K: read what you wrote. Secret FBI files and unnamed sources attempt to
smear MLK and why? Why smear someone dead over 50 years now?
it is the same reason people smear those like Socrates and Jesus and
Mohammad and Gandhi… in fact, every single “reformer” has
been smeared since the begining of time… the “reformer”
message regardeless of its content is a danger to those whose
self image is tied up with what the “reformer” was railing
against…in other words, if we think that the “reformer”
was something less then a saint, we don’t have to take their message
seriously… we can just blow off the message of the “reformer” because
they didn’t match some image in our head… MLK message of
racial harmony can simply be dismissed because he was a flawed
human being… and that is your goal… to dismiss MLK and escape
any responsibility for your actions…this attempt to smear
MLK has nothing to do with MLK and everything to do with
your attempt to feel better about yourself, to escape
any responsibility for your own understanding or attitude toward
making yourself a better person…
Why should I engage with my soul when someone as revered as MLK
was a flawed human being? You escape responsibility by lowering
MLK to some level of crass behavior…If MLK was this low of a
human being, why should I follow his lead of engagement
with the questions of existential existence?
what are you so afraid of? Why not engage in those questions
existence that demand answers because you were born…
“What am I to do?” “What should I hope for?” “What values
should engage with?” “What should I spend my energy on?”…
MLK answer was to engage with the self and society in
a search for racial tolerance and Socrates answer
to engage with the self to “Know thyself”
and Jesus answer was to “Love thy neighbor”……
and each answer engages with some aspect of either oneself
or a society that needs to addressed. To smear the messenger is in
some vain attempt to destroy that message, that some aspect
of yourself or your society, or both, needs to be addressed.
so when we hear the message of racial inequality from someone
like MLK, do we dismiss the message because the messenger was
flawed or do we ask ourselves, am I or is my society, guilty of
racial inequality? and the answer most certainly from a society
standpoint is yes, and individually, are you guilty of condoning
racial inequality? I cannot answer that question… only you can…
and if the answer is yes, I am or my society is guilty of racial
inequality, then the question becomes, “What am I to do?”
and we see the Kantian/Kropotkin questions hard at work.
to address such questions as racial inequality or income inequality
or the smear of individuals to aid my ego, or slavery or any other
question of existence that dominate my/our lives is the real/primary
reason for/of existence……… it isn’t about making money or looking
pretty or such material, transitory actions of wealth or power or fame……
No, the questions of existence demand that I face up to what values
should we hold or to “What am I to do”? or “What should I hope for?”………
why was it so important for you to smear MLK?
Is that the values you hold to? is that the message you wish to present to
your fellow ILPers? what should I engage with? is smearing someone
really what you should be engaging with?
Kropotkin