MLK Day
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We don’t celebrate MLK for his economic philosophy. Never have. He seemed to believe than an overhaul of capitalism was needed for the social change necessary to take hold. He was wrong.MLK said a lot of things, not just a single speech. Some in this thread seem to be unaware that he was pretty much a radical. In fact he may have been the earliest Democratic Socialist...
Early on (1952) a letter to his soon to be wife Coretta Scott...
“I imagine you already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic… [Capitalism] started out with a noble and high motive… but like most human systems it fell victim to the very thing it was revolting against. So today capitalism has out-lived its usefulness.”
From 1966...
“[W]e are saying that something is wrong … with capitalism…. There must be better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism.” – Speech to his staff, 1966
"We must recognize that we can’t solve our problem now until there is a radical redistribution of economic and political power… this means a revolution of values and other things. We must see now that the evils of racism, economic exploitation and militarism are all tied together… you can’t really get rid of one without getting rid of the others… the whole structure of American life must be changed. America is a hypocritical nation and [we] must put [our] own house in order.”- Report to SCLC Staff, May 1967.
CoH thinks he knows MLK...
"I could be wrong about Dr. King, but you have not made the case that I am. Maybe you should counter my argument with a substantive argument about how MLK would support CRT, or take the side of the academics in the pending case."
Pretty sure he'd disagree with your dismissal of systemic racism...
“The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism.” – Speech to SCLC Board, March 30, 1967.
He also advocated in favor of guaranteed income as a means to abolish poverty. And in case people want to argue that he renounced these beliefs later on, he said this 2 weeks before he was murdered...
“If America does not use her vast resources of wealth to end poverty and make it possible for all of God’s children to have the basic necessities of life, she too will go to hell.” – Speech at Bishop Charles Mason Temple of the Church of God in Christ in support of the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike on March 18th, 1968, two weeks before he was assassinated.
Martin Luther King on Capitalism in His Own Words
Throughout his life, Martin Luther King Jr spoke often and with vision about the nature of capitalism. The power of his words speak as much to the present day as they did to the turbulent times h…mlkglobal.org
The Bee sums it up for me.
Harriet Tubman Honored With Statue Of Her Left Big Toe
AUBURN, NY — Following the new tradition of erecting disturbing modern-art monuments for prominent historical figures, the city of Auburn has unveiled a bronze statue of abolitionist and Underground Railroad leader Harriet Tubman's left big toe.
babylonbee.com
It’s the arms of MLK and Coretta embracing each other. Hopeful. Joyful. Arty.
Hateful people usually lack imagination too.
Same people probably hate Starry Night too.
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You would be fine as long as you didn't want to read "Sally Has a Penis" and "George's New Vagina" to them.
As far as MLK goes, he has gotten the treatment that most of our civic heroes used to get: rough edges are smoothed out or blatantly ignored in order to magnify the reason the person is important to our shared history.
MLK was a radical on some economic ideas that are very not popular with a significant portion of our populace, both past and present. He screwed around on his wife. He also gave one of the most important speeches in the history of our nation. So he has gotten the Jefferson and Washington treatment where we gloss over and/or mostly ignore the things that, while true, don't have as much bearing on our current civic culture (well, we used to do that, now we have to tear those guys down...which in turn leads to everyone who wasn't clean as a whistle needing to be teared down...which ultimately leads to the degradation of the secular ties that bind.)
MLK was a radical on some economic ideas that are very not popular with a significant portion of our populace, both past and present. He screwed around on his wife. He also gave one of the most important speeches in the history of our nation. So he has gotten the Jefferson and Washington treatment where we gloss over and/or mostly ignore the things that, while true, don't have as much bearing on our current civic culture (well, we used to do that, now we have to tear those guys down...which in turn leads to everyone who wasn't clean as a whistle needing to be teared down...which ultimately leads to the degradation of the secular ties that bind.)
So why accept that? If asked "are Republicans racist" I wouldn't say yes just because a few are, that isn't indicative of the group as a whole. If one says that about the group, one must assume a majority fits the description.
Uh huh. I know what it’s supposed to be. So everyone that is questioning it is hateful and lacks imagination? If you know anything about art, you know that it is open for interpretation . Art is subjective. Some people will like it, some people won’t. That doesn’t make one hateful or lacking imagination.It’s the arms of MLK and Coretta embracing each other. Hopeful. Joyful. Arty.
Hateful people usually lack imagination too.
Same people probably hate Starry Night too.
You may not but how many Democrats would you say would? My guess is quite a few. Most people tend to answer the question put before them, particularly in polls, because they aren't putting much thought into them to begin with. (IMO)
As usual, you have to put words in the mouths of those with whom you disagree so that you can make some negative point about them.
Please quote exactly where I said “everyone” who didn’t like it was hateful. You can’t because I didn’t. I said “hateful people lack imagination, too.“ YOU transformed that into “all people who don’t like it are hateful.“
The nuance between those two ideas was lost on you, and you took your assumption about “everyone“ and applied it to me, then criticized me without realizing you were really criticizing yourself.
It’s like the difference when people here say “the Democrats apply a different rule to Joe Biden than they apply to Donald Trump.” On this board, that is equated to support for Trump, even though the two ideas of “pro Trump” and “different rules” are completely separate and completely different. Rather than perhaps accepting a suggestion that both Trump and Biden were wrong about something, this board limits itself.
So let me spoon feed you. Some people complaining about the beautiful piece of art created in Boston to honor MLK are doing it because they are hateful. Some hate King. Some hate white people. Some hate other things. Some hate everything. Some of those same people probably hate the painting called Starry Night also.
Sheesh.
I agree many Democrats would say Republicans are racist. And when/if someone here says that you would complain bitterly and would be correct. I'm used to all Democrats being called socialists, though that is equally incorrect.
I don’t see that piece as arty, beautiful, or as requiring imagination. It shows hands on an object. I enjoy Picasso because it’s fun interpreting his work. Here the hands are not an abstraction. But what is the rest of it? There is noting to interpret. You need to know the secret which is the photo.It’s the arms of MLK and Coretta embracing each other. Hopeful. Joyful. Arty.
Hateful people usually lack imagination too.
Same people probably hate Starry Night too.
Much better for me would have been to include the faces,
I am not saying they are right, just saying that polls like that are kind of grain of salt to me.
Most people when asked a question like that have to be prompted to get down to their real opinion. "Do you thinknpoor people are lazy and that is why they are poor? Yes or No?" That doesn't allow for any nuance. "Do you think African American's lack of wealth is due to racism? Yes or No?" I would answer that question as mostly no today because I think we live in a day and age where the racism component isn't as glaring as it was 70 years ago. There is some nuance to it but if only left with two possibilities I have to discard one...or answer "I don't know."
Who takes the polls, how questions are worded, whether or not a variety of answers are available...all those things go to results.
To put it simply: skin color does not control behavior. The brain controls behavior and as far as I know, we all have the same color brain.
No doubt people of certain color will tend to mimick each other and behave similarly. If the behavior is destructive, the causes are fixable because they are external. The CRT advocates who see skin color as destiny deny this. MLK didn’t and wanted to fix things. I agree with MLK.
Here is the question with my bolding:
On average, blacks have worse jobs, income and housing than white people. Do you think those differences are because most blacks don't have the motivation or willpower to pull themselves out of poverty?
It isn't asking about all Blacks, just most Blacks. It seems that anyone schooled in the thought of not treating people as members of groups would immediately discount that for the word most. If one says most of any group fits a pattern that is thinking of people as members of groups. Do you think if they were asked "are most poor whites lacking motivation and willpower" the answer would be 55% yes?
Heck, are most Republicans conservative? Isn't that thinking of a property of a group rather than millions of individuals?
I'm not much of an art connoisseur. Oddly, I like more sculptures that I see than I do paintings that I see, and I rarely like stuff done in different media - "The story of the west in straw on fabric treated with manure" will never tell ME the intended story, and a crucifix in a lab beaker of urine won't either. Show me the lyrics.
I agree knowing the photo is a help.
My first thought was "folks will need the photo, then the story behind the photo," and suddenly the artwork becomes a beginning of a journey through MLK's's journey - the Christianity, the Gandhi, the courage, the struggle, the absolute unchangeable non-negotiable dedication to non-violence, and the results - despite the "bad" "human" faults and politics.
The Embrace.
What else did MLK embrace? People of good will. And sadly, they are dying off in favor of people who count their best talent as being good at social media insults by any means necessary, and who sold racial division and sex as the first story of this monument.
This also just hit me - what if an artist made a sculpture of 2 feet, with one staying on and the other stepping off the end of the Edmund Pettus Bridge? Would racial hatred and sex jokes be the first reaction to that too?
Sigh.
For you and your bride. The Saint Louis Art Fair. For a miserable city it is outstanding! Just a great fair. Great food. Great art. All sorts. Sculptures. Paintings. Cool stuff. Cards game one day. Art fair the next. Bam
I think the conservative and liberal labels are almost useless at this point politically other than to denote the tribe we belong to. We have gotten really good at creating tribes out of Americans. All of us. I think that is one of the issues with the DEI training that people should really be cognizant of. It basically argues that we are made of tribes of people with immutable characteristics that are arguing over limited resources. That argument becomes extremely dangerous if the dominant tribe actually starts to take that line of thinking seriously and runs it to its logical conclusion.
Are those Republicans right? No, they aren't. It is a lazy way of grouping people and dumbing a complex question down. It is hard to blame them though because the "conservative" (for lack of a better term) approach based around individuality and personal responsibility has been mostly run out of the public conscience (unless we are talking about abortion where the two sides almost flip). It is something I see argued from time to time on righty blogs and thought pieces, the idea that "liberalism" or whatever name you give to the line of thought that makes up the Democratic Party, is the "default" mainstream position. Since it is that way, arguments are often framed around that paradigm. We just accept that type of question (Is Group X this?) on its face without saying, "Well technically there is no such thing as group X." It is so ubiquitous that we don't even question that anymore.
We are in the middle of a political revolution IMO. Possibly on par with 1848 in Europe depending on how things go. So the conservative and liberal political labels are shifting.
Haha righto. Why did you feel the need to think anyone ( not everyone but anyone) who dislikes an art piece is hateful or lacks imagination? . Don’t blame me for you turning a post negative. Is it necessary to get condescending, as you generally do when someone disagrees with YOU?
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