Displays of disobedience are the building blocks of change in both ancient and modern history. Dating all the way back to the beginning of time, an individual, or group of individuals, defying what is deemed acceptable for the time has led to many uprisings, reforms, and revolutions. From Galileo insisting that we lived in a heliocentric universe in the 1600s, to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, many of today’s most important changes and discoveries in all aspects of life would not have occurred if it wasn’t for displays of disobedience against powerful figures. Oscar WIlde once wrote that, “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through
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When Sister Helen Prejean wrote the book Dead Man Walking, she was seeking to unmask the illogical ideas behind the death penalty. Her intent was to save prisoners from the horrors of the death penalty, while exposing the faulty reasoning behind it. Prejean’s novel is a wonderful example of disobedience from social norms with positive intentions. However, the riots in 1968 following Martin Luther King Jr’s murder give a tragic example of how progress slows when intent becomes darker. These people were very angry about their leaders wrongful death, so they turned to destruction instead of more peaceful methods of change. With this shift, their intentions became more sinister, even if their main goal hadn’t shifted. Their focus on progress became a focus on anger, which led to riots instead of marches and sit ins. Consequently, this shift turned many people off to the Civil Rights movement, resulting in the movement losing the support and momentum it had gained over the last several years. Positive intentions behind disobedience lead to positive change, while negative intentions serve as roadblocks to change. To go along with intent, effect is also a vital factor in worthwhile disobedience. The effects of the 1968 riots were damage to personal property, injury, and death in many major cities all across the US. Because this act of disobedience produced adverse effects, the public withdrew support from the movement for
When Sister Helen Prejean wrote the book Dead Man Walking, she was seeking to unmask the illogical ideas behind the death penalty. Her intent was to save prisoners from the horrors of the death penalty, while exposing the faulty reasoning behind it. Prejean’s novel is a wonderful example of disobedience from social norms with positive intentions. However, the riots in 1968 following Martin Luther King Jr’s murder give a tragic example of how progress slows when intent becomes darker. These people were very angry about their leaders wrongful death, so they turned to destruction instead of more peaceful methods of change. With this shift, their intentions became more sinister, even if their main goal hadn’t shifted. Their focus on progress became a focus on anger, which led to riots instead of marches and sit ins. Consequently, this shift turned many people off to the Civil Rights movement, resulting in the movement losing the support and momentum it had gained over the last several years. Positive intentions behind disobedience lead to positive change, while negative intentions serve as roadblocks to change. To go along with intent, effect is also a vital factor in worthwhile disobedience. The effects of the 1968 riots were damage to personal property, injury, and death in many major cities all across the US. Because this act of disobedience produced adverse effects, the public withdrew support from the movement for