Progress or Chaos?
The term "Breaking the Law" is always posed as being negative. You have been told as a child to never do it. But what if sometimes it is good. If people never broke the law discrimination would still be the same. Society would not have advanced. We would be stuck in the same place. However there is always the looming question of when to not listen to the law. I mean there is a reason that these laws are instated. To which extent people do not listen to these laws can cause either progress in society or on the flip side chaos.
In the piece "Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau he says the way he fights against laws in which he does not morally believe in is by doing small gestures. However the gesture can't just be done. It has to be seen and heard by a lot of people to provoke eventual change within the Government. A good example of this which can be seen is Rosa Parks in not giving up her seat on the bus. By doing this seemingly small gesture of just sitting down when she was told not to, it provoked major social change in the civil rights movement by bringing to light how unjust the laws are and causing change.
However while this is the case, there are times where going against the laws for your morals has ended poorly. A good example of this was the Capital Riot in 2021 where a group of people protested against the 2020 election outcome. Unlike the civil rights movement though this was the exact opposite of civil. Multiple people were hurt and caused chaos all over Washington.
While in both cases the wants of the disobedience were the same: social change. One built up society with long and hard peaceful protests, like Rosa Parks, the other caused chaos trying to make change. Thank you for reading and see you next time.
Avi I really liked this post, especially how you made the distinction between civil disobedience used for positive social change, bringing light to important issues and civil disobedience that ends up resulting in mass chaos.
ReplyDeleteI like how you clearly explained how a gesture fighting for some civil advancement is only rendered powerful by its reach across a society. But also, a protests ethos is effected by the response of the society as well, sometimes being viewed doesn't do a cause any good, when between being viewed negatively its sometimes better to not be viewed at all.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you provided two opposing examples to emphasize the uncertainty in these types of protests. Additionally, you did a great job synthesizing these events into the civil disobedience piece we read in class.
ReplyDeleteI think the word civil is what makes civil disobedience so effective- people can fight for what they want, but when they do it in a way that causes more good than bad, it's even better. I think you did a great job explaining that, and I also liked the example choices- both things that people believed in, but their execution set them apart. Great read!
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