Issue17 [Jet小姐]第八次作业

michaelxuywUID: 2330197

issue17"There are two types of laws: just and unjust. Every individual in asociety has a responsibility to obey just laws and, even moreimportantly, to disobey and resist unjust laws."

Some people think we should not only obey just laws, but disobey and resit unjust laws as well. However, because the complexity nature of the law, I think that urging everyone in a society to act against the unjust law is not always the optimal way to maintain the justice of laws, rather, the justice of laws are better achieved by making everyone reach a general understanding of what is justice.

Admittedly, there existed many laws which is regarded as unjust later in history, and aggressive action against these laws are considered necessary, for "they are", as Martin Luther King described, " codes which are out of harmony with moral laws." One of these most well-known unjust law is Jim Crow Law which was passed in every southern state in America after the abolition of slavery. According to the law, segregation was reinforced in favor of the dominant whites in many places, such as the rows of seats in a bus, schools, hospitals, and so on. A great deal of resistant actions were taken by some famous black people to protest to injustice of the law. They boycotted the segregated transportation, hold sit-in at segregated restaurants, and even picketed discriminatory businesses. All of these actions are regarded as indispensable in the overturn of Jim Crow Law. Such example shows that a blatant unjust law is likely to continue if no aggressive action are taken.

However, there are laws which can not be clearly judged as just or unjust, and it is impossible to achieve absolute justice, therefore some mild actions are more advisable rather than the aggressive ones. There are a lot of examples which illustrate the embarrassing situation in which both the plaintiff and the respondent are not happy about the sentence and feel that the justice of law is not achieved. For instance, a company files a law suit against another company for infringement of copyrights of their products, however, both companies are satisfied with the judge: the accuser thinks the compensation is too little while the accused thinks it is too much. Aggressive actions such as  disobeying or resisting will not be helpful for achieving the justice of the copyright law, because no matter how the legislature adjusts the amount of compensation, at least one side of the suit will feel that they are unfairly treated.

In fact, the reason which prevents a law to be generally accepted lies in the disparity of people's understanding of justice in a society, and people are likely to obey to law if they think it is morally just. For example, the mutual understanding of equality, urged by the aggressive action taken by the black people, helped to overturn the segregation law; The later realization of the importance of environmental protection contributes to the wildly acceptance of the environmental laws. Therefore, compared with merely encouraging people to disobey or resist the law they feel unjust, providing the general public with right idea on what is justice is more effective, because it makes people feel they would like to, rather than have to obey the laws.

In sum, although aggressive actions may work when people fight with laws which are morally wrong, justice can be achieved more effectively by helping people to reach a mutual understanding of justice.


[ 本帖最后由 michaelxuyw 于 2008-2-19 00:18 编辑 ]

滴滴雨儿UID: 2392741

issue17"There are two types of laws: just and unjust.Every individual in asociety has a responsibility to obey just lawsand, even more importantly, to disobey and resist unjust laws."

Some people think we should not only obey just laws, but disobey and resist unjust laws as well. However, because the complexity (删nature) of (删the)law, I think that urging everyone in a society to act against theunjust law is not always the optimal way to maintain the justice oflaws, rather, the justice of laws are better achieved by makingeveryone reach a general understanding of what is justice.最后这个长句不是很懂,rather前后maintain the justice of laws和achieve the justice of laws achieved是同级比较关系吗?

Admittedly, there existed(exist应该不能用主动态吧,不及物,改被动,而且用现在时即可) manylaws which is regarded as unjust later in history, and aggressiveaction against these laws are considered necessary, for "they are", asMartin Luther King described, " codes which are out of harmony withmoral laws." One of these most well-known unjust law is Jim Crow Lawwhich was passed in every southern state in America after the abolitionof slavery. According to the law, segregation was reinforced in favorof the dominant whites in many places, such as the rows of seats in abus, schools, hospitals, and so on. A great deal of resistant actionswere taken by some famous black people to protest to(the) injustice of the law. They boycotted the segregated transportation, hold sit-in at segregated restaurants, and even picketed discriminatory businesses(什么意思?).All of these actions are regarded as indispensable in the overturn ofJim Crow Law. Such example shows that a blatant unjust law is likely tocontinue if no aggressive action are taken.
例子用的很好很说明问题,指出对于不公平法律有时就是需要采取暴力行动来抵制.
However, there are laws which can not be clearly judged as just orunjust, and it is impossible to achieve absolute justice, thereforesome mild actions are more advisable rather than the aggressive ones.There are a lot of examples which illustrate the embarrassing situationin which both the plaintiff and the respondent are not happy about thesentence and feel that the justice of law is not achieved. Forinstance, a company files a law suit against another company forinfringement of copyrights of their products, however, both companiesare (not?)satisfied with the judge: the accuser thinks the compensation is toolittle while the accused thinks it is too much. Aggressive actions suchas disobeying or resisting will not be helpful for achieving thejustice of the copyright law, because no matter how the legislatureadjusts the amount of compensation, at least one side of the suit willfeel that they are unfairly treated.这里如果再说一句如果resist的话会有怎样的后果就更完整了.另外也可以谈谈人们对这里的copyright law的判断标准问题.
这一段指出有时由于无法判断法律是否对双方公平,resist不可取.
In fact, the reason which prevents a law to be generally accepted liesin the disparity of people's understanding of justice in a society, andpeople are likely to obey (删to) laws if they think it is(they are)morally just. For example, the mutual understanding of equality, urgedby the aggressive action taken by the black people, helped to overturnthe segregation law; The later realization of the importance ofenvironmental protection contributes to the wildly acceptance of theenvironmental laws. Therefore, compared with merely encouraging peopleto disobey or resist the laws they feel being unjust,providing the general public with right idea on what is justice is moreeffective, because it makes people feel they would like to, rather thanhave to obey the laws.最后这一句很出彩,点明了问题的关键.
这一段说是否遵守法律取决于人们对法律公平性的理解.
In sum, although aggressive actions may work when people fight with laws which are morally(这个概念也不是绝对的吧) wrong, justice can be achieved more effectively by helping people to reach a mutual understanding of justice.

一些个人观点:
全文感觉很流畅,例子用的也很恰当,用词准确.最大的优点是段落之间逻辑承接很明显.建议将obey的那部分再说具体翔实些,分析分析人们为什么选择遵守法律.因为文章大部分笔墨都花在了人们用暴力手段抵制不公平法律和无法判断有些问题是否公平,对于公平法律的态度写的较少.