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I'm aware that Oscar Wilde is claiming that “man’s original virtue,” disobedience, even rebellion, is a valuable trait which promotes social progress. I'm aware that the word disobedience, doing something good at first, is difficult to imagine, but unless one goes deeper and takes account of history, Wilde’s claim will always seem as invalid. For instance, female activist, Rosa Parks is one of the many people whose leadership and actions supports Wilde’s claim. Rosa Parks was an African American aged woman, who lived in the time where the color of her skin made her unfavorable. Where the color of her skin hindered the worth of her life and where the color of her skin brought torment. She, Rosa Parks lived in the generation of inequality, …show more content…
But still in those moments of brutality and pain, they still remained calm and acted through the words through the words of their leader Martin Luther King Jr. Like Parks, King was another civil rights activist. He was the voice of the African Americans and always promoted peace in his campaigns. Even after witnessing many of his people be beaten gruesomely and hosed on the March to Montgomery, one would think that maybe this event would be the one to force blacks submit or listen to the police officers when they said not to come back. But no, that wasn't what happened. They immediately came back again, making the statement that they would not fall down that easily. Then turned back and walked away. This historic act of civil disobedience that King made was what won their voting rights. He won because he was able to look past the miseries they were put through and continue through nonviolence. Which is why the way the way they were to handle the situation was so important because if it was up to leaders like Malcolm X to lead, the situation would've worsen because he was the type who encouraged for violent ways. If the blacks had come back with the intention of harming the whites or had fought in the same way the whites did and carried weapons, there would've have been no
According to Oscar Wilde, disobedience is a valuable human trait that promotes social progress. Civil disobedience allows for the unification of various groups to fight towards a common goal, often resulting in change. Historically, there has been much evidence supporting Wilde’s claim. Significant examples of disobedience that led to social progress include the Boston Tea Party, the Salt March, and the Civil Rights Movement.
MLK once said "We have no alternative but to protest. For many years we have shown an amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice."(The Biography.com website). MLK knew that if we used force it would be a disaster and they would never get freedom. While MLK was at Birmingham Jail he wrote about nonviolence for all people to read. He said"Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community, which has constantly refused to negotiate, is forced to confront the issue."(The Biography.com website) So many thought MLK would come and be this guy who would see violence as a tool to use, but when he didn’t people were very supprised that nonviolence was his choice of action. MLK has a family too and it was not only but his family too. They probably wondered all the time if their father would be home that night. Many suffered from these movement acts and wondered if they would be able to kiss their kids goodnight, or see their wifes. Would you be able to not see your dad for weeks or maybe even months? This is why many had patience. They knew what they were fighting for all of them had a purpose. MKL knew one day there would be freedom everywhere. He also knew it wasn’t going to come easily. He never gave up though and he always believed in
The author, Dr. Martian Luther King Jr., makes a statement “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.” He uses this concept to convey the point of the Negros hard work to negotiate the issue has failed, but now they must confront it. The March on Good Friday, 1963, 53 blacks, led by Reverend Martian Luther King, Jr., was his first physical protest to segregation laws that had taken place after several efforts to simply negotiate. The author uses several phrases that describe his nonviolent efforts and his devotion to the issue of segregation that makes the reader believe his how seriously King takes this issue. “Conversely, one has the moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” Dr. Martian Luther King, Jr. explains with this that an “unjust law is no law at all.” King does not feel like he has broken any laws in his protest against segregation. In his eyes, laws are made to protect the people, not degrade and punish. “The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him March.” As far as King is concerned, the Negros will continue to do whatever is necessary, preferably non-violently, to obtain the moral and legal right that is theirs. If they are not allowe...
Many students generally only learn of Dr. King’s success, and rarely ever of his failures, but Colaiaco shows of the failures of Dr. King once he started moving farther North. In the book, Colaiaco presents the successes that Dr. King has achieved throughout his work for Civil Rights. The beginning of Dr. King’s nonviolent civil rights movement started in Montgomery, Alabama, when Rosa Parks refused to move for a white person, violating the city’s transportation rules. After Parks was convicted, Dr. King, who was 26 at the time, was elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA). “For 381 days, thousands of blacks walked to work, some as many as 12 miles a day, rather than continue to submit to segregated public transportation” (18).
Necessary Rebellion Erich Fromm is a psychoanalyst and sociologist who has written many books and journals over the years. Fromm closely studied other psychologists such as Freud and Marx, and he published analytical works on both many other theories. In his essay, “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem,” Fromm explains that as humans we start out with disobedience, and make it into something horrible—something for which we must repent, feel sorry for, and act as if we won’t do it again (621). Obedience is thought to be a high moral standard which we are to follow. On the other hand, disobedience is considered a moral flaw, a wrongness, or something you just should not do.
MLK would always preach about the nonviolent way being better and this was true because it showed the white moderates that they meant no harm. Whenever violence broke out they would be able to easily tell who was the one who started it. His methods inspired the Cngress of Rational Equality and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to ride a bus throughout the southern states to see if there were any problems and if they had any desegregated buses. In Alabama they encountered a white mob who lit the bus on fire and beat the passengers. This made world news so it started the conversation and encouraged JFK to take action. JFK then started brings up a strong civil rights bill to congress called the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that banned different voting standards for blacks and whites, witheld federal funds from public/provate programs that practiced discrimination, and banned discrimination based on religion,sex,or national origin by employers and unions. MLK's peaceful method was the effective in inspiring change in
One of the greatest feelings in the world is going against the grain of society and the universal fear to be different than the rest. Whether you are sparked by your own fire, or someone else’s, breaking the status quo to be diverse enhances progress. Oscar Wilde once said, “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.” This quote sparks interest due to disobedience often containing a negative connotation. However, in this quote disobedience is honorable, and to be called disobedient is a compliment. According to Wilde, disobedience is beneficial and without it, social progress could not be made. Without
Civil Disobedience makes governments more accountable for their actions and has been an important catalyst for overcoming unpopular government policies. To voice his disgust with slavery, in 1849 Henry David Thoreau published his essay, Civil Disobedience, arguing that citizens must not allow their government to override their principles and have a civic duty to prevent their government from using unjust means to ends. The basis for Thoreau’s monumental essay was his refusal to pay a poll tax, which subsequently landed him a night in county jail. In his passage: “If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go; perchance it will wear smooth—certainly the machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine...
had become a leader, and he had found his group of supporters, or in other words, his social group. In this case, my formula only works because of the parentheses surrounding the first three parts of the equation. From my perspective, Martin Luther King Jr. became a symbol of a general group of African American Civil Rights Activists, before they found him as an actual leader. While others may figure that there is more than one specific leader that had an impact on the Civil Rights Movement, I really cannot deny that way of thinking, rather I can only say that it is of my belief that he was the most important of all in this process. Others may also present the counter argument that there may have been more than one leader and that all of them were equally important in the process of this. I cannot deny that opinion either, as it is valid. I can present my opinion and only my opinion here, which presents that Martin Luther King Jr. deserves to be the leader of all leaders. Possibly, the best example of his leadership came on a day in August, at “The March of Washington,” when he presented a speech of dynamic poetry. My favorite lines from this “I Have a Dream Speech” go, “I have a dream that one day in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” (King Jr. 5) After this line, the audio recording presents the roar of the crowd. In my opinion, it was not just the words of this speech and this specific quote that made him a leader. I perceive that words are just words, as they need substance, this substance is created with a charismatic attitude. Martin Luther King Jr. had this, and it is possibly the biggest indicator that he was a leader of his group. It is possible that there were other
"Civil Disobedience" by Thoreau describes the government and what he believes is best. Thoreau implements diction and imagery to support his claim that the best government is one that does not govern at all.
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.
Disobedience in the sense that one is rationally disobeying someone or something because they believe it will result in improvement of the greater good is the valuable human trait Wilde is talking about. Looking at history, we saw that the major event in the Civil Rights Movement were ones of civil disobedience. We saw that civil disobedience can lead to the freedom of a country. Think about what you have done to progress society. Think about what you haven’t done. And, think about what you can do. Simple acts of disobedience for a good cause can result in progress that can change the lives of many. Remember, civil disobedience is
After reading this week’s study material, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr wanted to increase his non-violent protest because he believed that there is injustice in Birmingham. Birmingham is known for one of the most racially segregated city in America. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr believed that “non- violent tension is necessary for growth” (Rawls, 2016, p. 450). This was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr way of showing his beliefs and freedom. There are two values that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr felt that were worth giving his life for; those two values are his freedom and his beliefs. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr had gotten the chance to talk with the leaders of Birmingham’s economic community. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr had requested “to move the stores
also highlights the importance of action in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Just as Thoreau before, King is frustrated at this point with certain parts of the Civil Rights Movement. King stresses the importance of peaceful demonstration and he recognizes that after centuries of oppression, a race held back will yearn for freedom, and they will express that yearning in whichever way authorities choose - peaceful or violent. Speaking of African American demonstrators, King urges the public and authorities to "let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides -and try to understand why he must do so. If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence." King knows that with or without peaceful demonstration, change will come. The change could come with scars and pain or with love and understanding, as changes will take place when they are long yearned. The good impacts of civil disobedience come into play here, showing that without a peaceful outlet, violent demonstration will overcome with possibly devastating impact. King also explains what he considers a divide in his own race, stating that he has "tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the "do nothingism" of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist." Echoing the thoughts of Thoreau before him, King too expresses his frustration with both complacent people who stand by and watch, feeling they have no duty, and true extremists who escalate situations and make them violent. Peaceful resistance is once again successful in the situation of Civil Rights; even though there were violent bursts from both sides, nonviolent demonstrations saved everyone from destructive
Oscar Wilde was born in October 16, 1854, in the mid era of the Victorian period—which was when Queen Victoria ruled. Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901.While she ruined Britain, the nation rise than never before, and no one thought that she was capable of doing that. “The Victorian era was both good and bad due to the rise and fall of the empires and many pointless wars were fought. During that time, culture and technology improved greatly” (Anne Shepherd, “Overview of the Victorian Era”). During this time period of English, England was facing countless major changes, in the way people lived and thought during this era. Today, Victorian society is mostly known as practicing strict religious or moral behavior, authoritarian, preoccupied with the way they look and being respectable. They were extremely harsh in discipline and order at all times. Determination became a usual Victorian quality, and was part of Victorian lifestyle such as religion, literature and human behavior. However, Victorian has its perks, for example they were biased, contradictory, pretense, they cared a lot of about what economic or social rank a person is, and people were not allowed to express their sexuality. Oscar Wilde was seen as an icon of the Victorian age. In his plays and writings, he uses wit, intelligence and humor. Because of his sexuality he suffered substantially the humiliation and embarrassment of imprisonment. He was married and had an affair with a man, which back then was an act of vulgarity and grossness. But, that was not what Oscar Wilde was only known for; he is remembered for criticizing the social life of the Victorian era, his wit and his amazing skills of writing. Oscar Wilde poem “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” typifies the Vi...