Ernie: What???
King’s enemy, as far as I can tell, was basically the same society you praised as the “just and decent” If what you just said was true, then King would have hated Eisenhower, which was anything but the case since MLK was a Republican (until the late 1960s) and he would not have attended the schools he did, or appealed to white Americans with any hope at all of getting a Civil Rights cause off the ground. Sure, maybe Ike could have done more, but actions like sending in the National Guard at Little Rock to end school segregation were real and effective. King's enemy was the KKK, local buffoons like Bull Connor, even the ghost of Woodrow Wilson -who had institutionalized racism in government in his day. King could mobilize white people for his cause in part because of -at the time- the continued relevance of the mainline churches, many of whose members helped-out in one way or another. Even two Unitarians were killed in the South at one incident when they traveled there on behalf of Civil Rights. I think you just clarified that you really admire him for his intellect, not necessarily his activism. Actually both, but you can almost say that the order is the reverse of how you just characterized it. That is, I more admire him for his activism. However, in his case intellect played a major role. Not many activist preachers that I know about can see the relevance of Zoroastrianism to anything. King was also more than willing to borrow ideas from Hinduism, viz Gandhi, hence I also admire him for the "Comparative Religion" dimension of his life. King also learned how to use high order political skills. How else could he have worked out ways to bring together such disparate elements as the Southern Christian Leadership group, Randolph's trade union people, northern churches, student activists, an entire menagerie of people working toward a common goal? That is, which is so unlike you, he knew practical politics inside and out. I would not characterize him as a political junkie, but he had that depth of knowledge. He was idealistic, for sure, but he also was very practical in what he did and was able to be practical because of his "nuts and bolts" knowledge. And you have studiously avoided any such thing. Why? I now think I know, about which more later, but in any case, this kind of knowledge is essential in any kind of political context. And King had it. This said, he can be criticized too. I mean, it just isn't "cool" to become a doctor of anything by writing a largely plagiarized dissertation. But nobody knew that at the time. There also was his philandering, which was legendary. Personally I am not judgmental about this, but what I do object to was the gross hypocrisy involved since his professed 'family values' were so dramatically at odds with his conduct. That is, if he had been a sort of black Hugh Hefner from the get go, all right, at least that is honest and everyone knows where they stand -including the women in the picture. But MLK was basically pretending to be what he was not. Anyway, King had real guts. He was willing to go to jail if that was what it took to make a point. And he led marches where -while he was lucky- he might have gotten killed long before he actually was killed. And he did all of this while, at the same time, he was "married with children." I once characterized him as having done an atom bomb's worth of bad and a hydrogen bomb's worth of good. That about sums it up. Billy ________________________________ From: Centroids <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2019 6:03 AM To: Billy Rojas Cc: [email protected] Subject: Points Re: MLK Message [ RC ] Critique of Religion etc Hi Billy, > What...was the key to his appeal and effectiveness? > What was the essence of his message? > > Good questions. Not sure that I can answer either all that well. Thanks for your honesty. I do remember your article about King, but I think you just clarified that you really admire him for his intellect, not necessarily his activism. Anyway, the points I wanted to make are: A. King is a good role model for the kind of political change I want to make In the world (since this has been a perennial question of yours) B. King’s enemy, as far as I can tell, was basically the same society you praised as the “just and decent” world you want to recreate (which has been a perennial concern of mine) Something to think about... E -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
