dagblog - Comments for "MLK: Traitor and Conformist"

It is fair enough to say that

moat — Sun, 24 Jan 2016 22:44:29 +0000

It is fair enough to say that King's view involved a Marxist analysis in the sense that the world is an entire system that involves all people and needs to be understood as one place as much as is possible. But your theory makes too little of King's work to establish a certain national character and claim what the best kind of citizen of the U.S is like. He is a lot closer to Thoreau than Marx in formulating the idea that expressing a personal requirement of conscience is political expression.
In terms of violence, Marx clearly stated that meaningful change could only come after a deadly struggle that results in the seizure of power. To cast MLK jr. in such a role would amount to a sleight of hand. Adding "in a non-violent way" would require another.

Martin Luther King Jr was

rmrd0000 — Sun, 24 Jan 2016 20:31:21 +0000

In reply to MLK developed his radical

Martin Luther King Jr was never a Marxist, King flatly rejected Communism and Marxism. King fits more in the category of Democratic Socialist.

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/1/martin-luther-kingsocialism...

MLK developed his radical

Peter — Sun, 24 Jan 2016 19:02:41 +0000

In reply to I enjoyed reading this post.

MLK developed his radical Marxist analysis much earlier than 1967 and he didn't have to 'become' something he already was. JFK's comments after their first meeting shows this fact clearly. The use of nonviolent tactics during the Civil Rights stage of his evolution was the foundation he would never have compromised because of his Christian revolutionary roots.

He was playing with a much bigger and more dangerous fire when he transitioned to attacking the root causes of racism/inequality at home and abroad, Capitalism and his new tactics would probably have been more radical/militant but still nonviolent.

The era of the Righteous powerful leader representing the possibility of true positive change for humanity is past and the example that the State made of MLK with his assassination insured anyone with those possible talents and drive will keep their heads down.

Thanks - I'm as interested in

PeraclesPlease — Sun, 24 Jan 2016 06:23:55 +0000

In reply to I enjoyed reading this post.

Thanks - I'm as interested in where the new MLK(s) Is (black, Arab, economic, global ecology, immigrant rights...) and what it means to break new ground vs supporting efforts already underway. And how overall moral, philosophical attitude informs the work in pragmatic ways. And mostly happy a few people enjoyed a different take on things, "right" or "wrong". Cheers.

As King moved from

rmrd0000 — Sun, 24 Jan 2016 01:06:16 +0000

In reply to I enjoyed reading this post.

As King moved from desegregation to poverty and the Vietnam War, his rhetoric became more militant as noted by Dyson.

http://www.popmatters.com/review/i-may-not-get-there-with-you/

He saw riots as the "language of the unheard, but remained committed to nonviolence

http://time.com/3838515/baltimore-riots-language-unheard-quote/

Andrew Young noted that King became more militant but never changed his commitment to nonviolence

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/05/19/Malcolmx.king/

I enjoyed reading this post.

Danny Cardwell — Sat, 23 Jan 2016 22:39:11 +0000

In reply to MLK: Traitor and Conformist

I enjoyed reading this post. I think some of the push back you've received has been a bit harsh, but every time we hit that save button we open ourselves up to criticism. Dr. King did become a bit more radical in the last years of his life. James Melvin Washington, Cornel West, and Michael Eric Dyson have pinned articles and books detailing his shift from a strict doctrine of civil disobedience to entertaining the ideas of more militant individuals in the civil rights movement. Dr. King struggled with the notion of asking people inside his circle not to defend themselves when confronted with physical violence. Thanks for this piece!

Now that's a great video clip

rmrd0000 — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 04:23:59 +0000

In reply to (No subject)

Now that's a great video clip

Thanks, Richard

(No subject)

Richard Day — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 04:10:33 +0000

In reply to MLK: Traitor and Conformist

Sure. Keep telling yourself

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 21:17:52 +0000

In reply to I can take complexity.

Sure. Keep telling yourself that.

The core reason he was feared

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 21:15:19 +0000

In reply to I'm not sure what the point

The core reason he was feared was he was a Marxist? Look, "a better distribution of wealth" is core Democratic platform in conservative year 2016 - he's hardly advocating collective farms and nationalizing factories. I mean really, MLK owned a handgun says what? Revolution from the barrel of a gun? An abandonment of passive resistance?

I tried to write something interesting, and I either get the same old history sops tossed back at me or some fantastical stretch of MLK's approach.