A great man once said, "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. But, do people actually realize that this goes for both good and bad things? "One function of deviance is that it encourages social change." It encourages changes that bring about ends of wars, starts of wars, and even changes in laws. It can bring people together, tear others apart, save lives, and take them away just as quickly. Juan Ramon Jiminez, an early crusader in the fight for Christian freedoms said, "If given ruled paper, write the other way." If someone disagrees with how something is being done, and they rebel against it, there always will be an action taken. It's the cause and effect theory in action. So, imagine someone is for a certain freedom. They perform a sit-in, or riot, or even petition to get their voices heard. The authorities will have to deal with them when they do drastic things like riots and sit-ins, and their voices will definitely be heard. Action will be taken against or in favor of the protesters, and change will occur. Their voices could carry much weight and change national laws (the fight against segregation), or be hushed and never heard. But something will happen.
There are millions of people that have gone against the grain to fight for change, either good or bad. Names like Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Spike Lee, Rosa Parks, Shawn Fanning, and groups of people like civil activists, hippies, and even groups as controversial as the Black Panthers and the KKK. One person that stands out today is Dr. Jack Kevorkian. He is currently imprisoned for standing up for what he believes in, and knew it would come to be that way. The argument he poses is that no one was going to decide whether or not assisted suicide was against the law or merely an act of humanity. So, with the consent of a patient of his, Dr. Kevorkian actually performed the act of killing this man, or letting him rest as some say, and filmed the entire thing.
