Both Henry Thoreau and Martin Luther King held opposing views on respecting unjust laws, leaders, and institutions. Henry emphasized that the rules are intended to safeguard society from any sort of human injustice, such as slavery. He went on to explain that if the government, which is tasked with protecting all of its residents, becomes an instrument that perpetrates injustices against its people, society has no business obeying such a government (Powell, 26). Thoreau argued that it is the citizen's civic and moral obligation to oppose unjust laws. Similarly, Martin Luther pointed out that it is the responsibility of society to come together and play a role on reforming the unjust government. Thoreau and King argued that the society has a legal obligation to obey the law, in doing so; they become good and responsible citizens. However, in their argument, they challenged the authority to come up with moral and just laws (Powell, 26). They further averred that when a citizen disobeys an unjust law, then he/she is playing an important role in transformation the society. The two claimed that through the rejection of unjust laws, the community would be playing a significant role in making itself a better place. In support of his belief, Thoreau refused to pay tax and failed to recognize the authority of the state that engages itself in the selling children, women, and men. Despite being jailed, he reaffirmed that he cannot support any regime that tolerates injustices. Martin Luther also joined hands with the Civil Rights Movement to oppose the segregation that was common in many states of America (Powell, 28).
Differences between Ideas of Thoreau and King
The two activists had subscribed to the same ideology on the civil disobedience, but there was a difference in the manner in which both of them articulated their ideas. To begin with, Martin Luther King Jnr applied a gentle, diplomatic, religious and apologetic way in putting forth ideas on the need to disobey the law. He implored and pleaded with the society to see a need of rejecting the laws that are perceived to be inhuman and unjust (Powell, 22). According to him, the civic education on the civil disobedience should not be forceful, but the people should see a need of rejecting bad laws. He further used his religious background in the persuasion of groups in the society to stand against unjust laws. In his fight against the disobeying of the bad laws, he primarily focused on what is good for the group (Powell, 26).
Henry Thoreau, on the other hand, was more aggressive and forceful on his push for individuals to reject the unjust and the bad laws. According to him, there was no need to plead with people to disobey the unjust laws; each individual must use his/her conscience in the rejection of the unjust laws. He goes further to admonish members of the society not tolerate the bad laws (Powell, 26). Thoreau points out that there is no place for the unjust laws in the society, and citizens must revolutionize against the existing of such laws, authority, and institutions. He furthered rubbished the voting system as such undermine the rights of the minority. He provoked the public to hate any system of government that uses unjust laws (Powell, 30).
2. Definition of the Social Movement
From the historical point of view, social movements connote to any a group of action that is either formal or informal with a primary focus on the political and social issues. In essence, the group endeavors to resist the negative social changes that they perceived to affect the society. Individuals and organizations can come together and form a social movement (Crossley, 1). Sociologists, on the other hand, view a social movement as a collective enterprise established with a sole aim of creating a new way of life. The driving force towards the formation of a new way life is grounded on the dissatisfaction that the group has towards their current life. As a result of this dissatisfaction, they will employ all the necessary means to transform the previous or current form of life to a newly and desired system of living (Crossley, 1). In other words, social movements in any grouping created with the aim of changing a system of living that are unsatisfactory to its members to a better system of living. For the attainment of a better system of life, they will use all the available means such as picketing, strikes, hunger, and labor unions among others.
Definition of Goodwin and Jasper
Goodwin and Jasper view a social movement as determined, concerted and relentless efforts by the ordinary individual to transform some of the society by the use of the legal and illegal means (Goodwin and Jasper, 3).
Requirements for a Movement
From the definition of Goodwin and Jasper, there are many necessities of a social movement. To begin with, the determination is a fundamental requirement for the existence and success of a movement. A point to note is that for the success of any movement, its members must possess and display a heart full of determination (Goodwin and Jasper, 9). In essence, the determination becomes the running fuel for the movement and making it reach its goal. The task of a movement is to fight for social and political issues, and sometimes going against the will of the government of the day. Consequently, without determination, the movement cannot survive for an extended period.
Another essential requirement for movement is the ability of members of the movement to display a relentless effort. Through concerted efforts, the movement would be able to fight and attain its purpose. For instance, for the Civil Rights Movement to fight for voting rights and against racial segregation, they were to display numerous and incessant efforts of strikes and marches. It is through these concerted efforts that can make the oppressive regime to change the bad laws (Goodwin and Jasper, 25).
Goodwin and Jasper also point out that a social movement only needs ordinary people to come together to fight for what they view as a societal problem (Goodwin and Jasper, 28). The establishment of any movement, therefore, does not need any educational requirement. For instance, for a member of society to join a movement, he/she do not need to be an economic elite or professional, but anyone is permitted to come together and form a movement (Goodwin and Jasper, 30). The only requirement, in this case, is that those who are coming together must have a common goal and objective, that is, a similar socio-economic and political issue is affecting them.
3. Slacktivism
In the contemporary world, many activists and the advocacy groups have taken to the social media in seeking support from the public. They have implored the public who can access the social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and the Instagram to support their course. As a result of the less effort needed, the public would only be required to like a Facebook page, retweet a comment on the Twitter, share a blog post on Facebook, take a picture for Instagram that relates to their cause (Frechette, 106). From the mentioned information, it is clear that the support of the activities only offers an insignificant effort to support the course of the events. Slacktivism, therefore, relates to actions majorly performed on the social media seeking the support of a political or social cause but such actions only require little time or effort (Frechette, 110). For example, signing an online petition form or joining the campaigns of the advocacy group through the social media website. On a similar note, Slacktivism can be looked at the actions that only require little financial commitment. For instance, the campaign group can request their supporters to put on a particular color of clothing or to wear certain bracelets. The price of a buying either a t-shirt or bracelets only cost little amount.
Argument against Slacktivism
The establishment of slacktivism has played a significant role in reducing the political participation of the members of the public. As a result of the less effort that it needs, its supporters only have to play fewer roles in the running of the affairs of the social movement. In essence, their fans have been reduced to a mere rubber stamp tools (McCaughey, 55). Comparatively, the civil groups such as the Civil Rights Movement where the followers were given a full platform to air and vent their political grievances, unlike slacktivism were the participation of the members is through clicking. The lack of members' involvement is a major reason as to why most of the slacktivism group only survives for a short time.
Another reason is that shows slacktivism is a wrong way of fighting for a political or a social cause is that it completely lacks the determination. Members of this group do not need to have a relentless heart but only to be in a position of liking or sharing a page. Notably, the success movement lies in its determination because, through it, the movement is able to last long and wins battles (McCaughey, 60). Those who are members of these groups have a tendency of pulling their support immediately they realized that cause of the group is not likely to bear fruit.
Slacktivism has failed to attract the attention of the majority of people in the social media. A myriad of the population views it as a group formed with the intention of exploiting the donors. Due to this perception, they believe that the owners of this slacktivism group are not fighting any cause but are merely using their membership support as a way of luring the donor funding (McCaughey, 65). With this negative perception from the public, it cannot be relied upon as means of advocating for the socio-political changes. The success of any activist group is first to win the heart of its supporters, therefore making them have faith in the objective of the social group.
4. History of the Women Movement
In the year 1960s, the feminist's group in the United States had zero participation in the socio-economic and political activities. Just to mention but a few, they were perceived as inferior people who had to play the second place in the society. Men viewed them as a sexual object and only a source of pleasure other than a vital human who should play an equal just like their opposite sex (Freeman, 792). Worst to mention is that despite their academic qualification, a higher percentage of the jobs were given to the men, thereby limiting them from getting a source of income.
In the 1960s, the women had started to awaken from their inactive position in the society. There was a glaring of hope of a better and improve ways of life in which both their rights and place in the society. In the year 1961, President Kennedy established a Commission on the Status of Women, and this became the first hope of a new life. Women across the United States viewed the mentioned commission as a body that would ultimately advocate for their oppression, segregation and all the suffering that they were facing (Freeman, 793). In its function, the commission came up with numerous reports that pointed out the radical changes that should be done to elevate the position of a woman in the society. The report mentioned above led to the formation of a fifty state commissions that were majorly women, and a citizen's advisory council.
A large number of people who were members of the board were dissatisfied with the manner in which the institution was dragging in the in the implementation of its recommendation. They believed that the created body was not ready to advocate for the women rights. The agitated members later joined with Betty Friedan in the year 1966 and established the first National Organization for Women (Freeman, 795). Notably, this was the first feminists' movement to be formed for the last fifty years, and its role was to remove women from a second-class status. Important to note is that the movement had two branches or origins; the older and the younger movement. In addition, the two branches had differed regarding values, strata of the society, styles of operations and orientation (Freeman, 798).
Existence of Women Movement
National Organization for Women (NOW) is existing and much active. To date, the movement is still advocating for an improved system of life for women. It continues to play a significant role in the societal change, and exterminate any form of discrimination that affects the female sex (Freeman, 800). It continues to protect and advocate for the rights of the women and girl child in all aspect of socio-economic and political life. Currently, the movement has hundreds of chapters and thousands of members and activists in all the states of the US.
The use of Internet by Women Movement
The discussed feminist movement has taken advantage of the web in creating a network of communication to reach its members. Through it, the movement has been able to create a website in which it can reach all those who can support it in the achievement of its mission (Goodwin and Jasper, 10). The Internet has played a major role in the updating the members of the movement of its progress and the planned activities for the members.
5. Origin of the Dog-whistle Politics
A dog-whistle politics connotes to a political speech or message that uses a coded words/language that appear to have one meaning to the population in general, but it has a different and a more specific meaning to its targeted population. In essence, this political style of communication completely makes the information incompressible to those who are not supposed to benefit from it but makes the information clear and understandable to its intended beneficiary (López, 13). The primary reason behind the use this form of communication by its adherents is because of its deceptive nature and preventing the unintended audience from comprehending the information.
Origin of the Dog-whistle Politics
In the mid-1990s, the term dog-whistle politics was first used in the policy of the Australian. John Howard dominated his campaigns by the utilization of the discussed communication strategy in reaching out his targeted audience. During his 11 years as the prime minister of Australia, he invariably applied this coded language either in campaigns or during his major speeches. As a result of this, there was a public outcry terming the mentioned leader as a racist. For instance, he used the word "un-Australian to mean those who were illegally living in Australia. In this case, those who were his supporters could quickly understand that the leader was not in support of refugees or immigrants (López, 25). With this form of communication, he effectively related with his fanatic followers.
The use of the dog-whistle politics played a significant in the political discussion. The proponents and those who could use the mentioned political style of communication were able to a political message to their supporters without causing havoc and chaos in the country. It is important to point out this form of communication is quite important when one want to passage a message that may hurt or offend a section of the public. Through this, it is arguable that dog-whistle politics has played a role in maintaining peaceful political temperatures (López, 35). It has primarily achieved this goal because those who do not understand the coded language has not base of overreacting or triggering any violence. For instance, when the Howard, the prime minister of Australia, used the word "un-Australian," to his supporters the word meant the illegal immigrants, but to the immigrants, the phrase had no any hatred meaning. Owing to the inability of the immigrants to understand the significance of this demeaning word, the peaceful political environment had been maintained (López, 40).
Another important role of the Dog-whistle politics was that it assisted politicians to communicate with their supporters effectively. Through this communication, they were able to win their supporters. It is important to note this legislative code of communication was racist in nature and those who used had believed that they easily win votes of the racists (López, 42). During the US presidential campaign of 2006, the Republican presidential nominee McCain consistently referred Barack Obama with his middle name, Hussein. In doing so, he was refreshing the memory of Americans that Obama was not only carrying a menacing foreign-sounding name but also a threatening, alien and Islamic sounding name. In his thought, by referring Obama as Hussein, he would win the majority Americans. Notably, most of the citizens in this country are whites and subscribe to Christian faith.
Works Cited
Crossley, Nick. Making sense of social movements. McGraw-Hill Education (UK), 2002.
Frechette, Julie. Media Education for a Digital Generation. Routledge, 2015.
Freeman, Jo. "The origins of the women's liberation movement." American Journal of Sociology 78.4 (1973): 792-811.
Goodwin, Jeff, and James M. Jasper. The Social Movements Reader: Cases and Concepts. 3rd ed., Wiley-Blackwell, 2015.
López, Ian Haney. Dog whistle politics: How coded racial appeals have reinvented racism and wrecked the middle class. Oxford University Press, 2015.
McCaughey, Martha. Cyberactivism on the participatory web. Vol. 18. Routledge, 2014.
Powell, Brent. "Henry David Thoreau, Martin Luther King Jr., and the American Tradition of Protest." OAH Magazine of History 9.2 (1995): 26-29.
