Prinicples above Personalities when it comes to Rev. Farakan

[mandyky]

Without bashing the man, can we at least discuss his ideas?

Basically he promoted a type of shadow government of the poor and disadvantaged. What ideas did you like, which did you not?

I liked his idea of working with Indian reservations. And he also made good points about the racial bias in the media - looting vs finding, etc.

[Loonman]

1. Every sensible thing Louis says

Is cancelled out by the utter whacko stuff he says. What was the deal with the slo-motion walk to the podium at the MMM? That weirded me out.

Now I can't see American Indians aligning themselves with him from a personal point of view, especially in light of the Ward Churchill business, but I speak for myself, not all American Indians. American Indians take a dim view of non-American Indians representing or forwarding their views on their behalf. I'm not saying Louis has, is or will do such, I'm just saying. In general.

[mandyky]

2. But the Movement is not LF

What about the ideas? I, too, thought his intro was a bit much, but that is not the point. The point is, can his ideas be used. I DO NOT want him in charge of it, I am talking about the validity of many of his ideas!

[Dufaeth]

4. Why not take him out of the discussion then?

[mandyky]

6. I thought I did in my original post

Did you hear his speech? Yes, some of it was looney and spooky, but take him out of it and discuss some of the ideas he shared.

[Loonman]

5. I agree, his ideas are interesting and merit worthy

However, when I hear about stuff like the "mothership", and somesuch, it loses it's lustre.

[H2O Man]

7. I think that

Russell Means was one of the speakers at the rally. Of course, Russell is an individual, and no one person represents everyone. But Russell, a sometimes controversial figure, does represent progressive thinking. At the same time, he represents traditional values. (Hard to believe he has become an elder.)

The idea of food production to benefit the poor is both progressive and honors traditional values. The concept from a traditional point of view would not, I suspect, be one to enrich a wealthy individual, it would be to feed the poor. The potential is there.

On a side note, one of the more popular books in the past century was "Black Elk Speaks." The book, which resulted from John Neihardt's conversations with the elderly Oglala warrior and medicine man in the early 1930s, became something of a classic with young people in the 1960s and '70s, both in the USA and Europe. It was translated into eight languages.

Many of the religious experiences of Black Elk may not have translated as well as his basic message. Some things are perhaps difficult for an "outsider" to understand. That may be true of some of the imagery that Farrakhan has used. Perhaps in some cases, what we should aim for is respect .... and that includes respect for things that sound foreign to us, and things we may not understand or believe in ourselves. That, too, is a traditional value that translates into a progressive message.

[Cactus44]

3. I think Farrakhan loses on both points- principle ans personality.

He has not credibility with me. I can't take anything he says seriously and I don't believe there is a legitimate place for him on the stage of American politics.

[mandyky]

8. Can we pretend Jesse Jackson or some other black leader

made the suggestions and go from there?