Civil disobedience is a complicated topic in the United States, especially when dealing with contemporary events such as the Women’s March, the March for Life, and the upcoming March for Science. Our own country’s origin in violent opposition to law muddles this discussion even further. Ultimately, however, nonviolent protest benefits society in the long term, even as it divides us in the short term. The most obvious example of this is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, whose nonviolent protests spearheaded the Civil Rights movement of his day. Fortunately for our generation, his beliefs and ideas have persisted long past his untimely death. Men and women like John Lewis are able to share their stories with us even today, and Dr. King’s work has stood
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My first encounter with his disobedience was in a Mad Magazine “Best of the 60’s” collection, poking fun at his actions. While it’s easy to think of him today as a man who “fought for his country the way it NEEDED him to by refusing to do what his country WANTED him to,” that was very much not the case at the time. Ali was derided then as much as he is revered now. Ali was stripped of his title and sentenced to prison, and even after his release was despised by the American people. Once again, America had rejected the ideals of nonviolent resistance, later vindicating it once the Vietnam War had become branded into the national consciousness as a …show more content…
He fled the country soon after, finding asylum in Russia. His decision sparked a national controversy about the rights of citizens in the face of terrorism, government overreach, and international sovereignty, and at the center of it all was Snowden. In an interview with the Guardian, he admitted that there was going to be no happy ending for him, which is a noble sentiment. Yet the fact remains that a large amount of the population hates him, and that’s what makes the present so valuable: it presents a rare snapshot wherein public opinion has not gelled one way or the
My first encounter with his disobedience was in a Mad Magazine “Best of the 60’s” collection, poking fun at his actions. While it’s easy to think of him today as a man who “fought for his country the way it NEEDED him to by refusing to do what his country WANTED him to,” that was very much not the case at the time. Ali was derided then as much as he is revered now. Ali was stripped of his title and sentenced to prison, and even after his release was despised by the American people. Once again, America had rejected the ideals of nonviolent resistance, later vindicating it once the Vietnam War had become branded into the national consciousness as a …show more content…
He fled the country soon after, finding asylum in Russia. His decision sparked a national controversy about the rights of citizens in the face of terrorism, government overreach, and international sovereignty, and at the center of it all was Snowden. In an interview with the Guardian, he admitted that there was going to be no happy ending for him, which is a noble sentiment. Yet the fact remains that a large amount of the population hates him, and that’s what makes the present so valuable: it presents a rare snapshot wherein public opinion has not gelled one way or the