dagblog - Comments for "Unalienable Rights"

Please, MLK was respectable,

PeraclesPlease — Sat, 14 Nov 2015 08:53:08 +0000

In reply to Thanks, I just needed to get

Please, MLK was respectable, Rosa Parks we respectable, Thurgood Marshall was respectable, Ralph Abernathy was respectable, etc. Not everyone has to be as respectable as this, but in high profile cases and public opinion, it helps to have some figures beyond reproach. Yes, some can infer flaws in whomever, but these were gold standard. Then you have secondary figures who help move the ball forward - these will be from all walks, but you don't need to scrape the bottom just to prove every right is sacred. I understand good cop/bad cop, but let's hope there's really a good cop to make progress for the fear and negative feelings the bad cops cause. Right now black protests have people resigning - that's power but not progress in and of itself. Making candidates name names of blacks who suffered may be useful or may just be lording a bit of power over someone just to show they can. If changes in acceptance and tolerance and less calling people Nigger and other needs happen, all is good. But do we see steps? Power also creates petty tyrants - Winnie Mandela and countless others - so good to keep real goals obvious and out front to keep eyes on the prize, whatever the prizes you deem worthwhile. I don't think the protesters with megafones were a very good representation, but my opinion doesn't matter much - still, what are the useful outcomes to be had? Is it working? And who are the actors making that work? Is there a repeatable recipe? How will it look in 3 years? How do you want it to look?

Thanks, I just needed to get

rmrd0000 — Sat, 14 Nov 2015 05:28:01 +0000

In reply to Great piece. I'm with you.

Thanks, I just needed to get that off my chest.

Some of us suggest that blacks should change their speech, clothing styles, or taste in music to expect to receive justice. Black Lives Matter is not well-behaved, so it is easy for reactionaries to demonize them. The basic problem here is that we are looking for ideal victims and pristine activist organizations. We forget that the Martin Luther King Jr we idolize today was demonized as a Communist. King was not perfect, he was an adulterer. If we wait for perfection in our warriors, we will fail. We cannot expect perfection in people victimized by police. We cannot expect perfection in activists.

While we wait for perfection, we overlook the obvious. We try to find only the cream of the crop of victims of olive abuse, we give the police the right to abuse the best of us. While we give behavior instructions to activist organizations, we ignore the attack that we are under.Many look at hate speech on the radio or listen to the rankings off right wing Sheriffs. There is a worry that they will enrage the wingnut masses. If only we were so lucky that the attack would come in the future. The attack is now.

The wingnut masses are not getting revved up by hate radio and local Sheriffs. They are being juiced by the modern Republican Party and Republican politicians. Donald Trump has openly demonized Latinos. The GOP makes a habit of disrespecting blacks. I noted in a comment in another blog that Ted Cruz, Bobby Jindal, and Mike Huckabee appeared at a conference sponsored by an anti-Gay pastor who believes that Gays should be put to death.

While some worry about the respectability of the black community or the rude behavior of Black Lives Matter, the GOP has already become hard-lined reactionaries. The media is not going to press Cruz, Jindal, or Huckabee over their connection to a hate monger minister with anything close to the intensity that Obama faced with Reverend Wright, Hillary faces on Benghazi, or Sanders has to face in repeatedly explains the term Social Democrat because the media is too stupid to explain the term to viewers.

We have those in charge of the venomous Republican snake demonizing minorities, Gays, and women. Worrying about hate radio is a distraction. Trump does not need hate radio to attack minorities, he is expressing his heart. Ben Carson is willing to demonize blacks who do not agree with his cult religion. Cruz and Rubio are willing to demonize Latinos who came to the US for economic opportunities. Carla Fiorina is willing to demonize women who want control over their bodies. Hate radio is not the problem. Wingnut Sheriffs are not the problem. The Republican Party is the problem

If we are waiting for those at the forefront of the battle to be "respectable", we will be standing still. Martin Luther King Jr. was not respectable. We have been seriously dumbed down if we expect Liberal activists to be considered respectable. We need to focus on the clear and present danger represented by the Republican Party.

Great piece. I'm with you.

Michael Maiello — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 03:56:52 +0000

In reply to Unalienable Rights

Great piece. I'm with you. Human rights are yours from birth. We should not interfere with one another's desires without cause. We should all follow our bliss.

We're mostly all a little reactionary too, though. We're born, we learn slowly and continuously, adaptation is hard and change involves risk. We can only help people along if we can convince them we're headed towards a better place.