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{"id":169,"date":"2014-12-05T08:38:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-05T14:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/12\/what-happened-to-civil-disobedience.html"},"modified":"2015-02-26T22:53:19","modified_gmt":"2015-02-27T04:53:19","slug":"what-happened-to-civil-disobedience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/12\/what-happened-to-civil-disobedience.html","title":{"rendered":"What happened to civil disobedience?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

You all know such incidents as Indians protesting the British salt monopoly (and pressing their demand for an end to colonialism) by making their own salt, Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat, and the like.<\/p>\n

But what\u2019s happening now bears no resemblence to these historic protests against injustice. \u00a0In the news today (my husband watches the morning news while ironing, but, of course, I can only link to a website<\/a>), it was reported that Chicago\u2019s own rabble-rousing Fr. Michael Pfleger has called on all churches to \u201ctake congregations outside on Sunday, to interrupt traffic and make a statement about the police killings in Ferguson and New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tieing up traffic is not \u201ccivil disobedience\u201d in its original meaning. \u00a0There is nothing unjust about traffic laws that forbid people from randomly walking in the street. \u00a0This also bears no resemblence to an organized protest intended to call others to support their cause \u2014 it\u2019s far more likely that it\u2019ll drive people away from the cause. <\/p>\n

What this really indicates is that there is no simple, pat solution, and in any case, these \u201ccivic leaders\u201d don\u2019t have one on offer. \u00a0All they have to offer is a method of nursing people\u2019s anger. \u00a0At best it redirects what otherwise might have been a violent response; at worse, it risks producing a violent response \u2014 by the protesters or by those angered by their disruptions.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"