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Oppinions on civil disobedience
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“Civil disobedience is an act of opposing a law one considers unjust and peacefully disobeying it while accepting the consequences”, as quoted from the prompt. The real question being, does this negatively or positively impact a free society? It does have a positive affect because people from a free society are using their right to free speech, their getting attention from people in power, and it does not hurt the environment or bystanders not in the conflict; but actually looks to improve. There’s a hidden beauty to civil disobedience because seeing hundreds and hundreds of men and women of all ages all gathering together to fight for the same side just so they can see and change and in hopes of making the future better. An article from “The
I do believe strongly that civil disobedience is a positive in this country but, sometimes it can be interpreted or used in a way that is not so beneficial. So to cover the opposite, an article from “The Boston Globe”, “Kneeling for the anthem is fitting protest” by Yvonne Abraham states, “... until a Colin Kaepernick comes along. The 49ers player now takes a knee during the anthem to protest racial inequality, including the unjustified killings of black men by police officers in several cities … or raising fists or locking arms.”. Even though Kaepernick may have been trying to do a positive by making a statement that caught every bodies attention, this has also caused a negative effect. As an example from the Chicago Tribune, “Colin Kaepernick kneels during national anthem, meets Green Beret before 49ers-Chargers game” by Tribune news service, states “When Kaepernick left the field following pregame warmups, he was greeted with profanity and obscene gestures from Leo Uzcategui, a 20-year Navy veteran …"I was in the Navy and I saw men and women bleed and die for this flag," Uzcategui said. "If he wants to do something, go to some outreach program where he can do some
Civil Disobedience, as stated in the prompt, is the act of opposing a law one considers unjust and peacefully disobeying it while accepting the consequences. Many people believe this has a negative impact on the free society because they believe civil disobedience can be dangerous or harmful. Civil disobedience does not negatively affect the free society in a dangerous manner because it is peaceful and once it becomes harmful to the free society then it is not civil disobedience. Thoreau believed civil disobedience is an effective way of changing laws that are unjust or changing things that as a society and to the people does not seem correct. This peaceful act of resistance positively impacts a free society. Some examples are Muhammad Ali peacefully denying the draft and getting arrested. These men believed that what they saw was wrong and they did something about it but they did it peacefully.
In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr passed away from a sniper’s bullet. He gave us thirteen years of nonviolent protest during the civil rights movement of the 1950’s. Before I can give my opinion on the history of race relations in the United States since King’s assassination in 1968 strengthened or weakened his arguments on the necessity and value of civil disobedience? You should know the meaning of civil disobedience. The word civil has several definitions. “The one that is intended in this case is "relating to citizens and their interrelations with one another or with the state", and so civil disobedience means "disobedience to the state". Sometimes people assume that civil in this case means "observing accepted social forms; polite" which would make civil disobedience something like polite, orderly disobedience. Although this is an acceptable dictionary definition of the word civil, it is not what is intended here. This misinterpretation is one reason the essay (by Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849) is sometimes considered to be an argument for pacifism or for exclusively nonviolent resistance”.
Civil disobedience, to me, is any action that civilly disobeys or refuses to conform to government or societal rules/laws. In America, the national anthem is very traditional where people almost always stand, take off their hats, and place their hands on their heart. It’s an unwritten rule in our society that one conforms to this tradition. Colin Kaepernick disobeyed this rule. He kneeled, bringing attention to him for not following suit. Kaepernick’s actions reminded me directly of a quote from Henry David Thoreau’s civil disobedience. “Those who, while they disapprove of the character and measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance and support are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters”. (Thoreau, 54) This quote illustrates Kaepernick’s protest as an act of civil disobedience. Despite opinions surrounding his actions and what they meant, people must concede that his actions were indeed civil. He kneeled peacefully and quietly. After researching more into that question and exploring Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau more elaborately, I now conclude that I do believe that Kaepernick’s actions can be classified as civil
Civil disobedience is the refusal to obey civil laws in an effort to induce change in governmental policy or legislation, characterized by the use of passive resistance or other nonviolent means. The use of nonviolence runs throughout history however the fusion of organized mass struggle and nonviolence is relatively new.
In the chapter “Civil Disobedience” by Professor David S. Meyer, he talks about many different movements and social groups that had made an impact within society. He goes over the different areas that civil disobedience covers, and gives detailed examples about how civil disobedience leads to change of some sort. Meyer explains that in order to fully understand what civil disobedience is, it has to be looked at on a different level. Many people have their own interpretation of what they think civil disobedience is. It is seen as challenging public authority, and most of the time leading to an uproar of different groups participating in civil disobedience. When social movements take action into commencing civil disobedience, they do it
In the 2016 NFL preseason, Colin Kaepernick caught the nation's attention by refusing to stand during the playing of the National Anthem. Thus began the debate and divide between what is "right" and "wrong". He claims to be sitting because he is protesting police brutality and social injustice in our country. People have been shocked and offended by his message and his way of going about it. Not only is he disrespecting the armed forces of this nation, but he is causing infuriation and division within the American people. Protests such as the one taking place with Kaepernick are abusing their right for freedom of speech and should be banned from the field of play in all sports in America to preserve the respect that is due.
In recent news, Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players have experienced scrutiny by the government, media, and the public because they stand in solidarity against the oppression of people of color relating to police brutality against young black males. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) allows NFL players have the right to exercise their First Amendment freedom of speech, expression, and protest in support of people of color who are being oppressed even though the discrimination of Colin Kaepernick led to the league discard him. On the other hand, playing devil’s advocate, the First Amendment also supports the beliefs of their being a superior power catering to those of a superior race. Criticisms from Donald Trump and other Americans
Civil disobedience is a threat to our free society, as one small example can snowball into a much larger issue within our society. Rosa Parks used civil disobedience in a very effective way, but a bank robber could use civil disobedience to explain that he was gaining rights for the poor, much like Rosa Parks did for the African American community. The problem here lies in where you can draw the line with civil disobedience. You could argue that a good argument is needed to justify someone breaking a law, but any argument can be fabricated to expose only the good details that aid their side of the argument. Civil disobedience could even end up in murder where a person decides it is in the best interest of the community to eliminate a person, preventing them from doing damage.
The Act of Civil Disobedience in the eyes of the beholder is righteous and should be tolerated by many different governments all over the world, unfortunately when you act against the government there will be consequences for your actions even though you are composed and not dangerous to anyone. People may also say this disobedience is negative because humans can go into a primitive mode that makes them lose control and the same can go with the rest of the group. Cases of civil disobedience have grown to new height and will not stop until the people have their say in the matter at hand. Leaders in the past like Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr have had a positive impact in this world and allowed many men and women to stand up for what's right in today's society.
Rosa Parks’ little protest in the bus, put an end to the segregation laws. She wrote on her book saying “I had no idea that when I refused to give up my seat on that Montgomery bus that my small action would help put an end to segregation laws in the South.” Protesting happens all around the world, whether it is about government or sports, and protesting is how people show what is their opinion on something, and how that can impact the world. In America, the first amendment states freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of equality. The article by Caroline Kenny; Trump responds to NFL protest, was about what people think about NFL players kneeling and some teams not showing up to the anthem. National anthem is an important piece of American history and people should respect it for what it represents, but
Depending on the situation, civil disobedience can either negatively impact or positively impact a free society. For example, the Boston Tea Party, which occurred in 1773, was a form of civil disobedience. The Boston Tea Party was a protest against having to pay taxes. A group of just over 100 people participated in this act in Boston, gathering together on ships, and protesting by simply throwing tea overboard. Hence the name, "Boston Tea Party." This act of civil obedience didn't necessarily disturb anyone's peace, but it did start a revolution, and it did cause thousands of dollars in damage, in their currency, at the time. According to the online article, "Boston Tea Party Facts," the damage that was done would be worth around $1,700,000 in today's United States currency. In that case, the Boston Tea Party in fact would have negatively impacted the "free society." Only due to the fact that it caused quite a bit of debt in their time.
As you may know that, civil disobedience is known as an unacceptable action for any individual in any nation, which means you try to do some bad things against the law or the government. However, sometimes when a person tries to go against the government, which is just only bad for them, but it's extremely good for the people of the country.Therefore, going against the law is not always bad, especially when you do it for millions of people.
The idea of civil disobedience is now more relevant than ever. The entire political field has been flipped on its head in the past few months. Each branch of government has been completely changed, and because of this, nobody really knows how social issues are going to be affected. All of this confusion and uncertainty has brought up a question. Is civil disobedience a necessary aspect of society, or is it just a disruption of everyday order? Should we respect people expressing their issues with the law, or should we look down upon these people as if they are overstepping their boundaries?
I think civil disobedience is an effective means to creating change. Civil disobedience gets the message across and it can bring about change. Violence cannot fix any problem, as it leads to more violence and more hatred. On the other hand, civil disobedience is a way to show the enemy that you do not hate them, but you hate what they are doing or claiming. In addition, civil disobedience shows the opponent that you are willing to let them do anything to you, as long as there is a change brought about for the better. Also, another benefit of using civil disobedience is that people who practice it are showing that they are serious about what they want. They are prepared to go to any extremes of listening to the other party, and only for their own beliefs and against what they know is wrong. This can send a very powerful response, and bring about a positive change.
Disobedience leads to severe consequences, as we have always been told. If an officer wants to pull you over, you pull over because you don’t want more trouble. If a teacher orders you to put your phone away, you do or it’s taken away. Authorities are known to lead you into a good direction, and keep you safe, so we follow, but when you’re directed into a bad direction what do you do? The milgram experiment tested that “obedience” factor in 1963. The results of the experiments were surprising.