Civil Disobedience In The United States

The term “civil disobedience” is also known as non-cooperation, resistance, or protest. These words are used in powerful actions and speeches that have a huge impact on our free society. They allow at an individual or group level to express ourselves and what we believe to be right or just. Over the last three decades here in the United States there seems to be trend of increasing unrest within the country. Groups such as the Occupation Movement, Oil Pipeline protests and Tea Party have started small. Undercurrents within a society always seem to be in flux and moving back and forth. The Tea Party though is a great example of something starting small and gaining traction that ultimately moved the nation to a more conservative outlook. The other interesting thing is that in prior decades much of civil disobedience happened locally with mass marches. The Internet age allows for a much more passive approach to civil

disobedience that does not always require physical participation. This new “electronic” civil disobedience while not having the same physical traits is a likely reason that the recent presidential election outcome surprised many experts.

One of the most powerful movements started in the in the Southern United States the 1960’s and lasted for a long period of time.

In fact you could say that this movement started at the birth of this nation and continues today. This movement was also known as the Civil Rights Movement. At first, African Americans would hold series of silence protests and marches with intentions of civil disobedience. The act of positive influence took a turn when physical violence was added. Racial violence, including hosing down and beating protesters. It no longer was civil and brought a negative consequence into society. As Martin Luther King Jr. stated in his I Have a Dream speech, “We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.” King was aware of the impact of physical violence and the negative significance it had on society. Not only did the word civil get taken out of civil disobedience, the violence will forever be

remembered.

A recent protest has taken place which was an act of civil disobedience. This was the Women’s March where many people gathered in Washington, D.C. on January 21st 2017 to march, speak, and make their voices be heard (Women’s March on Washington). The reason for this civil disobedience came about due to several different reasons. Some of the issues meant various things to everyone participating. Whether it was in disagreement with Donald Trump’s presidency, LGBTQ rights, immigration rights or worries that women will be less empowered. People were able to express their beliefs in a peaceful manner, while influencing the nation is a positive way. Through social media, newspapers and community outreach everyone who had access was made aware of the powerful message.

Overall, civil disobedience is capable of influencing a lot of people. It’s only good when used in the right way, but as soon as things take a wrong turn it becomes negative and no longer civil. Again in the age of electronic civil disobedience passion about an issue can be stirred up by simply logging on to your Facebook account or reading some fake news or even following a simple twitter account. The result is that instead of being objective and having the opportunity to look at many issues from different vantage points you can simply just follow the source that best agrees with your current situation. While civil disobedience has been a powerful tool in the past with many coming together and marching I worry that the “online” effect will have a greater ability to influence change. Living in the current information age is wonderful - however who is controlling the information you read?