Civil Disobedience In History

Disobedience has promoted social progress various times in the past by allowing people to speak up against an unjust government. For example, Henry Thoreau in “Civil Disobedience” brought up the role of disobedience in the American Revolution when he stated, “All men recognize the right of revolution… to resist, the government, when its tyranny are great and unendurable” (Thoreau 3). Consequently, disobedience was necessary in the American Revolution in order for the colonists to gain independence from the British government, after all the unjust treatment that the colonists endured, such as excessively high

Disobedience is an important force in our society and helps bring about necessary social progress because it will lead to superior lives for its citizens. Oscar Wilde believed that through disobedience there is man’s original virtue. He asserts that civil disobedience promotes social progress. I agree with Wilde's belief because looking throughout centuries, society has shown a variety of situations with the act of practicing disobedience,and have achieved their goal.

Disobedience is the failure or refusal to obey rules or someone in authority. Disobedience like obedience becomes a virtue. Disobedience can prove that a person can stand against what they think is wrong and what they believe. In the past, there has been people that fought for what they thought was correct and made a change in the world. Like Irish Oscar Wilde once said, “It is through disobedience that progress has been made…,” I believe only the courageous will stand for themselves and for what they believe. Just like Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King did.

Disobedience always comes with a reason, some do it to go against something that is wrong others do it for attention or because they do not care about the situation. When there is an unjust law that is putting someone down or is oppressing it, people will begin to go against the law and not stand around while everyone including themselves gets hurt. Just Laws are to help and to keep everyone safe and unjust laws are made for minorities to stay away from the high-class group who want nothing with them. Sadly today there are still unjust laws to put people down but they are not standing around to let it happen. Martin Luther King could not watch his brothers and sisters be constantly put down so he went against unjust laws to stand his grounds. Antigone shared similarities when she went against king Creon rules rule to not bury her brother Polyneicês, she knew the consequences but paid no minds and stood her ground and kept doing what she has planned to do.

In the modern age of America, there are many people who have read and abided by the beliefs of civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is a philosophy created by Henry Thoreau that states one must not conform to certain laws for a variety of reasons, which was also an ideology utilized by Martin Luther King Jr. The world has witnessed many acts of disobedience from the masses, and have thus portrayed the idea that this belief still operates successfully. The ideology that surrounds civil disobedience also strongly influences the individual in a particular society, which also depicts the principles of this belief have adjusted to the modern world. In the new age of America, the beliefs of Thoreau and King are still prevalent and found in society due to the influence it has on movement that brings change; thus, illustrating that American citizens commonly refer and utilize this belief.

Disobedience and Rebellion are human traits that promote social progress in our society. For example, the Civil Rights movement was a time where social equality was not present and in order for it to be obtained, rebellion and disobedience had to be used. Rosa Parks was a civil rights activists who caused The Montgomery Bus Boycott. This event occurred because Rosa Parks had rejected to give up her seat to a white person which was widely frowned upon. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political protest that went against the segregation policy of the transport system and occurred from December 5, 1955 to December 20, 1956. On all city transportation in Montgomery, African Americans were to remain in the back of all trains and buses so whenever Rosa Parks had sat in the front it caused major upheaval. Many people had claimed that Rosa Parks didn’t give up her seat because she was tired but according to Rosa Parks, “I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a

In Thoreau 's essay Civil Disobedience he makes the point that bystanders are just as bad as criminals and that people should stand against unjust crimes even if it means going against the law. And to some extent I do agree because in the past people have broken unjust laws and have created change. A well-known example would be when Rosa Parks sat on the bus in the "White-only" seating area, which lead to important events that helped push the Civil Rights movement forward. But I think that it depends on which laws they choose to break and how far they choose to go with it.

Disobedience is a trait needed to remove unfair rules and laws. Socially, disobedience against the government has had significant backlash. However, disobedience against

To this day there are people fighting for the rights of people of colour in groups such as Black Lives Matter and for the rights people in the LGBT+ community. Some people who are advocates for these things can and do use civil disobedience as a way to raise awareness and protest. Acts of civil disobedience can attract much more attention than a regular protest, which can help shed light on these important issues. Misogyny, racism, xenophobia and homophobia are all still very real issues in today's society, and civil disobedience (if used properly) can be as powerful of a weapon now as it was fifty years ago to fight for the equality of all

Disobedience, in today’s culture, is inherently generalized to be something negative. However, there are times when disobedience is not just wrong, but desperately needed. Disobedience is the main cause of both social and political change. Thus Oscar Wilde’s claim that disobedience is a valuable human and that it prompts social progress - is most certainly correct and examples of it can be seen in both the American Revolution and the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In these two examples we see that there is a right time to disobey as well as a right reason.

The term disobedience can be interpreted differently depending on how someone looks at it. Martin Luther King Jr. for instance once said: “one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws”. A moral responsibility, to not only respect someone's action but to respect it even if it's disobeying the law that they believe are unjust. Which this portrays that everyone has a voice and it should be heard no matter what. Society should not be the judge because of our voices.

From the time we are children and throughout the duration of our lives, we are told to abide by certain sets of rules. In most situations this is a perfectly acceptable expectation; speed limits, remaining quiet in libraries, and waiting until the age of twenty-one to drink are all reasonable things to ask of people. After all, these rules and laws are put in place to ensure a peaceful and safe society. However, when these rules begin to infringe upon the rights of certain groups, some citizens turn to civil disobedience as a form of protest. While some may argue that civil disobedience is nothing more than a violation of the law, it has also proven to have a positive impact on society, in more ways than one. Used by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin

Disobedience has been a man’s virtue ever since laws have been constructed. As a progression that has developed in our society , it is safely to indicate that disobedience is morally acceptable by the common people. In order for change, people have demonstrated  disobedience successfully to promote social progress, change is impossible without disobedience.Our society has failed to realize that there is no such thing a “perfect society”. There are people in our society who agree with change and would sacrifice themselves for it through violence and multiple times of rejection. Many individuals known as the majority simply do not like change. This majority is the group that construct these laws that we must follow.  Thoreau states ,” A majority is permitted , and for a long period continue, to rule, is not because they are mostly likely right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority,  but because they are physically the strongest.” Although we do perceive the system as the strongest, citizens still use disobedience to challenge the system’s authority. Disobedience is a man’s virtue when our natural rights are being violated by the majority . In order for change to occur the common people must use disobedience to fight the injustice in their society to promote social progress.

The right to express oneself through acts of Civil Disobedience is one of the unique freedoms that we are afforded as American citizens. Our founding fathers sought for freedom from tyranny, thus laying the foundation for the people's ability to safely protest against perceived or real injustices without fear of harm. Increasingly around the world we see examples of citizens willing to die for this right. Here at home the right to peaceful protest has come under question of late, with many public figures protesting police brutality against African-American citizens. Many feel these protests are disrespectful to the values we hold most dear. Upon further introspection, one may realize that these protests are possible only because of those very same values. Free Speech and the capacity to assemble are some of the most hard-fought freedoms that our founders worked so hard to achieve, In retrospect, it is evident that those freedoms were only provided to white males, as many of the founding fathers were owners of African slaves. Part of the continued conflict we are experiencing today goes back to the long and continued struggle of African-American citizens to access these same freedoms that others have long taken for granted. If it were not for the brave acts of civil disobedience by Rosa Parks, Dr. King, and other brave souls we may not have the modest level of progress we see today. Maybe this new generation of protesters may encourage change that will impact generations to

The political concepts of justice and how a society should be governed have dominated literature through out human history. The concept of peacefully resisting laws set by a governing force can be first be depicted in the world of the Ancient Greeks in the works of Sophocles and actions of Socrates. This popular idea has developed over the centuries and is commonly known today as civil disobedience. Due to the works of Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. civil disobedience is a well-known political action to Americans; first in the application against slavery and second in the application against segregation. Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience” and King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” are the leading arguments in defining