Rip Down That MLK Quote! Martin Luther King's Thinking Just Not "Inclusive" Enough For U of Oregon Students
University of Oregon's student union building, now under renovation, has the famous Martin Luther King quote on the wall:
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream..."
I've always found this so inspiring -- perhaps because I'm not one of today's grievance hunters, looking for insult at every turn.
And really every, every turn, because the nitwits on the Student Union Board at U of O "seriously considered replacing the quote," according to Mediaite's Alex Griswold:
"The quote is not going to change," reports student paper Oregon Daily Emerald, "but that decision was not made without some hard thought by the Student Union Board."When the student union considered the question, some students asked, "Does the MLK quote represent us today?" The problem wasn't so much the message, but the fact that it only focused on racial diversity instead of gender identity.
"Diversity is so much more than race," said one sophomore architecture major. "Obviously race still plays a big role. But there are people who identify differently in gender and all sorts of things like that."
Being judged by the content of your character...well, it does leave a bad taste for the grievance hunters, who prefer to be judged by (and given unearned power for) the content of their worksheets: that is, how many checkboxes on the victimization list they can tick off.
If I'm not mistaken the UofCali considers that quote racist.
Ben at January 27, 2016 6:00 AM
I was about to link this in the linkies page, but I saw that you'd commented on the mediate site, so I figured I should check the rest of the blog.
As for me, the next time someone tells me to check my "white male privilege", I'm going to respond that "as a trans-gendered trans-racial woman of color, you need to check your cis-privilege!"
I R A Darth Aggie at January 27, 2016 6:09 AM
There's a great deal of privilege in putting yourself forth as a victim. It's covert narcissism -- a way to be special through how supposedly downtrodden you are, which is kind of hilarious when it comes from some student attending college and living in a dorm (with a gym and all sorts of other fab facilities and food) in 2016.
Amy Alkon at January 27, 2016 6:30 AM
I find it ironically humorous that the so-called civil rights movement is rejecting the legacy of MLK. The thing is, it's only part of an overall pattern to erase history and replace it with an origin story that suits the group's purposes. Of course, what they don't realize is that reading about the real history of slavery in America is far more powerful, in terms of influencing people's thinking, than the stories that the post-modern civil rights movements invent. To anyone who isn't a devout follower of the religion, the latter are such obvious fairy tales that they get brushed off.
Cousin Dave at January 27, 2016 6:54 AM
They are losing the greatness of becoming a 'better' person by endorsing a better 'me'.
It's not in my physical interests to become a 'better person'. Nothing to gain from it at all physically if I have my 'tribe' (relatives, like-minded, etc.).
This is their normal. Only what benefits the tribe. This will be their downfall once the majority takes notice and decides they are not useful idiots to have around.
Bob in Texas at January 27, 2016 9:09 AM
They're rewriting Genesis.
In this version, original sin is not disobeying God, but being innately prejudiced. The entire human race bears the taint of this sin.
Instead of baptism to wash away Eve's original sin, one must undergo re-education to purge one's inborn prejudice and ignorance.
We will not return to the Garden, we will create the Garden.
We will fix the human race's historical mistake of creating a gender-binary system.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/426071/ku-student-senate-votes-ban-hisher-governing-document-because-theyre-microaggressions
Conan the Grammarian at January 27, 2016 9:54 AM
Even the federal government is in on the gender-binary lunacy.
http://freebeacon.com/issues/feds-removing-he-she-regulation-avoid-gender-binary/
Conan the Grammarian at January 27, 2016 9:55 AM
The thing that grates about MLK's quote, is that he suggests people be judged by their character. But today's special people want to be given special treatment even if they are jerks and violent and crazy. No judging of character allowed.
Craig Loehle at January 27, 2016 10:10 AM
Pretty easy for the Twinkie generation to try their political power. When they feel like facing firehoses and police dogs, I'd pay to watch that.
Canvasback at January 27, 2016 10:21 AM
When they feel like facing firehoses and police dogs, I'd pay to watch that.
I'd pay to man the water canon, or cry havoc! and let slip the dogs of war.
I R A Darth Aggie at January 27, 2016 10:32 AM
Conan: "...being innately prejudiced. The entire human race bears the taint of this sin."
I thought only white people did.
Ken R at January 27, 2016 11:49 AM
I think Booker T Washington had these people figured out a long time ago:
“There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.”
― Booker T. Washington
Shtetl G at January 27, 2016 11:52 AM
""The quote is not going to change," reports student paper Oregon Daily Emerald..."
By "change", I wonder if they were thinking about replacing the quote with a different one, or modifying the quote itself.
Ken R at January 27, 2016 11:55 AM
Food for thought:
"Transgender" is a misnomer. You cannot change your biological gender no matter how many hormones you take or surgeries you undergo.
The correct term would be "transvestite"; a person who takes on the dress and affectations of the opposite sex. People who feel they were born the wrong sex may have deep rooted psychological and emotional angst. Their pain and confusion is probably very real. But society does them a disservice by pretending they can change their sex through drugs and/or surgery.
Jay at January 27, 2016 12:39 PM
"In this version, original sin is not disobeying God, but being innately prejudiced. The entire human race bears the taint of this sin."
Not the entire human race. Only the politically incorrect, who are damned by birth. The politically correct are totally free of sin.
"Instead of baptism to wash away Eve's original sin, one must undergo re-education to purge one's inborn prejudice and ignorance."
The thing is, in their dogma, for the damned there is no possibility of salvation. The elect are saved through their special knowledge, which, in their view, is incompressible to the damned. So even though the damned may agree to prostrate themselves in an attempt at atonement, there is no path to redemption for them. They are tainted by original sin and there is no cure for it.
Cousin Dave at January 27, 2016 1:02 PM
Can we do away with Martin Luther King day now?
Bill O Rights at January 27, 2016 2:17 PM
"People who feel they were born the wrong sex may have deep rooted psychological and emotional angst. Their pain and confusion is probably very real. But society does them a disservice by pretending they can change their sex through drugs and/or surgery."
Pretending?
Do you think gender is binary?
Radwaste at January 27, 2016 2:35 PM
"Nothing is so simple that it cannot be misunderstood" — Freeman Teague, Jr.
That is the malevolent game of the revolutionaries. Malevolent, because I can't believe they are as stupid as they appear.
All of reason and communication depends on assumed generalities. MLK wrote "a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin". "They" means his children, and also anyone's children, and anyone else. Interpreting this in the narrow sense of "only his children and according to race" is the game of a revolutionary troll. The poetic and human meaning is "they will not be judged by any superficial quality".
The revolutionary troll says that MLK left out a number of people, classes, and cases which shows MLK's insensitivity to those others. Of course, it says nothing of the kind. Somehow, the troll has gained the power to shut down speech because no one can speak or even write like a lawyer in Legal Old English.
The bedrock of this offense is to require "He/She" in writing where a simple "He" by convention includes any person in an indefinite context. Supposedly, not including "She" and every other shade of sexuality shows bigotry, whenever the revolutionary troll says so.
Notice that this problem appears because the "She" was required in the first place, and then any fix is found to be too specific to qualify as not bigoted.
I feel stupid to write the above, as it should be obvious. But, instead of pushback and laughter, the revolutionary troll is granted power, and almost everyone falls in line to show constantly "I am not a bigot". That is the success of Stalinism, and Stalinism did not turn out well.
This should all be obvious, but I follow the advice of the famous George Orwell, a partly reformed lefty from 1949: "We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men."
We must push back until the trolls are pushed out of power, or until they win and silence all opposition.
Andrew_M_Garland at January 27, 2016 5:11 PM
"The thing is, it's only part of an overall pattern to erase history and replace it with an origin story that suits the group's purposes."
Have noticed it in several places: movie Noah the great sin was not being a vegetarian. Seeing Wikipedia entries that are extremely slanted. I.e. MLK really secretly hated the Republicans and was a Democrat in secret. Very much 1984
Joe j at January 28, 2016 11:04 AM
"When the student union considered the question, some students asked, "Does the MLK quote represent us today?"
So what if it doesn't? You students are not the center of the universe and even things that don't represent you are fine. In nay case, that quotation is not there to "represent" you, it's there to admonish you.
""Diversity is so much more than race," said one sophomore architecture major. "Obviously race still plays a big role. But there are people who identify differently in gender and all sorts of things like that."
Like me. Guess what; I don't begrudge black people the special emphasis they get when it comes to this stuff, because America. This is our thing to deal with and we are doing it.
Jim at January 28, 2016 12:17 PM
Of course Dr. King doesn't represent them today. Today they are represented by toiletmouth rappers and mentally ill Black Lives Matter activists.
Bumper sticker:
Okay, fine.
What /is/ the content of your character?
Alan at January 28, 2016 2:52 PM
If that Booker T. Washington is accurate then he should be arrested for a hate crime, no one uses the word negro anymore and he is clearly wanting to call African Americans the "n" word but doesn't have the guts that he really wants to say. Based on the spelling, clearly he is a Brit and their hate crimes laws are more suited to take action. Maybe racist will get the message and shut up.
Vinny B. at February 7, 2016 2:15 PM
Leave a comment