Civil Disobedience: Necessary Or Peaceful?

William Liu Professor Kim English 220 Research question: Red means possible removal of works in future renditions How does the social responsibility

Are we morally obliged to obey even unjust laws? This moral question addresses what we commonly know as civil disobedience. In order to properly discuss civil disobedience and whether or not it is moral to disobey laws, we must first characterize civil disobedience. In Peter Singer's book, Practical Ethics he begins to characterize civil disobedience as arising from "ethical disagreement" and raising the question of whether "to uphold the law, even if the law protects and sanctions things we hold utterly wrong?" (Singer 292).

Americans assert that three branches of government exist at the national level; however, I contend the most powerful branch of government, the unrecognized fourth branch, overrides the combined influence of congress, the courts, and the president. Civil disobedience, the fourth branch of government, is an integral part of the law

Throughout history protesters have said that civil disobience is the peaceful resistance of conscience. Civil disobedience was once the route to the democratic ways of our founding fathers of the United States of America. Van Dusen views civil disobedience as a physical attack to our democracy. I believe civil disobience is a negative force in our democracy that may lead to the destruction of our government because laws are disobeyed, causing new laws to come to order that follow the protester’s actions. I too have completed acts of civil disobedience, and I think my actions contribute to the negative force in a democracy. Civil disobedience began as a revolution for many rebels but eventually allowed ordinary citizens to damage the government

"Anyone in a free society where the laws are unjust has an obligation to break the law." -Henry David Thoreau

Civil Disobedience is a right that is afforded to all people. When Civil Disobedience is used as a method of getting your point across to the government and law officials it is ok although when things turn violent and get out of control then that is when it is bad. Carl Cohen feels that Civil Disobedience is a method that condones going against authority and promotes violence while Henry Thoreau believe that Civil Disobedience is a great way to draw attention to the wrongs that need to be made right. I believe that everyone should have the right to express themselves without fear of negative response. Recently here in Charlotte NC with the death of Lamont Scott, who was believed to be an unarmed black man killed by a cop, there was Civil

In society, we currently go through a lot of controversies that one could object to. One of the controversies that we face in society is how people with a certain viewpoint feel about non-violent protests (i.e. Civil Disobedience). Civil disobedience, a concept adopted from 1Thoreau Essay: Resistance from Civil Government published in 1849, defines this ‘’as the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws of the state and/or demands, orders, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power.’’ During this time, he wrote this essay because he believed that individuals should not let government officials take over their consciences. He also showed his hatred for slavery and the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) which motivated him to write this paper.

In the United States Constitution we the people were given a right to freedom of speech. People have taken to this right given to us by the Founding Fathers. But, one problem rises to the top with a right that has so much freedom, civil disobedience. It’s a topic that we are seeing more of in our society today. Civil disobedience is a threat against our free society due to people not taking our laws serious enough.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere… there are two types of laws: just and unjust…. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”

I believe that Civil Disobedience as demonstrated by Rosa Parks, although unlawful, was constructive as it forged a new way of thinking. "You must never be fearful about what you are doing when what you are doing is right." Those words spoken by her exemplify the true meaning of Civil Disobedience or Peaceful Resistance. Martin Luther King Jr. best outlined the principle of Civil Disobedience when he said," True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of justice."

Mahatma Gandhi says, “Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state becomes lawless and corrupt.” He was a Indian nationalist leader that against British-rule in Indian and also led India to independence; in addition, he inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. There is a question that everyone has been asking from wartime to recently is, when is civil disobedience justified? We all know that there are a lot of civil disobedience movements around the world; everyone is willing to against his or her government; they fight for freedom and equal rights. In David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell, he expresses his opinion about “The Limits of Power” through section three in this book. He gives us many examples to

To be fully engaged in the democratic process means more than voting in elections for me. It is fulfilling a civic duty to improve the American definition of democracy in any way that I can. This may, at times, include civil disobedience and peaceful resistance. Not just through voicing my own political opinion, but also in ensuring that those who are absolutely diametrically opposed to me can safely voice their opinion as well. This means upholding objectivity in government administration while also advocating for what I believe in. To be fully engaged is to right wrongs wherever they may exist in the current legal system. This can be achieved by unorthodox methods.

When the sun goes down, I wake up, shrouded from the eyes of everyday and hidden from the gaze of blind hate.

Civil disobedience is not follow the rules of government or laws of the city and i agree with not follow the rules that want us to do, why because i think some laws the government make is not fair and mostly taxes are a big problem in the world at this time. Most people have to do a lot because they don’t have money or disagree with the government, these mostly start with strikes on like more money for most jobs, taxes, what we think could be better at a time like this. There was just some protesting going on about Donald Trump being the new president, protests can also be civil disobedience they mean the same thing. But a lot of people don’t say Civil disobedience, they mostly say we are going to protests and which is the common thing to

"Never in the history of man­kind have so many lived so freely, so rightfully, so humanely. This open democratic republic is man’s highest achievement—not only for what it has already accom­plished, but more importantly be­cause it affords the greatest op­portunity for orderly change and the realization of man’s self-re­newing aspirations." (Civil Disobedience: A Threat to Our Society- Morris Leibman). I can honestly say that I believe full-heartedly in the above statement. Residing in the best country in the world means that we as citizens have the most opportune moments at our hands to let our voices be heard, and to speak our minds and hearts. Peaceful protesting, peaceful resistance to laws that we don't agree with is necessary. We were not meant