Standing up for Your Rights: Is that Deviance?

Submitted by Katiria Garcia

In the current days, our country has been experiencing many economic issues. This caused the United States government many issues when it comes to dealing with the budget. Economic problems make government to cut funding for many programs. Since government is not satisfied with the amounts of money that it is receiving through taxes to fund those programs, they are raising taxes for lower and middle class people. Since many government officials do not want to be left with less money they are not raising taxes for richer part of population, thus causing more economical problems and making people angrier. How much are we being affected by the erroneous structure of the government? Should the government take care of the well-being of everyone in the society and not just rich ones? Where did the government leave the values which this country has been found on?  Why have more and more people have to sleep on the streets of Philadelphia? Why do people have resort to crime in order to find ways to pay for luxuries which government is providing for them? However, if everyone has the same needs in this world, why can’t we work to achieve as much equality as possible? In many places in United States people are protesting against the social inequality, which, according to the signs in the protest, government has caused it. Are these people deviants because in the current society because they take the action?

The City Hall in Philadelphia has been affected by this protest already for several weeks.

There are many people who are tired of unemployment, who cannot afford food and lodgings and live in the tents near the city hall.

 This protest can be considered as deviance because this movement is breaking the norms of the passive culture which many Americans have been experiencing for couple of decades. This might be the biggest protest against the government action ever since the famous Million Men March.

Even though there are a lot of people of different backgrounds in the protest, most of people are considered to be deviants because they decided to live in tents for already few weeks until they are not satisfied with results.

Protesters come from many different social backgrounds: from the lower class to the middle class people who want to have a job and any solution for the future of their children.

These people are exhausted to obey a government which doesn't show any interest in their problems. They are also disappointed because according to their opinion corporations have too many advantages given by the government and thus are not letting low class and middle class people to prosper.

The movement has had a great effect even on students in college. Personally, I had the opportunity to watch how some students from Temple University were protesting while walking around the Community College of Philadelphia today. 

Also, I could talk to some of them in the City Hall, where they were manifesting their feelings. They told me that their main reasons for protesting were the high cost of education and the minimum income that they can lead them. They just want to advance professionally, but taking many loans to complete their goals can mean to be blocked in the poverty.

 If people are deviant because they protest against the government, which are the people who supposed to protect the society, is their deviance considered to be bad? If that is so, how this deviance influence other people to act?

In the conclusion, many people are becoming deviants when fighting for positive reasons, but the government can try to use the behaviors of protesters as a bad influence for the country by saying that these people are just persuading others in order to create chaos in the country and are just trying to find another reason to disrespecting the laws. Has standing up for yourself when it is clearly seen that somebody is trying to hurt you considered being deviant in a current society? The only way to find out is to go and check out the movement by yourself.