How Did Thoreau's Civil Disobedience Impact Society

In this tumultuous political climate, it has been harshly proven that peaceful resistance to laws leads to a more educated, more aware, and more engaged free society. This pattern has emerged throughout history and has been demonstrated by historical figures such as Thoreau and MLK, but also in groundbreaking current events such as the Women’s March on Inauguration Day of 2017. While some may disagree that peaceful protest does little to push civil liberties forward, the overarching impact of them has greatly affected the education and engagement of society in legislation. The effects of Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience sparked revolutions. His works influenced American authors and American society for millennia to come. “Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.” Thoreau defends the free society by predicting that men would succeed in social
This was an attack against right-wing Milo Yiannopoulos. While Berkeley administration wanted to expose the predominantly liberal students to an opinion that opposed their own views, the students prevented Yiannopoulos’s freedom of speech with their violence. The message sent was not that the students were “fighting Fascism” but that the students were too immature to face an opposing opinion and handle it with verbal discourse. Violent protests impact society in a negative way by associating a cause with negative connotations. “So must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.” says MLK. The students may have had positive intentions of fighting white supremacy and Neo-Nazism, but left-wing liberals are now branded with violence because of a small group of students’ irrational actions. Change must come with