Civil Disobedience Analysis

Why partake in civil disobedience? Oscar Wilde, an influential author, has an opinion on utilization of civil disobedience. “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion. Meaning, if a person wants to change society and its actions, they must rebel against the governing body in order to create effective alterations. Many situations exist where civil disobedience advocates change. In those situations, people have rights for disobedience, but must realize consequences may result from their disobedient actions.

To commence, civil disobedience means “the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes

and fines, as a peaceful form of a political protest” (Oxford Dictionary). For example, Colin Kaepernick, San Francisco 49ers quarterback, chose to not stand for the National Anthem. “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color” (Preston np). By exercising civil disobedience, he utilized his rights as a free citizen promoting his opinion that he does not agree with the country's actions towards his race. When Kaepernick made this choice , he knew and accepted the consequences of hate from NFL viewers. Consequently, Preston, author of the source discussing Colin Kaepernick's actions, wrote to readers that he did not agree with Colin's actions. But, Kaepernick knew he had a right civilly protest. But, also he realized that he had a risk of receiving hate from fans. Kaepernick's protestful actions resulted in a degree of social progress, “is the idea that societies can or do improve in terms of their social, political, and economic structures. This may happen as a result of direct human action, as in social enterprise or through social activism, or as a natural part of sociocultural evolution” (Wikipedia np) Martin Luther King Jr. and other African Americans who felt oppressed took action in the form of a protest against it. By protesting civil disobediently, King wanted to promote equality of all men regardless of race. “Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty” (King 12) By protesting against unfair treatment of African Americans, Martin Luther King Jr. and every other protester made their opinions on lack of equality known. Thus, promoting social progress. King and other protesters all had prior knowledge that by protesting, persecution may result consequently. But, through that persecution, essential change occurred.
To continue on with the notion of Civil Disobedience, many situations exist where rebelling peacefully against a disagreement can promote opinions.

Thus, creating social progress. Martin Luther King Jr., author of The Letter From Birmingham Jail, defines using civil disobedience appropriately. He describes two different types of laws: Just, laws moral laws in agreement with god; and Unjust laws, laws that disagree with what god wants" (King 5). King argued that if any sign of an unjust law exists, people must rebel against it immediately in order for social progress to result (King 5). Henry Thoreau, author of Civil Disobedience, has an opinion that correlates with King's. “Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once” (Thoreau 6) By asking this rhetorical question, Henry Thoreau implied that if a person sees a morally wrong law , he or she must peacefully rebel against for social progress to result. Civil disobedience exists appropriately to the extent that if law appears wrong, people need to take against it with willingness to pay for the consequences. For example, women voting in American History had no existence. According to god's will, he created all people, regardless of gender and race, in the image of god. Therefore, everyone, in god's creation, exists equal and the same. By denying women the right to vote, the law went against God's

will and needed protest. John Steinbeck's novel, the Grapes of Wrath, also has multiple examples of Civil Disobedience. It first appears in chapter five in the conversation between the tenant farmers and the tractor driver . “They knew that a man so hurt and so perplexed may turn in anger, even on people he loves. They left the man alone to figure and to wonder in the dust” (Steinbeck 47). Steinbeck explained to the readers that in times of disagreement, a man trying to accomplish something will turn to disobedience, even with things he loves. That same idea also appeared in chapter twenty nine when a storm with families in. “And where a number of men stood gathered together, the wear went from their faces, and anger took its place. And the women sighed with relief, for they knew it was all right-the break had never come as long as fear could turn to wrath” (Steinbeck 592) Steinbeck encourages the readers that if the want to get anything done, that fear against the government must turn into anger and reluctance to abide by it.
Contrasting to appropriate times for disobedience, according to King, civil disobedience should not be used in inappropriate situations . "If a law is just, a person is to obey the law completely and not question it" (King 5). For example, a just law example- no one is permitted to commit murder- this exemplifies a morally right law according to the Ten Commandments of God. If a person disagreed with another person, protesting their opinion by killing exemplifies a situation where civilly disobeying a law inhibits inappropriate utilization of civil disobedience
On the contrary to the idea that Civil Disobedience is an effective method to promote social progress, many people believe that Civil Disobedience is an improper form of protest and an abuse of freedom.

But, amendment one of the constitution says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech” (First Amendment-Constitution np)... A one-page comic exists where people are utilizing their abilities of freedom of protest and freedom of speech. However, Uncle Sam states that “We're for Democracy, but not this much democracy” (Wasserman np) Sam's quotation meant that the government wants people to have freedoms to communicate their opinions, however, if the opinions of the people conflict with the governments, the government does not want the people to have a right to say anything. Since government gives people the right to say whatever they want whenever they want, people can communicate their opinions regardless of whether or not those opinions agree with the agenda of the government. Uncle Sam's opinion is wrong because the government gives absolute rights of freedom of speech. It cannot pick and choose what they people can and cannot say. Also, Jordan Peterson, psychology professor of the University of Toronto, utilized civil disobedience to communicate his opinion that he did not agree with the university's transgender pronouns. Peterson felt that the university was

muting his freedoms of speech. “I'm very disappointed with the University of Toronto for not standing up for free speech but it's not unexpected” (Source H) As a free citizen of the United States, Peterson has an absolute right of voicing his opinions. Peterson has no less of a right to voice his opinions to say that he does not agree with transgender pronouns than people wanting the pronouns to say that they want them.
As a result of Civil Disobedience, social progress results and change occurs. On the contrary, if no actions work against the wrong, then no change occurs. King once made a point that in order for change to occur, people must take action against their disagreement.“I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fan in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block social progress (King 6). I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress” (King 6). White moderate exemplifies an anaphora in King's Letter from Birmingham Jail. White moderates symbolize white people capable of making a change by peacefully protesting, but do not. Martin Luther King Jr. believed that by doing nothing out of fear of persecution, the “white moderates”actually supported the oppressing side, thus stunting the growth of social progress. King's persecution in jail exemplifies that in order for the world to improve with appropriate civil disobedience, people must realize consequences could result for disobeying the government, and people must have willingness to pay for them. Through his protests, people became aware that African Americans experienced oppression and the world improved through the action of civil disobedience. And, King knew that by rebelling, he would experience persecution, but made the choice to pursue his actions regardless of the consequence. On the contrary to the idea that the civil disobedience improves life, the world can improve equally without disobedience. For example, Kaepernick made his protest controversially for not standing during the National Anthem. Without this controversial act of Civil Disobedience, worldly interactions would improve. Likewise, hate and violence towards protests like these would diminish. (Preston np) By not using disobedience, violence reciprocated from protests could very well decrease.
Like the benefits of the world from the use of civil disobedience or no use of it, the analysis of whether or not social progress results with or without civil disobedience exists. Kaepernick could have made other alternatives than disrespecting the country by not standing for the national anthem. “There are just so many other ways to voice your concern and have an impact instead of offending so many others” (Preston np) Author Preston argued that social progress can occur through utilization of other means other than civil disobedience because the civil disobedience raised the issues to begin with.
In reflection of Wilde's opinion of civil disobedience and social progress, citizens of the world possess free will and have a right to exercise it. With this, if a person chooses to rebel, they must realize they may face consequences such as persecution. “From the district's perspective, a student who advocates deliberate rule breaking would have to face the consequences for that action” (Solocheck np). Imagine how different the world would appear today without the positive and negative effects of civil disobedience and social progress.