Current Events > Civil disobedience is not protected under the 1st amendment.

(+) Yeah! (+)

This is not a condemnation of civil disobedience, it can and has been used for tons of good, but there seems to be a misunderstanding that everyone getting arrested this week is having their first amendment rights violated. Some of the arrests may very well be instances of the first amendment violations, but I think it's important to know the difference between civil disobedience and lawful protest.

https://www.thefire.org/news/heres-what-students-need-know-about-protesting-campus-right-now

Just a guy about to lose CE access

I agree with you but this topic is gonna be an absolute shit storm.

Arresting people for civil disobedience can often lead to unpleasant outcomes we don't want to see.

People shouldn't be arrested for peaceful protesting.

Who gets to define what civil disobedience is and isnt? Who makes the judgment call on whether a protest had crossed that line? If the answer is law enforcement, I sure as shit wont trust their definiton or their judgment call. Especially considering there are plenty of examples of cops manipulating protestors with techniques like herding them into areas to make the protest qualify as disruptive, or slowing protestors from leaving an area until a curfew time passed to justify making arrests.

And perhaps most importantly, if first amemndment rights are found to have been violated, will we be able to actually hold the people responsible accountable? If we cannot hold them accountable for violating constitutional rights, then they have no business enforcing laws that they would be allowed to violate with impunity.

peaceful assembly is protected

Nah guys don't worry, some of the people arrested during the peaceful protest may have done some thing wrong, so it's totally cool.