The Pros of Civil Disobedience

Civil Disobedience is effective because it creates a lose-lose situation for whatever Power the Disobedience is directed towards. If the Disobedience is ignored, then the Power is admitting defeat and allowing for further disobedience.

An act of civil disobedience places the individual at a higher risk of repercussion. Most acts which are classified under this subject violate laws at some level. Individuals could find themselves arrested because of their actions, shamed through print and social media, or confronted with force by law enforcement.

• It is a way to protest without breaking the law. In many nations, civil disobedience can be performed without breaking additional laws.
• It draws attention to the issue.
• It can create real change.
• It can result in jail time.
• It doesn’t always create change.
• It takes time.

Civil disobedience is no nuisance to the public. Rather, it is an important, even necessary strategy for overcoming roadblocks to progress. It is an essential freedom, and a crucial resource for citizens of an organized society. A variety of arguments have been set forth by scholars in support of civil disobedience.

Civil Disobedience is a morally permissible violation of the law with the goal changing laws or associated practices of government.

Greenwalt modifies his position that civil disobedience is justified if it probably makes a contribution to the social good large enough to outweigh the moral duty to obey the law. He also argues that “the law should be obeyed because individual judgement is unreliable” (Greenwalt, 1970, p. 345).

Civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines , as a peaceful form of political protest. Civil disobedience is simply justified for many reasons such as moral responsibility, legal attempts to change these unjust laws have failed, and it can be used to publicize an issue.

By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called “civil”. Hence, civil disobedience is sometimes equated with peaceful protests or nonviolent resistance.

Modern Acts of Civil Disobedience. Many individuals and groups use acts of civil disobedience to challenge modern human rights concerns, such as student loan debt, racially motivated killings, and climate change. Successful acts serve as inspiration as do failed civil disobedience examples.

Mohandas Gandhi

Civil disobedients often break laws that are unrelated to the law or policy they are protesting. For example, peace activists who disrupt operations at defense laboratories are not protesting laws against trespassing, but are using civil disobedience to dramatize their opposition to nuclear weapons.

Martin Luther King Jr., James Bevel, Rosa Parks, and other activists in the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, used civil disobedience techniques. Among the most notable civil disobedience events in the U.S. occurred when Parks refused to move on the bus when a white man tried to take her seat.

It can be morally right to break an immoral law, although of course one must accept the consequences of breaking the law. A person must break the law not because it is convenient to do so, but because they sincerely believe the law is unjust. Finally, they must be willing to take the consequences of breaking the law.

For example, if a person is severely injured and the closest hospital is across the border in another country, then illegally crossing the border should not be the main concern, saving the person’s life should and in such cases law breaking is most definitely justifiable.

An unjust law is a code that is out of Harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law.” “Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.

The causes of crime are complex. Poverty, parental neglect, low self-esteem, alcohol and drug abuse can be connected to why people break the law. Some are at greater risk of becoming offenders because of the circumstances into which they are born.

Three

Generally speaking, people need to know why a rule is important. Rules that are poorly communicated frequently lack this critical component. If one doesn’t understand the consequences from which a rule is intended to shield them, one is highly likely to ignore the rule when it is convenient to do so.

Felonies and misdemeanors are two classifications of crimes used in most states, with petty offenses (infractions) being the third.

Women tend to commit more theft (38% of the crimes committed by women and 23% of the crimes committed by men) and fraud (13% for women and 6% for men), while men commit more robberies (8% for men and 4% for women) and violence against persons (18% for men and 10% for women).

If no one ever disobeyed what was considered acceptable, a nation or group would never reconsider their way of life to consider if they are wrong and correct their mistakes. For this reason, I agree that disobedience is a valuable human trait and it promotes social progress.

Civil disobedience in a democracy is not morally justified because it poses an unacceptable threat to the rule of law. In a democracy, minority groups have basic rights and alternatives to civil disobedience. as freedoms of speech, press, association, and religion.

Civil disobedience is an important part of a democratic country because it is one of the driving factors that allow individuals to exercise their rights to free speech and speak up against an unfair and unjust government and its laws.

Civil disobedience is often an effective means of changing laws and protecting liberties. It also embodies an important moral concept that there are times when law and justice do not coincide and that to obey the law at such times can be an abdication of ethical responsibility.

: refusal or failure to obey rules, laws, etc. : a lack of obedience. See the full definition for disobedience in the English Language Learners Dictionary. disobedience. noun.

nonviolence

Civil resistance and civil disobedience are both forms of popular protest meant to demonstrate the people’s opposition to a government’s policies, actions, or the government itself. Civil disobedience, on the other hand, is an act of intentionally breaking a law or refusing to cooperate with the government.

Civil disobedience can be defined as refusing to obey a law, a regulation or a power judged unjust in a peaceful manner. Civil disobedience is, therefore, a form of resistance without violence.

Thoreau emphasized self-reliance, individuality, and anti-materialism and sharply questioned the basic assumptions of the way men lived. Transcendentalism proved to be the intellectual force that charged Thoreau’s imagination to write about the possibilities of an ideal existence for man.

Thoreau argues that a better government is one in which “majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience” (part 1, par. He says that the American government can make men in the military “a mere shadow and reminiscence of humanity” (part 1, par.

The general thinking is that a law is unjust if it doesn’t square with natural law. This is certainly the view that was put forth in Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. So, a law that was passed that treated people differently wouldn’t square with the natural law that all humans are equal.

In short, if anybody ever has a right to break the law, this cannot be a legal right under the law. It has to be a moral right against the law. And this moral right is not an unlimited right to disobey any law which one regards as unjust.

Quotation: “If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so.”

Lex iniusta non est lex (English: An unjust law is no law at all), is a standard legal maxim. Originating with St. Augustine, the motto was used by St. Thomas Aquinas and quoted by Martin Luther King Jr during the Civil Rights Movement to describe racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans.

Thomas Aquinas : An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.

Thomas Aquinas to make the distinction between just and unjust laws. “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law,” King responded. “One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws.

Civil disobedience

An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.”

Example some think gun laws are unjust because they are too lenient and others think they are too harsh. Each law affects a person in its own way. Some would say banning female sex toys is ridiculous and unfair buy you can get a gun the same day and in about an hour.

• Money Bail.
• Private Bail Companies.
• Suspended Drivers Licenses.
• Excessive Mandatory Minimum Sentences.
• Wealth-Based Banishment That Outlaws Low-Income Housing.
• Private Probation Abuses.
• Parking Tickets to Debtors’ Prison.
• Sex Offense Registration Laws.

The laws underlying slavery or the Holocaust are obvious examples of extremely unjust laws.

The modern American legal system is based on principles of both law and equity. What makes the legal system unfair in the United States is that persons of high socioeconomic status are able to purchase their way out of punishments and consequences. Due process is also central to the notion of fairness in the law.

A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law.