What happened to civil disobedience?

[Thomas]

No, seriously, what happened to civil disobedience as a means of protest? I've been living on the straight-and-narrow for a good while now, and it occurs to me that I've not really, you know, done...ummm, anything that would land me in mildly-hot water, just to stick it to The Man.

What happened? Am I alone in this - not having been arrested lately - or are you feeling this as well? I read something a while back that really made me think about how my rights are being controlled, and now I wonder whether I had rights to begin with, and whether they even matter. Or if, perhaps, I was just ignorant before and now I'm more aware.

As a corollary, do you think a bit of civil disobedience helps clear the air a bit to avoid major blow-ups/riots?

Interested in your thoughts.

 

[Jekyll]

No one cares enough about anything.

 

[oman]

i almost got busted for drinking on a playground structure a couple days ago. was hella drunk, somehow managed to crack some jokes and the cops let us go

but i guess that was more uncivil obedience than civil disobedience

 

[Piobaire]

Any of us that hold various professional licenses will ususally have to answer to our licensing board(s) for getting arrested, no? Aren't you a CPA T-bone?

 

[ter1413]

Probation does that to me....

 

[ysc]

I remember some students having a sit in a couple of years ago at my uni and another one near by. After a while they were told to get out or they would be kicked out of the university system, they stopped the sit in.

Mostly my generation, those at uni and freshly graduated, which is the one that would probably be the larger part of a civil disobedience demonstration don't really seem to care that much and for a lot at uni I think they have too much to lose. I do know a few people who are involved in civil disobedience type stuff but they are somewhat out of the mainstream and they have to be very savy and careful, the wide ranging powers of the police and the way information about your past actions are pooled means a relatively minor act can have consequences for the rest of your life.

Also whilst there are serious issues they are rather harder to get riled up about. I mean in the UK we have a couple of **** wars, well they only strongly effect a fairly small number of people, its not mass conscription. Global warming and demographic problems are both big long term issues but they don't really get enough people angry enough. We have had encroachments on our civil liberties and there is a fair bit of anger over the lack of regulation on the financial service industries but these are slow moving issues, hard to protest, and I think people feel slightly powerless against a very complex and remote system of government and business. I imagine it is the same in the US and elsewhere.

 

[MrG]

Originally Posted by youngscientist

I remember some students having a sit in a couple of years ago at my uni and another one near by. After a while they were told to get out or they would be kicked out of the university system, they stopped the sit in.

Mostly my generation, those at uni and freshly graduated, which is the one that would probably be the larger part of a civil disobedience demonstration don't really seem to care that much and for a lot at uni I think they have too much to lose. I do know a few people who are involved in civil disobedience type stuff but they are somewhat out of the mainstream and they have to be very savy and careful, the wide ranging powers of the police and the way information about your past actions are pooled means a relatively minor act can have consequences for the rest of your life.

Also whilst there are serious issues they are rather harder to get riled up about. I mean in the UK we have a couple of **** wars, well they only strongly effect a fairly small number of people, its not mass conscription. Global warming and demographic problems are both big long term issues but they don't really get enough people angry enough. We have had encroachments on our civil liberties and there is a fair bit of anger over the lack of regulation on the financial service industries but these are slow moving issues, hard to protest, and I think people feel slightly powerless against a very complex and remote system of government and business. I imagine it is the same in the US and elsewhere.

This is pretty much exactly what I would have written. The issues just aren't simple/pressing/salient enough, and modern technology means consequences aren't easy to hide. This makes it hard to rally people around an issue. It also means that those who would participate in the civil disobedience are unlikely to take the punishment, and accepting punishment is an important feature of civil disobedience.

 

[Milpool]

What are some issues that would get attention and resolution from civil disobedience? I personally don't feel it is a viable tactic these days.

For the most part, people using civil disobedience strike me as idiots, even if I agree with their take on an issue.

 

[oman]

yeah i agree

why were gandhi and crew so big on civil disobedience anyway?

 

[philosophe]

I have actually taught texts on civil disobedience by Thoreau, Gandhi and MLK. On the whole, my students find their actions incomprehensible and frightening. They are very identified with the status quo.

 

[ter1413]

And an arrest record makes it MUCH harder to get a job in the US post 9/11...

 

[ter1413]

With all of the background checks and all!

 

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by Piobaire

Any of us that hold various professional licenses will ususally have to answer to our licensing board(s) for getting arrested, no? Aren't you a CPA T-bone?

I am not a CPA yet, but am taking classes to fill the certification needs.

This, though, raises the issue of the carrot/stick that certifications provide. If I want a certification of some sort (CPA, bar, etc) and one of the general requirements is moral fiber, then I'm held in check so that non-compliance is simply too expensive to me. This has the effect of marginalizing those who don't agree with the status quo: well of course they're protesting, they can't hold down a job! Who wants to identify with those losers?

I don't know, this sort of disenfranchisement of those who don't agree with the status quo strikes me as rather insidious in terms of perpetuating an existing regime/order. I guess that's the nature of power, though.