There is a group here on DU that often cites civil disobedience as justification

[flamin lib]

anytime a law is passed that the denizens of said group disagree with and choose to ignore. I'll let you, Gentle Reader, surmise what group I'm talking about if you so choose.

I contend that Civil Disobedience requires a commitment, not just hiding the fact that a law is being violated. Sure, I guess by literal definition a case could be made that passively hiding the fact that you're being Civilly Disobedient meets the defination but why hide your light under a bushel? What good does that do?

How far would the civil rights movement have gotten if everybody just disagreed with the Jim Crow laws but did nothing to bring the issue into the public domain? If the protesters of the Vietnam War and the Draft were silent about their opposition we would still be at war with that tiny country instead of forcing an end to it. If the LGBT community just stayed quietly in the closet . . . I hope you get my drift.

People have been beaten, killed, jailed and lost everything to oppose unjust laws and wars. To simply say the words "Civil Disobedience" while hiding your Civil Disobedience is an obscene caricature of so many who paid so much.

So, call it Civil Disobedience if it makes you feel good but I'll call it Bull Shit and cowardice.

[lostincalifornia]

1. You have to be more specific. Would the Bundy incident be called civil disobedience?

There is also a difference between violent civil disobedience and non violent civil disobedience

[flamin lib]

5. The examples I cited were all of the non violent variety.

Those are the most honorable and the most effective.

The Bundy incident doesn't show much in the way of honor what with the stratigizing to use women as human shields but they did put themselves out there to take any repercussions that came as opposed to passively hiding and claiming civil disobedience.

Let me be abundantly clear, I do NOT support Bundy in any way shape or form.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

6. He's referring to owners of semi-automatic rifles who have not complied --

deliberately or otherwise -- with a Connecticut (I think) law demanding their guns be registered. Estimates say the number ranges from several tens of thousands to as many as 100,000.

[Ohio Joe]

2. umm... Civil disobedience is when you risk taking the penalty for breaking an unjust law...

Or what you perceive to be an unjust law. It is not couching your words or actions to avoid the penalty... That you do exactly that while at the same time accusing others of doing it is... Just a bit amusing and does not give much weight to your words.

[flamin lib]

3. I don't follow? nt

[Nuclear Unicorn]

4. What about the draft resisters that fled to Canada?

Did every person joining the bus boycotts in Alabama register their names? Millions smoke marijuana in states where it is still illegal but how many of them make it publically known that they do so?