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Violence-Political Science
Darian Williams
April 22nd, 2013
Political Science
Point Park University
Professor DeLucia

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Achieving political and social goals are a major accomplishment and a major problem in the United States and also around the globe. These goals can be achieved with violent or non violent force. I personally believe that violence is necessary and I also believe that goals can be achieved without violence. Saying that I am for violence and non violence may seem grey but there are many examples which prove my argument.
Achieving a set goal with violence does not always have to mean gun fire and explosions, violence can also be physical, verbal, and mental. Some examples of violence would be the war on terror, the capture of Osama Bin Laden, and also capital punishment. Even though violence is present in all of these examples, there are also goals that were achieved without violent acts. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and John Lennon are three individuals who set out to accomplish goals in their lifetimes, and did so without the use of violence.
The war on terror was not only a controversial topic, but also a mission to topple a government and free people from the ruling of a dictator. The war on terror still continues as of today, but there have been a lot of accomplishments since the start of the war. Saddam Hussein was captured and tried for all of his injustice over his reign, and he was then executed. Upon his execution, the government was established and voting began in the new democracy. There were many casualties and billions of tax payer dollars spent on the war; some may argue that it was simply about oil and some wonder why we were there in the first place. In my opinion, you can’t argue with results but the execution was very sloppy.
Along with the war on terror there were many thoughts about who was behind the 911 attacks on the United States. With the war on terror coming to an end, there were many speculations on whether or not we would locate and capture the leader of the Al Qaeda terrorist group. Osama Bin Laden had been on the run and in hiding ever since he organized the attacks on the United States. Finding and eliminating him was at the top of the United States list.
The hunt for Bin Laden was a long and difficult one with many lives lost along the way. I think that people started to forget why we were still in the Middle East up until the news broke about finding Bin Laden outside of Pakistan. After the news broke about Bin Laden being found, the news was quickly

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changed and news of his death spread quickly. The United States had finally accomplished the goal they set more than 10 years earlier under the reign of a previous president. I think that there were a lot of cons to the war and also the incidents leading up to the capture of Bin Laden, but there was also good characteristics to the war as well.
I think that capturing Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden were two goals that were set by the government and the presidency, and they were eventually accomplished but with many soldiers losing their lives in the process. Along the same lines of violence and obtaining goals at the same time, there is another topic that I believe is necessary when it comes to goal achievement, and I am talking about capital punishment.
Capital punishment is a controversial topic around the world but in my opinion I believe it is a necessary form of punishment. One of the main goals of capital punishment is to insure that justice will be served to criminals that commit the most monstrous crimes such as murders and rapes. I am a strong believer in enforcing the death penalty especially for murderers because they are getting what they deserve. If they can take an innocent persons life away then I think that they should have their life taken as well.
Another goal that capital punishment is trying to accomplish is keeping the convicts away from society at all costs. A major rule of government is keeping our society safe and away from possible threats and enforcing this punishment removes criminals from possibly committing the same crime or different crimes. The last argument as to why I think that capital punishment is necessary for our own good is to keep people from committing these horrible crimes. I think when people see the results of what happens to convicts that commit murders or rapes it keeps them from doing those kinds of crimes. I also believe that it prevents people from committing small crimes as well.
I covered a few examples as to why I believe violence is necessary in certain cases and now I am going to move on to why I think that non-violence is also a necessary way to solve political agendas. The use of non-violence as a means of solving political agendas and goals can result in a positive outcome and Martin Luther King Jr. is a prime example of this. Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights activist and he

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believed that violence did not solve anything it only made certain matters worse and using violence also went against his religious Christian beliefs. He led non-violence protests during the civil rights movement and people started to listen to him. He didn’t think that fighting violence with violence would ever get anyone anywhere and I completely agree with his logic. One of the most famous non-violent acts that MLK led that bolstered civil rights was the March on Washington for jobs and freedom in 1963. This is when MLK gave his famous speech “I Have a Dream” and was one of the biggest political rallies in the history of the United States. The outcome of his non-violent acts made a huge impact on the civil rights movement and made the future for African Americans equality that much more possible.
A second example of someone who used non-violence as a means of achieving political goals was Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks was also a major part of the civil rights movement and when she refused to give up her seat to a white person, she was arrested. Back then African Americans could not sit on the front of the bus and Rosa Parks wanted to make a bold daring statement without using violence as a means to get her point across. She achieved her goal and got a lot of public attention for taking a stand for her race.
The third and final example of someone who was a strong believer in non-violence acts was the previous band member of The Beatles, John Lennon. He believed in giving peace a chance and refraining from war at all costs. He wrote a song called “Imagine” that was about imaging the world with no war and violence but instead leading the world with peace. He also was famous for “Bed-Ins for Peace” which was when he stayed in bed for 2 weeks protesting against wars and promoting peace with Yoko Ono.
In conclusion, I believe that political and social agendas can be solved with both violence and non violence. There are certain situations such as the war on terror and capital punishment that express how violence can be used in a positive light. There are also the examples of non violent goals that were achieved by some of the most memorable names in history. Violence can be used in a positive light and also in a negative; it is up to the viewer to decide which way suits the situation.

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