Uncivil Disobedience, Article Review Example

Uncivil disobedience has become a common problem among protestors in the United States.  Everyday, citizens are faced with problems caused by government laws and regulations that restrict freedoms, in at least some sense.  Whenever this happens, people attempt to use the lessons of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. to solve problems.  Unfortunately, James Lopach and Jean Luckowski, the authors of “Uncivil disobedience: violating the rules for breaking the law”, argues that instead of practicing civil disobedience which were commonplace for Gandhi and King, people have twisted their views into committing uncivil disobedience focused around destruction of public property and jail sentences.  The author argues that the lessons of peaceful demonstrators have not been taught properly in the educational systems, and when possible, educators are not doing their part to actively teach civil disobedience to the young minds of America.

The author argues that teachers are not well-equipped with training or even a strong definition of civil disobedience, and therefore cannot teach students the meaning or practice of these acts effectively.  In fact, many textbooks in high school senior-level courses do not even mention the term civil disobedience, or specifically avoid the concept of consequences for lawbreaking behaviors.  Students are taught nothing of civil disobedience, except that it is breaking laws that they disagree with to make a point.  The author mentions that students need to be aware of the consequences for breaking the laws, especially when doing so in such a violent manner.  The argument that Lopach and Luckowski mention about educators having a strong role in teaching civil disobedience is very compelling.  Too often, students read historical excerpts about famous people that have bucked the system and attempted to protest and some portions of society honor these individuals without ever speaking about the consequences.  Young children only see the action, not the consequences; therefore, they believe that everything will be fine in the end if they just follow their heart. Unfortunately for them, civil disobedience and uncivil disobedience are often very much against the law and are punishable by jail time and possibly even much worse, depending upon the severity of the action.

As previously mentioned, Lopach and Luckowski examine Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. as two of the most profound figures in describing the origins and peaceful benefits of civil disobedience.  Gandhi led a revolution against the British occupation in India, while Martin Luther King, Jr. was a prominent figurehead in the fight for civil rights and equality within the United States.  Children grow up learning that the monumental changes these two men enacted would not have been possible without their desire and willingness to enact change.  This simple lesson is often much distorted and does not provide the specific descriptions of what civil disobedience actually is, how to perform is peacefully, and what Gandhi and King truly believed in when they performed these revolutionary actions.  Instead, children grow up and view a law or government activity that they do not agree with and decide to become revolutionary spokespeople against the social injustices of the world, which “panders to students’ desires to be outrageous and to make adults uncomfortable” (Lopach).  We see such actions promoted on television and movies all the time.  Unfortunately, this is very similar to a boxer entering the ring without knowing the rule book; he is very overzealous and eventually gets knocked out because he has broken a rule or did something he should not have done.  Knowledge is power, and in order for people to use this power to support the changes they desire, it is important to actually understand the lessons that Gandhi and King were trying to instill.

One of the most important lessons that Gandhi tried to express regarding his civil disobedience was a fourth characteristic that Lopach and Luckowski describe in his article.  This characteristic is a complete submission to a higher power or religious figure.  Gandhi describes this as religious purity, and Lopach and Luckowski argue that it is essential in keeping a strong distinction between uncivil disobedience and civil disobedience. In this scenario, the disobedience is theoretically warranted because the individual or group has submitted themselves to a higher power and performs the disobedient actions in order to honor the higher power and improve the quality of life around them.  More often than not, young people are not taught this fourth characteristic and begin subjecting disobedient actions and unlawful behaviors against all kinds of various topics just because they consider them to be a form of social injustice.  There is a very strong difference between doing God’s work to free a people from oppression than to set trucks on fire and risk the lives of firemen and police officers to save a few trees.  Again, the large problem comes in that young impressionable minds do not have any reliable resources to draw upon in order to teach those right and wrong ways of performing civil disobedience and how to keep their actions from entering an unlawful, chaotic state.

The author’s methods for relaying the issue and his main points are delivered very clearly and in an orderly fashion.  The reader cannot be confused because each important subsection has been labeled within the article, and thoroughly discussed within the body of the article.  The main points are very clear that young people and educators have problematic views on civil disobedience because there is very little educational material written on the subject; there are inconsistencies with the views and implementations of civil disobedience; and the views of Gandhi and King are lost in the translation through the misinterpretation or unknown fourth characteristic that Lopach and Luckowski describe so well.  Committing social crimes and receiving jail time appears to be a necessary consequence to committing uncivil disobedient acts, and young children believe they are doing something profound and great.  Society almost honors people that have gone to jail or prison for something they believe in greatly, especially when it goes against the system and our current form of government.  Therefore, it could be argued that the consequences and benefits of civil disobedience must be understood through the educational system, judicial system, and social systems in order to actually be used constructively to engage in any protesting behaviors.

Lopach and Luckowski raise many important points in his article that describes the benefits and strong consequences of disobedience, be it civil or uncivil.  Never once does he argue against protesting or demonstrating against a particular form of social injustice, but he simply points out that impressionable minds need to be educated how to do so in the right ways and understand the consequences of their actions.  The social system provides media outlets that cover such protests and demonstrations and makes these individuals out to be modern-day Gandhi or the next coming of Martin Luther King, Jr.  The media play a very negative role in covering this issue, when it should be thoroughly discussed within the confines of the educational system where thought and debate can exist without action and reaction.  Civil disobedience has its place in our society, but the use of uncivil disobedience is extremely uncalled for and endangers the lives of many people when buildings and equipment are being destroyed to illustrate a simple point.  These issues must be dealt with in order to avoid future problems of even greater magnitude from the belief that protesters are doing something great and profound like civil rights leaders and people protesting in favor of freedom.

References

Lopach, James J., and Jean A. Luckowski. “Uncivil disobedience: violating the rules for breaking the law.” Education Next (Spring 2005). Find Articles at BNET. Web. 09 Oct. 2009. <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0MJG/is_2_5/ai_n13487199/>.