A reminder. Is it worthy of your recommendation?

[Boojatta]

To answer "yes", kick and recommend this thread.

First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man's freedom (...)

In your statement, you asserted that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But can this assertion be logically made? Isn't this like condemning the robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery? Isn't this like condemning Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical delvings precipitated the misguided popular mind to make him drink the hemlock? Isn't this like condemning Jesus because His unique God-consciousness and never-ceasing devotion to his will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? We must come to see, as federal courts have consistently affirmed, that it is immoral to urge an individual to withdraw his efforts to gain his basic constitutional rights because the quest precipitates violence. (...)

I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth of time. I received a letter this morning from a white brother in Texas which said: "All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." All that is said here grows out of a tragic misconception of time. It is the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time is neutral. It can be used either destructively or constructively. I am coming to feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people. We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.

[RandomThoughts]

1. Your second paragraph matches in part a recent comment.

Although it is an analysis with no concept of a some higher morale truth.

Isn't this like condemning the robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery?

Was his action of having that item a far worse wrong then someone else that needed it taking it? You pose a question of ownership, set by a system of society that is rarely equitable, and in cases of unbalance it is ok to blame that person by questioning the merits of an unbalanced system. If those merits fail by some 'morale truth' then that defines the answer to that question. Some think morale truth is 'might make right' some think it is a collective decision by many people for the benefit of most people and the protection of those in the minority.


Our current system is 'might makes right' either by money or even violence and intimidation.

When there is a just system, then a robber could be held to account, because ownership would be seen as just. Currently the mitigating circumstances of unbalance makes the whole question vague.

But instead of defending the person gleaning, the system has been actually backwards, and puts in jail gleaners, and lets the criminals creating consolidations continue many of there actions, without proper actions for correcting the system.

The system is worse then anarchy, it is in reverse justice in many places, but some places are improving.

Where justice would lead to equitable situations, the current reverse justice is causing consolidations that will bring down society.


Then again, they haven't sent the beer and travel money that is due, so you already know that.

[GeorgeGist]

2. Your white moderate ...

sounds just like Obama.

[MineralMan]

3. Uh, who wrote that? Unrecommended for unattributed quote.

If you're going to quote someone, please do the courtesy of identifying that person, OK?

N.B.: I do know who wrote it. Shame on you for not acknowledging him.

[ScreamingMeemie]

6. And so should most who post here. Letter from a Birmingham Jail

is completely recognizable as the writing of Martin Luther King Jr. And I recommended it, because it is a worthy reminder.

[Boojatta]

4. Kick

[TBF]

5. The more things change the more they stay the same.

A kick for the author who is very relevant today.

[Boojatta]

7. Kick