Ahmed Syed Professor Ravy Eng 112-536 04/27/2010 Civil Disobedience in an Unjust America According to the infamous essay by Henry David Thoreau‚ civil disobedience is the conscious and intentional disobeying of a law to advance a moral principle or change government policy. Throughout the essay‚ Thoreau urges the need for individuals to put their personal and social consciousness before their allegiance to their government and its range of policies. Thoreau believed that if a government is unjust
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The decision that civil disobedience is a necessary action is not one often made impetuously‚ as said by Mahatma Gandhi‚ “ it implies discipline‚ thought‚ care‚ attention and sacrifice”. For one to imply that civil disobedience is no more than an act of unlawful defiance against one’s government is a half-baked analysis and requires a more utilitarian way of thinking; simply put‚ peaceful resistance to law— in most cases‚ positively affects a free society. Civil disobedience
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To What Extent is Civil Disobedience Justified in a Democracy? Contents Abstract 3 Introduction 4 What is Civil Disobedience? 5 Democracy 8 Conclusion 11 Bibliography 12 Abstract My interest in the topic of civil disobedience was sparked by a specific news article in which activists climbed Mount Rushmore to hang a poster demanding that the president of the United States‚ Barrack Obama‚ address issues of global warming. The activists
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Civil disobedience is one of the most important rights given to every citizen. Through civil disobedience citizens are able to aperture their feelings against the government and have right to legislate changes that they feel are necessary for the contentment of the entire society. What responsibilities does a virtuous citizen have to follow the law? Socrates in Plato’s “The Crito” and Martin Luther King‚ Jr. in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” answer this question from a contradictory perception
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Civil disobedience is a form of protest in which protestors deliberately violate a law. Classically‚ they violate the law they are protesting‚ such as segregation or draft laws‚ but sometimes they violate other laws which they find unobjectionable‚ such as trespass or traffic laws. Most activists who perform civil disobedience are scrupulously non-violent‚ and willingly accept legal penalties. The purpose of civil disobedience can be to publicize an unjust law or a just cause; to appeal to the conscience
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Woman’s suffrage was made possible with the use of civil disobedience. Segregation laws were abolished with the use of civil disobedience. Same- sex marriage was accomplished with the use of civil disobedience. All these examples make up one answer; Civil disobedience does positively impact a free society. How will the government understand the people’s needs if they are not shown what laws are unnecessary and unfair? Rosa Parks is a well-known example. She violated the Jim Crow law that "enforced
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The ‘Right’ of Civil Disobedience I. Introduction Civil disobedience refers to a politically motivated breach of law designed either to contribute directly to a change of a law or of a public policy‚ or to express one’s protest against‚ and dissociation from‚ a law or public policy. Examples include the American Civil Rights Movement‚ and the fight against South African apartheid. There has been much academic discussion regarding the ‘right’ of civil disobedience and its justifications
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Rawls argues that violence‚ when practicing civil disobedience‚ cannot be justified; however‚ violence is a part of civil disobedience; its qualities as both a practice and is justification hold true the goal of civil disobedience- a call for change in the laws or practices. Civil disobedience is an act in violation of a law‚ which is undertaken for moral reasons. Rawls’ view of civil disobedience is that it cannot be violent because of its nature. This practice does in fact have the abilities to
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Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience had the original idea of and was put affect. He was revolutionary as he endorsed a form of protest that did not need violence or fear. Thoreau’s initial actions involving the protest governmental issues like slavery. It then landed him in jail as he refused to pay taxes. More than one hundred years later‚ the same issue of equal rights was dividing the U. S. apart. African Americans‚ like Martin Luther King Jr.‚ followed in Thoreau’s footsteps by partaking
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Katelyn Mehner Period 3A 9-27-15 Civil Disobedience Truly Disobedience “Civil disobedience is a form of protest in which protesters deliberately violate a law” (suber). It is a way for society to reform itself to reflect its current values while maintaining its fundamental ideals. Some may argue civil disobedience is a “slippery slope” leading to anarchy or it cannot be justified in a democracy. Civil disobedience‚ while not optimum‚ is a way to accomplish change with the intent of reform
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