Poetic Justice: King Vs. Anthony
Poetic Justice:
A Look at King and Anthony
Every society determines what laws are necessary to preserve the natural, moral, and ethical rights of its constituents. Laws are social structures put in place to maintain order and balance. Often, however, there has been a discrepancy between the justice served and the justice deserved as the law has been manipulated by a powerful group to exploit a weaker group. For example, during the mid 19th Century there was a steady increase in efforts for women’s rights, most notably the Convention at Seneca Falls in 1848. Later in 1868, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution cemented the status of all people born or naturalized in the U.S. as citizens and promised the protection of the all associated rights. …show more content…
Although Dr. King and Susan B. Anthony both practice Civil Disobedience to fight structural injustice, they do so differently with Dr. King using emotional appeal and Anthony …show more content…
King, however, didn’t advocate citizens transcending the law, but rather, Dr. King believed that in order to remedy injustice in society, people must openly break the unjust law and accept punishment in showing “highest respect for the law”(King p.23). In a rather interesting yet extreme example, King relates civil disobedience to the Holocaust: “It was ‘illegal’ to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. But I am sure that, if I had lived in Germany during that time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers even though it was illegal. If I lived in a communist country today where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I believe I would openly advocate disobeying these anti-religious laws”(King p.23). King cites such an example to bring out the visceral reaction of the audience, given the Holocaust’s widespread negative publicity and condemnation. Thus, King manipulates the reader’s emotions to bring them on board with the idea of civil disobedience. No one would dare question the rectitude of aiding a helpless Jew. King attempts direct the same negative connotation of the Holocaust to segregation in the U.S. to fight injustice in
A Look at King and Anthony
Every society determines what laws are necessary to preserve the natural, moral, and ethical rights of its constituents. Laws are social structures put in place to maintain order and balance. Often, however, there has been a discrepancy between the justice served and the justice deserved as the law has been manipulated by a powerful group to exploit a weaker group. For example, during the mid 19th Century there was a steady increase in efforts for women’s rights, most notably the Convention at Seneca Falls in 1848. Later in 1868, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution cemented the status of all people born or naturalized in the U.S. as citizens and promised the protection of the all associated rights. …show more content…
Although Dr. King and Susan B. Anthony both practice Civil Disobedience to fight structural injustice, they do so differently with Dr. King using emotional appeal and Anthony …show more content…
King, however, didn’t advocate citizens transcending the law, but rather, Dr. King believed that in order to remedy injustice in society, people must openly break the unjust law and accept punishment in showing “highest respect for the law”(King p.23). In a rather interesting yet extreme example, King relates civil disobedience to the Holocaust: “It was ‘illegal’ to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. But I am sure that, if I had lived in Germany during that time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers even though it was illegal. If I lived in a communist country today where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I believe I would openly advocate disobeying these anti-religious laws”(King p.23). King cites such an example to bring out the visceral reaction of the audience, given the Holocaust’s widespread negative publicity and condemnation. Thus, King manipulates the reader’s emotions to bring them on board with the idea of civil disobedience. No one would dare question the rectitude of aiding a helpless Jew. King attempts direct the same negative connotation of the Holocaust to segregation in the U.S. to fight injustice in