience. As the violence continued, some people began to follow Malcolm X’s black power ideology instead, which for many involved not only excluding whites from aiding in the civil rights movements but also calling blacks to fight back against the violent assaults. Thus, the civil rights movement sparked white supremacist violence throughout the country during its earlier years, later contributed to the widespread violence, to some extent, and strengthened the divide between whites and blacks. That being said, specific demonstrations within the larger civil rights movement did effectively promote and achieve the changes the people strived for. The Montgomery bus boycott had almost 100% African American participation, and after just over one year of boycotting public transportation, legislation was finally passed that banned segregation on public transportation. Though the Civil Rights Movement was overall a large success for the African American community, it also had its shortcomings in that it was violent and only truly altered the legal status of blacks, doing little to end racism, leaving it to remain a common trend that would last many more years. Disobedience may have been a virtue for some during this time period, but it did not entirely create the progress that those like Oscar Wilde believe it