Civil Disobedience What if I told you that disobeying laws led to the creation of The United States of America? Civil disobedience is the refusal to obey certain laws as a way of protesting, this usually involves the government. Civil disobedience can be seen as far back as a Sophocles play, Antigone. However, the term as well as the idea was popularized by Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau claims that disobedience is the true foundation of liberty and that the obedient must be slaves. Although it’s controversial, there is no doubt peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society. It’s been used throughout history, it’s essential for a democracy, and it’s merely another way of protesting. Firstly, civil disobedience has played a
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Without civil disobedience we might not even be here today because, as I stated before, one of the biggest events in US history was an act of civil disobedience. In the essay, Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau states, “Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government? Is it not possible to take a step further towards recognizing and organizing the rights of man?” We are seeing this more than ever now with the 45th president, Donald Trump. People were out on the streets on inauguration day protesting, some were blocking entrances which is considered an act of civil disobedience. We saw it multiple times with the “Black Lives Matter” movement who block highways as a method of protesting, this again is an act of civil disobedience and many people do not agree with that but the fact that it allows us to come together and have a voice in any situation means it is essential for a democracy . On top of that, it starts conversations, people can add their 2 cents without being shut down. However, with the rise of civil disobedience there is a rise in people violently breaking laws, some may say this is because of civil disobedience but this couldn’t be further from the truth. There are always bad people in every group and we definitely saw it in Ferguson with the lootings and vandalism, these are not acts of civil disobedience, these are merely crimes. It would be an insult to people like Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, Henry David Thoreau, etc. to categorize criminals with people looking to better their community and country as a
Without civil disobedience we might not even be here today because, as I stated before, one of the biggest events in US history was an act of civil disobedience. In the essay, Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau states, “Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government? Is it not possible to take a step further towards recognizing and organizing the rights of man?” We are seeing this more than ever now with the 45th president, Donald Trump. People were out on the streets on inauguration day protesting, some were blocking entrances which is considered an act of civil disobedience. We saw it multiple times with the “Black Lives Matter” movement who block highways as a method of protesting, this again is an act of civil disobedience and many people do not agree with that but the fact that it allows us to come together and have a voice in any situation means it is essential for a democracy . On top of that, it starts conversations, people can add their 2 cents without being shut down. However, with the rise of civil disobedience there is a rise in people violently breaking laws, some may say this is because of civil disobedience but this couldn’t be further from the truth. There are always bad people in every group and we definitely saw it in Ferguson with the lootings and vandalism, these are not acts of civil disobedience, these are merely crimes. It would be an insult to people like Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, Henry David Thoreau, etc. to categorize criminals with people looking to better their community and country as a