... and saw the Cultural Marxism, PC-ness, double-standards and hypocrisy of the left?
That's the question I posed on FB today. The following is a paraphrased version of a long post I wrote. The language has been altered, but the message is the same.
******
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous speech about having a dream was a beautiful speech; he said that he hoped that one day, America would be a country where his children - and by default, all people - would be judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin.
After he died, many people have examined America's sociocultural climate and the state of race relations (and this has all changed in more ways than one since he died). They have asked themselves what would Dr. King have thought or said if he'd been alive to see these changes.
Well, in early 2016, America is in the final year of the presidency of its first-ever black president. But the America Dr. King would witness today is a very divided nation. Unity is more than ever unachieved. And although no one political party or ideology in America can be said to be morally flawless, one does wonder. What would Dr. King think, especially given the conduct and ideas and policies put forth by the left, which is the group that boasts carrying on his mantle and dream?
How would Dr. King react if he saw business owners, who by choosing to follow their consciences, got slapped with 6-figure fines (and this not by court order but rather through the orders of city bureaucrats who got to their positions through political favors and ideological connections to the left)?... even though those business owners followed their consciences because their convictions matched the same Christian beliefs Dr. King preached?
Or, what would be Dr. King's reaction if he witnessed, read, and heard about members of specific groups - whether race, gender, or both - aggressively asserting, teaching, and proclaiming that they cannot ever be racist, discriminatory, prejudiced, or judgmental because the demographic groups they are members of were historically "marginalized" or "oppressed?" I mean, if Dr. King meant it that a person's character was to be the sole gauge of a person, then what would Dr. King's assessment of people's character be if these people believed with all their beings that they are literally unable to be guilty or racism or bigotry - regardless of any real-world, facts-on-the-ground pain or trouble or injustice that they might cause?
Would Dr. King agree to this kind of claims of immunity from moral responsibility?
If Dr. King were alive in January 2016, what would he say after observing groups who thrive in the "grievance industry," complaining about the "privilege" of other groups whom they consider to be better off (not necessarily, but certainly including financially) than themselves? And because of that, being less "privileged," such people thought they were entitled to preferential treatment - something done very often through emotional manipulation and guilt-tripping of the "privileged," even though many if not most of the time the "privileged" had done nothing to make the "less privileged" actually be "less privileged?"
Were Dr. King to learn that in 2016 America, the college careers, personal reputations, and family finances of male undergraduates were being destroyed through false accusations which were enabled by standards that loosened the definition of "rape," combined with a culture of impunity re: false accusers and low standards of what constituted an actual rape? And as a believer in justice, how would Dr. King have spoken to the young women who, oftentimes being jilted lovers and therefore pettily angry and hungry for revenge, opted for fabrications which were believed because of their gender - even if those fabrications were largely unpunished even after their stories were debunked?
Finally, given that Dr. King was a Christian leader, how would Dr. King have felt as he saw that in the name of "justice for all," many who stubbornly claim to be following in his footsteps (not only in activism but also in faith) believed in retributionary measures - measures which did not only not right past wrongs but actually created new wrongs, and which consequently multiplied injustice? How would Dr. King, as a man of faith, react to such people's careless division of people between "oppressed" and "oppressors," with the constant pumping up of class envy? As Dr. King aimed for nonviolence and for reconciliation between former enemies, how would Dr. King react as he witnessed many neutrals and formerly sympathetic people turn against the left because of the left's insistent and annoying focus on manipulation of the consciences of others and on making everything "us vs. them?"
Dr. King would be an octogenarian today. But I believe he'd weep after seeing how his dream was hijacked by intolerant preachers of "tolerance."
That's the question I posed on FB today. The following is a paraphrased version of a long post I wrote. The language has been altered, but the message is the same.
******
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous speech about having a dream was a beautiful speech; he said that he hoped that one day, America would be a country where his children - and by default, all people - would be judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin.
After he died, many people have examined America's sociocultural climate and the state of race relations (and this has all changed in more ways than one since he died). They have asked themselves what would Dr. King have thought or said if he'd been alive to see these changes.
Well, in early 2016, America is in the final year of the presidency of its first-ever black president. But the America Dr. King would witness today is a very divided nation. Unity is more than ever unachieved. And although no one political party or ideology in America can be said to be morally flawless, one does wonder. What would Dr. King think, especially given the conduct and ideas and policies put forth by the left, which is the group that boasts carrying on his mantle and dream?
How would Dr. King react if he saw business owners, who by choosing to follow their consciences, got slapped with 6-figure fines (and this not by court order but rather through the orders of city bureaucrats who got to their positions through political favors and ideological connections to the left)?... even though those business owners followed their consciences because their convictions matched the same Christian beliefs Dr. King preached?
Or, what would be Dr. King's reaction if he witnessed, read, and heard about members of specific groups - whether race, gender, or both - aggressively asserting, teaching, and proclaiming that they cannot ever be racist, discriminatory, prejudiced, or judgmental because the demographic groups they are members of were historically "marginalized" or "oppressed?" I mean, if Dr. King meant it that a person's character was to be the sole gauge of a person, then what would Dr. King's assessment of people's character be if these people believed with all their beings that they are literally unable to be guilty or racism or bigotry - regardless of any real-world, facts-on-the-ground pain or trouble or injustice that they might cause?
Would Dr. King agree to this kind of claims of immunity from moral responsibility?
If Dr. King were alive in January 2016, what would he say after observing groups who thrive in the "grievance industry," complaining about the "privilege" of other groups whom they consider to be better off (not necessarily, but certainly including financially) than themselves? And because of that, being less "privileged," such people thought they were entitled to preferential treatment - something done very often through emotional manipulation and guilt-tripping of the "privileged," even though many if not most of the time the "privileged" had done nothing to make the "less privileged" actually be "less privileged?"
Were Dr. King to learn that in 2016 America, the college careers, personal reputations, and family finances of male undergraduates were being destroyed through false accusations which were enabled by standards that loosened the definition of "rape," combined with a culture of impunity re: false accusers and low standards of what constituted an actual rape? And as a believer in justice, how would Dr. King have spoken to the young women who, oftentimes being jilted lovers and therefore pettily angry and hungry for revenge, opted for fabrications which were believed because of their gender - even if those fabrications were largely unpunished even after their stories were debunked?
Finally, given that Dr. King was a Christian leader, how would Dr. King have felt as he saw that in the name of "justice for all," many who stubbornly claim to be following in his footsteps (not only in activism but also in faith) believed in retributionary measures - measures which did not only not right past wrongs but actually created new wrongs, and which consequently multiplied injustice? How would Dr. King, as a man of faith, react to such people's careless division of people between "oppressed" and "oppressors," with the constant pumping up of class envy? As Dr. King aimed for nonviolence and for reconciliation between former enemies, how would Dr. King react as he witnessed many neutrals and formerly sympathetic people turn against the left because of the left's insistent and annoying focus on manipulation of the consciences of others and on making everything "us vs. them?"
Dr. King would be an octogenarian today. But I believe he'd weep after seeing how his dream was hijacked by intolerant preachers of "tolerance."
