Issue17 【Aspire 小组】

iamstoicUID: 2294314

The speaker asserts that it is more important for each person to defy the unjust laws than to abide by just laws. I partly agree with this claim, for, from my perspective, obeying just laws is just as crucial as disobeying and resisting unjust ones.

On the one hand, in a democracy, only when each citizen obeys just laws will the society likely be a stable and orderly one. The laws with legitimacy are regarded as expressing the common will of the majority based on the general or universal principles. They will prevent individuals infringe upon others’ rights as well as compel the court to punish criminals. Moreover, there is no doubt that just law can reflect the values of that society it belongs to because of tradition, necessity, and expectation. Therefore, it is our liability to obey just laws in the public interests, otherwise, anyone who disobey it must submit to the judgment and punishment that the state imposes.

On the other hand, it is impossible that all the laws are just. This may raise the question: how does one determine whether a law is just or unjust. In reference to this aspect, if we look back in history we may find the appropriate example to get an answer. In the spring of 1963, Martin Luther King was arrested for organizing a series of non-violent protests against the segregated lunch counters and discriminatory hiring practices in Birmingham, Alabama. King explained why he disobeyed the law in his famous Letter (and I paraphrase) :“ There are two kinds of laws: just laws and unjust laws. A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law.To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law.” This illustrates the point that it is the sense of justice rather than personal convenience that encouraged him to violate the law – there were no alternatives to address the scourge of racial discrimination at that time.

What is more, another question may arise: what is the reasonable way to protest against an unjust law. In my view, King’s protests as presented above can also apply to this answer. He staged the protest in accordance with “civil disobedience” which was proposed by Henry David Thoreau in his great essay On Civil Disobedience. King himself also argues that the direct action must be non-violent. Protestants may engage themselves in a strike by not showing up for work. Or perhaps they could perform marches in front of the parliament house. Furthermore, another effective way to rebel the law can be resorting to the media, which is virtually balanced on the issue. Any objections to the law, for instance, should be splashed on the front page of newspapers.  

In this new era of individualism and self-responsibility, the words of Martin Luther King still provide guidance for the government who enacts the law. While we ought to obey the just laws, it is the responsibility for us to break the laws which require you to be the agent of injustice to another. After all, an unjust law could bring just as much destructions– if not more so – as no law at all.

[ 本帖最后由 iamstoic 于 2007-2-9 22:11 编辑 ]