Final Blog

I found this article really interesting and enlightening. If there’s anyone we can learn about compassion from it’s definitely Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It’s interesting because he’s so well known for his pacifism and preaching peace that an angry MLK seems like an oxymoron.While he was a great man, and held strong christian values, I don’t think that it was totally just out of moral code that he was peaceful and had to hide anger. I think a large part was also optics.If MLK had displayed anger or didn’t preach peace, it’s likely he would’ve been heavily demonized since any anger or rudeness a black person might display will get them painted as a ‘thug’ or a violent criminal. It was instrumental to MLK having the influence he did over wider culture that he approached his movement through a peaceful way,and it’s why he’s more remembered than other figures at the time like Malcom X. MLK wouldn’t have been able to sway the centrist whites into helping the cause. The concept of channeling anger into action into redemption into love is a very powerful one I think. Anger often can be very destructive and divisive, and just lead to bitterness, but utilizing it into fighting against an unjust system like MLK did is really what revolutions are made of, because anger, in whatever way, can be powerful. The part towards the end where he talks about using anger against a system, but not directly at individuals who are just a part of the system really resonated with me. Focusing that hatred on just individuals, who are often ignorant and cogs in a larger machine does nothing but stir unproductive rivalry. While I think a ton of things that MLK said are great, and that peace is pretty rad, I don’t necessarily believe in always staying peaceful or calm. I think that sometimes, when there’s an unjust system that has done so much harm, and people are pissed off, sometimes the only way to fix something is just to burn the whole system down and start over. Don’t get me wrong, I love peace, Big fan, really… However, sometimes in order to enact necessary radical change there needs to be conflict. MLK understood that it was necessary to get the white liberal vote, and that certainly helped his press and get his movement out there, but not everything shaked out that way. Sometimes, a little violence is necessary. You gotta break a few eggs to make a Utopian omelette society. Take the French Revolution for example; yeah, it totally sucked, but I would much rather have a bunch of spoiled bureaucrats murdered than an oppressive system that screws the little guy over. In the end, the French peoples’ anger was constructive. It just lacked the redemption and love from MLK. Though, peace love and redemption does sound nicer, and I think I’d rather not murder all the upper class if I can help it(we’d lose a lot of classmates). I think it helps to remember that those who disagree with you, even those who are bigoted are people too,and that we’re all products of a faulty system who made us helps see the big picture to focus on what change is really important.

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