Formal argumentative essay Jochem Dijkslag

Means to an end

We have all heard about our colleagues in Amsterdam who took over a University building to force the board of directors of their University to think about reforming certain policies. For days on end the students occupied several University buildings even under threat of the police force. However is this form of protest constructive? Or is it a case of shoving their opinions down the throat of their superiors. In this civilized country we have certain standards regarding the change of rules in institutions. However, sometimes people cannot get their point of view across through the normal procedures and start acting rebellious and take over buildings, for instance. People should try to change things according to the rules of this society and if their ideas are good enough it will work that way.

Everybody knows them, people who always want things to happen their way. It does not matter how many arguments are provided, these people do not want to give in their statements and will find a way to get things their way. These people are usually considered annoying. It is important to realize that we live in a very developed country; the Netherlands is ranked fourth in a list of most developed countries all around the world. Although we are considered highly developed people still think they are above society’s rules, and feel that they have to force their ideas and opinions down the throats of their superiors. This set of mind can be quite damaging for society, think of the state of the building after the students evicted, not to mention the extra costs to society regarding the use of the police force.

There may be a lot of arguments in against civil obedience as a method of political change; however in some situations it might be justifiable to use it as a tool to get messages across. Mainly these cases involve actions against a dictatorial regime or similar forms of governments. In those cases it could be justifiable to use civil disobedience as a method of political change.

In conclusion, in most civilized countries, such as the Netherlands, civil disobedience as a method of political change is not justified, people who use this method of political change want to shove their opinion to the throats of their superiors and are not susceptible to counter arguments, however in some cases civil disobedience can be justifiable as a method of political change, mainly with regards to autocratic governments or dictatorial regimes.