Civil Disobedience

When you were a kid, it was natural for you to want to disobey your parents. In fact, it was something you looked forward to, but as you grew older, you began to see that acting out at school and at work was actually not that great of an idea. All it does is get you into trouble. But when it comes to standing up for ideas and for other people, civil disobedience might be a better idea than doing nothing at all. Not sure what civil disobedience is? That’s okay. You don’t have to understand it completely in order to do it.

Standing in the Way

What civil disobedience is the action of trying to do something to stop someone else from doing something, but without the violence you might want to use. This means that you will be standing in the way of progress, but you will not be stopping it completely. Someone could move you out of the way and you would not resist. But in taking this sort of action, you will bring more attention to the problem that you are standing up for. You will also find that others stand with you in solidarity instead of just standing aside and being afraid to take action as well.

Examples of Civil Disobedience

In the case of many protests, many civil disobedience protesters might sit in front of a building of a bad corporation, barring people from getting in. Or a person might stand in the middle of the street and sing a song that relates to the issue. These demonstrations are designed to maximize the use of freedom of speech, but they can also become a little violent since others might construe those actions as being disruptive in a bad way. You might also want to look into chaining yourself to a tree or to some object in order to prevent it from being cut down. You’re not hurting the tree and you’re not breaking any laws, but you are standing up for your ideals.

Do You Have to Get Arrested?

Why civil disobedience confuses many people is that they see many of the protesters getting arrested in the process for their actions. Those who are in the way of people living their ordinary lives might find themselves in handcuffs by the end of the protest. They might also find that they are getting in the newspaper and they are getting more attention at the same time. For standing up for your ideas, you might be seen as the nutty one in the family and police don’t like nutty seeming people.

The next time you have something you want to argue, you might want to try civil disobedience. You’re not resorting to violence and you’re not resorting to terror to get your ideas heard, but you will be heard regardless. And that’s what you want in the first place. You want to be noticed and you want to speak up in any way you can.