He was about "peace", non-violent protest specifically. MLK is known for the message of standing up for what you believe in without attack. He was a radical in his time, I do not even begin to deny that. See, I know of this speech, and I it is actually one of the speeches from MLK that I remembered the most. Notice he talks about order. He is talking about people who act as the quotes I gave above, people who would say "why don't those poor black people just stop protesting". I am not calling for an end to protesting. I am not saying that people shouldn't be angry, and shouldn't try and fight for what they believe in (and by fight I do not mean violent fighting). He didn't stand to demean, to attack, or to push others down or tell them they were horrible. He stood for raising awareness for a cause through protest. Through educating people, through planting said seed in their mind that something is wrong. That something needs to change.Is proof to me you know nothing. MLK was a radical. He's been White-Washed in such a way that people like you parrot the "he was about peace"
I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice
Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.
Also, I live in NC and I often travel to remote parts of SC for work. That video of the guy in Alabama isn't a "one off" unusual experience. It's very much real, prevalent and an everyday experience for many people because of the amount of pigment in their skin. Edit: Based on your profile, which says, "hide, hide from the dissenting opinions." I have to assume that you purposefully try and take the counter-argument. Which, is essentially the definition of trolling, right? Because if you find that you are always holding the opposite opinion of those around you, you can pretty much come to one of three conclusions: 1. I'm in the wrong place 2. Everyone else is crazy 3. I'm trollingLike a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.
-The first part of healing the metaphorical boil is admitting it exists, is very much real, very much ugly and has roots well below the surface of the skin. From what I gather from this conversation, you're seeing a benign freckle where 8bit sees, through first hand experience a big nasty malignant boil.
As you know I live in MI and have my whole life. I've also spent a significant amount of time in NC, because I have family there. I would say that both places have a lot of racists, but there are qualitative differences in the way racism manifests itself in the two places. In MI, there are groups who feel comfortable among themselves being racist, so that when there are only friends around, the racist guys let their guard down, but you rarely see it in public. In NC, I've had conversations with people whom I never met before that will say things like (and this is a direct quote), "I'm not really a fan of the blacks." There, it's taken as axiomatic (at least in the small towns) that whites can commiserate over their mutual distaste for all things non-white, even among complete strangers. I'm never really sure how to act in that case. Of course your heart immediately goes to wanting to stand up for humanity, but your head reminds you that all you're going to accomplish is to make things more difficult for yourself. In the above example I was talking to a guy who runs the surveying for Henderson County, NC--the only guy--and I was trying to help my dad get a variance because the builder built his house two feet too close to the property line. So you have a choice between shrugging off the comment, or saying how you feel and making poor old dad tear down his freshly framed house because you've pissed off the one guy who can do anything about it. I'm a pragmatist and a coward, so I took the easy way. However, I think that's how racism propagates itself so easily. People like me (who don't feel racist, and try to be conscious of not acting so) who tolerate actual racists for the sake of expediency. The message received by the racist in that case is probably one of tacit agreement, and any budding racists see this behavior as acceptable and perhaps even positive, because it shows that "we" have a club, and that when in this club a friendly chat about the weather and baseball is all you need to get your variance approved (for example). If you're not in the club, you're taking down the damn house.I live in NC and I often travel to remote parts of SC for work. That video of the guy in Alabama isn't a "one off" unusual experience. It's very much real, prevalent and an everyday experience for many people because of the amount of pigment in their skin.
My first trip to the south was for a wedding in Chattanooga Tennessee. I was walking by myself enjoying the view when a woman who must have been close to 80 years old asked me if I was visiting. I said yes and she said well, you must go see all the beautiful bridges etc. It was a lovely conversation and she was really proud of her town. I thought to myself, "what a lovely woman," and then she told me to stay away from a particular part of town, pointed in its direction and said "because of all the niggers." My jaw dropped, I honestly did not know what to say. I can't remember if I just slowly walked away or if I said something along the lines of, "well I'm not a racist so that will be fine." -I was gobsmacked. So, to your point, it's much more on the sleeve in the south, which is not to say that it is any more or less prevalent.
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In my opinion - and not to be rude in my disagreement with you, TNG - I think the purpose of that statement or the backing behind it is as follows: bioemerl gets blocked/hushed/muted a lot, and it makes him really bitter. The profile statement is a passive aggressive attempt to make people feel bad when they navigate over to his profile after they have chosen to block/hush/mute him. - I mean, I realize I'm analyzing here, but we tell people what we want them to know and how we tell them is part of that. He sees himself as the honorable dissenting opinion and we who find him completely intolerable are "hiding," synonymous in feel with "denying" "choosing not to see," "willful blindness" etc, as opposed to I don't know maybe human people who have the right to choose what other human people we want to interact with or not. - Or what opinions they think are worth investing time with, and not. - It's like "Oh, sorry you're so bitter about the fact that most people don't like your shitty opinions man, I see why you had to put it in your profile. Because your pretty skin is so thin and sensitive." - I mean, thenewgreen - sorry I've edited this like a billion times - I do think bioemerl can be considered a troll - I guess that I just like to believe the best of people. i do think that your conclusions are valid and that your point in general is valid. So I start off disagreeing with you, but I'm not really. I guess the difference is in whether or not you believe bioemerl is consciously trolling or not. I try not to believe that of people, so I see him/that statement as bitter, passive-aggressive, and impotently hacking away at a keyboard. But, if he is consciously trolling, that might actually make me feel a little better about his intellect, although not so much how he chooses to spend his time. I stand by the fact that that statement is designed to make people feel bad for hushing/muting/unfollowing him, which is a bitter betsy "no one likes me and I want to shame you for not liking me" move. To me it just reeks of that. it's like the people who say "I think hubski is elitist" in their profiles. If that's the most important thing you have to say about yourself to every other hubski user, then really, why are you here? You can be elitist and still come here and have a fun time. But you think your personal feeling that it's elitist is the way you want to introduce yourself to everyone else on the site? Seriously, at that point, you're trying to insult people and piss them off. Based on your profile, which says, "hide, hide from the dissenting opinions." I have to assume that you purposefully try and take the counter-argument.
I come to places where people have views that oppose mine and argue with them wherever I can. I love arguments. I tend to encourage and try to cause arguments with the posts I comment on and the places I discuss. I try to find places like this, where views are so different, and comment on them so that I may slowly try and ensure that any views I hold will be shifted to a more neutral point of view. A person who lives their life only agreeing with other people, never bothering to challenge their views, is going to have views that are very weak, and very false. I have to assume that you purposefully try and take the counter-argument.