Civil Disobedience And Regression Analysis

In my opinion, it is never appropriate for an interest group or social movement to engage in violent protest tactics, but, through civil disobedience, is appropriate to engage in illegal behavior to reverse a harmful policy or change public opinion about the status quo. Engaging in violent protest tactics overshadows the message that interest groups or protestors want to project. The Media will focus more on the actual violent actions of these groups, rather than the message they are attempting to portray. Acting out in a violent way is not always going to give these groups positive attention and recognition; rather, it is going to make these groups look unorganized and inefficient. In the simulation, for example, when Greenpeace, an experienced group when it comes to protest, performs the hotel sit-in, the Media regarded the protestors as “noble” for not causing a violent commotion, and made the G8 Representatives appear as “whiny bureaucrats” when they appeared annoyed at the inconvenience. If the sit-in had been unorganized and the leaders of the sit-in had not informed the police of their actions, and people were later hurt, then Greenpeace would have been made out to be an organization that is so selfish that it does not care if people get hurt by their unorganized tactics. Although violent protests will attract Media attention, the message the protestors want to project will ultimately be ignored.
As this simulation has shown, there are various other ways to gain media and attention and support without …show more content…
There would not have been as many gains in civil rights as there were because behaving violently would make the public believe that African Americans deserve even fewer rights because they act in illegal and violent