Thomas Jefferson wrote, "I have sworn upon the alter of God eternal hostility to every form of tyranny over the mind of man." To the conformist and the shapers of the conformist mentality, this must surely sound like a most dangerous and radical doctrine. Have we permitted the lamp of independent thought and individualism to become so dim that were Jefferson to write and live by these words today we would find cause to harass and investigate him? If Americans permit thought-control, business-control and freedom-control to continue, we shall surely move within the shadows of fascism.
-- Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love
[Hat tip to C.B.]
4 comments:
Pertinacious, why do you and so many others seem to think MLK is so worthy of being quoted as a great moral commentator? The man was a fraud. He swiped other peoples ideas and words, without giving them credit. He was a pervert who abused women in very degrading ways. He incited violence with his so-called 'non-violent' demonstrations. He was an outright infidel who didn't believe the Bible he so piously quoted in his quest for justice(?) And he was a hard-core socialist who was supported and surrounded by communists. Yet, so many people, like you seem to believe he was a great saint and a great social reformer. If so, where is the evidence of sainthood and social reform? The blacks are worst off today, morally and economically than they were five decades ago. Why? King, along with the hippies and drug movement, the anti-war movement, the sexual liberation movements, helped created a climate of disrespect for the law. That, as documented in Lionel Lokos "House Divided" is the real legacy of Martin Luther King, a legacy we can see being played out in black neighborhoods and cities like Chicago and Atlanta that have a large black population.
"Scotju,"
You're certainly right about King being a mixed bag.
First things first. I'm sure we agree that reading less-than-heroic writers, or even evil writers (no attributions here), are worth knowing, minimally in order to know one's enemy, as it were.
Second, many superficially-cultural heroes of this sort are often deeply not understood. Just as the American Black community is now ironically wedded to the Democratic Party, which was historically allied with the KKK and manipulated Blacks against their own best interests; so today's political lefties (including the Blacks) would doubtless be deeply chagrined to learn that MLK was Republican and, like Susan B. Anthony, pro-life. That doesn't make him a saint, but it thrown a wet dish rag on the glib trendy lefty.
Third, often people of less-than-stalwart character and clear vision have said some good things. King's books, like his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, full of many good things -- quotations from St. Augustine, St. Thomas' Treatise on Law, and such -- couched in Abrahamic prophetic prose. It's worth knowing, even if the guy plagiarized, womanized, and dissembled.
Have you read Hitler's Mein Kampf or Marx and Engel's Communist Manifesto. Both good things to know. Just like Obama's Dreams from My Father. Sick minds. Yet enlightening. Nietzsche called philosophers "physicians of culture." What do physicians do? They study diseases.
Best, PP
Scotju,
Take a breath! King was a mixed bag, by all means. But a fraud, a jerk, a commie? If we want to talk frauds, many a pope could compete as well. Nonetheless, the papacy has done a lot of good. Likewise, the Civil Rights movement has done a lot of good. King was the man who spoke truth to power when white police allowed german shepherds to gnarl black women. Tough times. Was he a saint, or is he worthy of the messiah-like adulation he now receives? No way, I agree. But not a fraud either. Your attitude to me is as wrong-headed as the black worship of him. Just my seven cents. The African-American community needs heroes, and it manufactures them. As far as profiles go, they could do far worse than King...
I wonder if these are White ppl commenting on King's character...
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