Is It Patriotic To Protest One's Government?

Protesting.
Upon hearing that word, one would immediately think of picket signs, marches and strikes. Wait... this font is horrible.

Ah. Courier. Much better.
Now then. 
I'm sure you've seen protests on television. People marching for equality or better pay, holding signs that state their cause. It happens all the time, and it happened still in the early nineteenth century. 

The problems of the age were different- slavery, women's rights, mistreatment of workers, rather than gay rights or not being paid enough- however, the concept was the same. In our government, it's our right to protest.

But is it patriotic to protest our government?
I think, honestly, the answer is no. It isn't patriotic, but neither are a lot of things we do. 

Many famous figures have protested in history, and we don't feel any differently about their achievements or impact on society because they did something unpatriotic. 
"Clearly you aren't American enough because you wanted what's right! Grrrr!" 
See how ridiculous that sounds, even without the added noise of anger? We just pay attention to what they did, not what the government thought was wrong about it at the time.

An obvious first identity to discuss would be that of Martin Luther King Jr. 
What was that? You wanted to hear about Betty Ford?
I'm happy to oblige. MLK is too mainstream to talk about right now, anyway. 

Betty Ford was a First Lady of The United States during the time that her husband, Gerald Ford, was President. She was a women's rights activist of the time. She raised awareness for breast cancer, and was famous for commenting on every hot issue in the news. She discussed feminism, equal pay, sex, drugs, gun-control, and abortion. (She was Pro Choice. I like this chick.) 
She wasn't famous for her achievements, however. She was only well-known because she was a First Lady and it was insane for her to have such strong opinions on things back then!
I'm kidding, mostly. She reigned in the 70's. It wasn't as much of a big deal in the 70's as it was in say, the 20's. However, it was still seen as risky because she was a public figure. 

No, we're still not going to discuss Martin Luther King Jr. He's coming up, be patient! 

I was going to discuss Rosa Parks, but I know something that's made a bigger impact on society. It's also a plus that they aren't from MLK's time period. 

While they aren't specifically famous, or celebrities, or even really known, the members of the Boston Tea Party are worth discussing. For future purposes, I mean the ones who weren't stuck up politicians.
The Boston Tea Party was not a tea party, unless you count the ocean as a giant cup of tea. On December 16th, 1776, a group of colonists dressed up as Native Americans and threw British tea into the Boston Harbor as a political protest. It was a major happening in the American Revolution, which had a major impact on the world. 
Though I think, now, that if we'd stayed under British rule, it would have gotten better. Not everyone shares my opinion, and if the Revolution hadn't taken place, we would have surely still been paying taxes! Oh wait. 

Guess who we get to talk about now!
That's right.
Martin Luther King Jr.

MLK was known for advancing the civil rights movement, but with non-violence. Sit-ins and marches were more his style, and he was never one to retaliate violence with violence. He felt that any unjust law was not a law worth following. However, if you were to break a law, you should still be willing to accept the consequences. Nowadays, he is also now known as an icon for Liberalism. 
I'm not saying we would still have segregation if not for Martin Luther King Jr., but he definitely had an impact on getting rid of it. 




My life, personally, was affected by these people in a large amount of ways! I have rights like men do, I don't have a British accent, and schools along with everywhere else are integrated. 

Works Cited

"Betty Ford." Wikipedia. Ed. William S. Franklin. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Dec. 2012. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.

Bowling, Samuel L. "The Boston Tea Party." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Sept. 2012. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.

Sorry, Unno D. "Martin Luther King, Jr." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Dec. 2012. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Q :Are people basically good or bad?


A: I think Miller would say that basically, people are bad. He wrote entirely about people lying and pretending and cheating. Abigail Williams lied. Her, along with her group of followers, pretended that they were being attacked just to get out of trouble. John Proctor cheated on his wife with Abby, the little conniving girl that she is. The judge at the courthouse BELIEVED Abby's word, which in turn made everyone else believe her as well. No one thought for themselves, and that, generally, is a bad quality.

However, as we see in The Crucible, people are capable of good as well. In the midst of all the lies and tales of witchcraft and compacts with the devil, there are those who were truthful. Those who refused to lie just so as not to be hanged. Rebecca Nurse, John Proctor, Giles Corey.

Back to people being seen as bad, though. Let's think about this. The girls were dancing in the forest and performing witchcraft. It was only generally to make boys like them, but even that's bad in its own way. You're not supposed to be able to control freewill. This isn't a Sims game where you can turn off that option. But... that isn't that bad. Not compared to what Abigail did, or rather, thought she was doing. She tried to bewitch John Proctor's wife and kill her via a spell. That is not okay. 

Abigail and the girls lied about a lot of people in order to stay out of trouble. They could have just confessed, been whipped, and gone on with their lives as honest Christians, but they told so many lies... They got people hanged due to their lies. 

"I saw Sarah Good (Betty’s hands appear above headboard raised toward the heaven.) with the Devil! I saw Good Osburn with the devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!"- Abigail Williams

That quote is a prime example of Abby's lying. After she started shouting those ridiculous things, all the girls joined in and... that's more peer pressure than anything, I suppose.  Abby is the mean kid who told you to throw rocks at the teacher and then feigned innocence. She's not going down with you. It's your fault for listening.

The play is a little different from the movie, and both are far different than the actual occurrence. According to Wikipedia (which, I'm not saying is right) Abigail got 20 people hanged, and two dogs. Now that I'm really thinking about it.... Abigail is the worst one out of all of them. She lead the girls, after all. Without her, none would have followed. They probably would have confessed, been whipped, and been done with it. But Abby had them convinced. Convinced that lying was the better option, that they'd stay completely out of trouble if they went along.

Mob mentality had a lot to do with everything going sour. In case someone somehow starts reading this and isn't part of my English 3 Honors class, "mob mentality" is basically when one person thinks something or does something, and a few agree or do it too, so everyone ends up doing the same. Mob mentality is how Abby gained control over everyone. Perhaps they weren't all bad. They probably had doubts. But you couldn't tell and it didn't matter because everyone seemed to be on the same page.

In general, not all people are bad. But Arthur Miller might have something different to say about the whole ordeal. I can't get inside of his head to tell you.

Pictures: 
http://msnoel.com/Crucible/crucible.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w299GEwWJFg/ToEwKKovyKI/AAAAAAAAAAg/sRNzO49ZXXc/s320/The-Crucible.jpg
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2010/6/3/1275577605878/The-Crucible--006.jpg

Play Source:
http://www.pleasanton.k12.ca.us/avhsweb/hartman/IntermediateDrama/TheCrucible.htm
(If it doesn't show up, it's there, I promise! Just hover over it. <3)

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