Civil Disobedience In A Free Society

It is through the successful examples of the Indian independence revolution and the civil rights movement that people automatically assume that it is alway righteous to practice civil disobedience. However, the question lies on whether practicing civil disobedience is effective and positive to today's society. Especially, considering that in a free society everyone has the right “to act, speak and think as you choose, without oppressive restrictions imposed on you by others” as long as they do not infringe on other’s freedom and rights in the process (Butler 20), Since there is an underlying assumption that everyone is protected equally under the law, that the system gives equal opportunities for everyone to find justice in the judicial system and be heard in the legislative system, is there a need to practice civil disobedience? If there isn’t a point, then in a free society, peaceful resistance to laws only negativity impact a free society by undermining the established system that grant everyone freedom. Although peaceful resistance to laws sound harmless and is well meaning, they often cause more harm than good by …show more content…
When people peacefully resist the law, they generally do not accomplish anything but law breaking, which only costs the state and taxpayer dollar to monitor and arrest people for breaking the law. Since times have change in the past, other choices such as social media or legal protesting might be more effective than breaking laws. Going to court and making a legal case would make real change since America is a law abiding country. Furthermore, law are made to protect the freedom of others. So when someone breaks a law, it usually infringes on the right of a person, which in turn makes a free society a little less free. And if everyone were to break every law they thought were unfair, society would not be functioning at