Civil Disobedience - Martin Luther King Jr

Governments have been rightfully criticized forever. Without citizens arguing with the all mighty government, even more of us would just be drones in their system. It is vital for important, non-politician citizens to stand up and be a social leader for the rest of society. Martin Luther King Jr. and Henry David Thoreau both did this in many ways and particularly with these pieces of literature. They used their superior knowledge and persuasive writing skills to impose ideas more strongly than most people could.

Both of these writers use a lot of strategies to convince their particular audience that their opinions are correct. Thoreau used a lot of emotional opinions and tones in his writing. He did this to gain the sympathy of the audience, but mostly to try to instill those powerful emotions somewhat of betrayal and being unsatisfied. He also uses ethical persuasion when talking about jail and the imperfections of the governmental system. Martin Luther King Jr. uses these same strategies. He emotionally protests that the white power structure in Birmingham left no choice for black demonstrations. This also can persuade from the ethical angle. King also uses logical reasoning by telling about the factual things that has been done to black communities. He writes to the clergymen, trying to make them see the flaws in their actions. Thoreau is writing to his fellow, possibly more complacent citizens trying to get them to his level of discontentment. Their audiences therefore are very different because MLK is persuading the people with the exact opposite views of himself.

Both of these authors effectively use tools of persuasion, but I think MLK's argument may be a harder one to support considering he is writing to people with dissimilar opinions, while Thoreau is more pushing for action against or protesting the government. Civil disobedience is obviously a sparking conflict among more determined-for-change citizens. People can write powerful things to influence powerful decisions in their country.