Sunday, January 16, 2005
Martin Luther Moonbat
After reading RDF's wonderful excerpts in recent weeks from the writings and speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, whose birthday we celebrate this weekend, I got to thinking...
Dr. King would have turned 76 yesterday. While that's pushing the concept of "late middle age" it ain't exactly geezerdom any more, unless you let it be. President Jimmy Carter (b. 1924) is eighty, and he observes elections in dangerous places, keeps up with the best of them on The Daily Show, and builds houses for poor people in his spare time for chrissakes.
So what would Dr. King be doing today if he were still with us?
Of course the problem with this scenario is the fact that if he hadn't been gunned down we most likely wouldn't be in the godawful mess we're in now. Yeah, I know the "conventional wisdom" is that he was starting to lose his effectiveness, that his turn from rights for black people to the Poor People's Campaign was costing him popularity--but I also notice that that was the time somebody chose to stop him.
So let's pretend we're at a sci-fi writer's workshop and have to base a story on the premise that after the shooting his body was rushed into a secret cryogenic facility, which just recently worked out how to thaw him out and repair the damage. That was a few months ago, and he's spent the time since then being brought up to date on what happened during the years he missed.
He's fit, he's refreshed, he's 39 years old and he's going to be appearing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial tomorrow to announce he's back. What do you imagine he'd say?
What do you suppose the reaction would be?
Dr. King would have turned 76 yesterday. While that's pushing the concept of "late middle age" it ain't exactly geezerdom any more, unless you let it be. President Jimmy Carter (b. 1924) is eighty, and he observes elections in dangerous places, keeps up with the best of them on The Daily Show, and builds houses for poor people in his spare time for chrissakes.
So what would Dr. King be doing today if he were still with us?
Of course the problem with this scenario is the fact that if he hadn't been gunned down we most likely wouldn't be in the godawful mess we're in now. Yeah, I know the "conventional wisdom" is that he was starting to lose his effectiveness, that his turn from rights for black people to the Poor People's Campaign was costing him popularity--but I also notice that that was the time somebody chose to stop him.
So let's pretend we're at a sci-fi writer's workshop and have to base a story on the premise that after the shooting his body was rushed into a secret cryogenic facility, which just recently worked out how to thaw him out and repair the damage. That was a few months ago, and he's spent the time since then being brought up to date on what happened during the years he missed.
He's fit, he's refreshed, he's 39 years old and he's going to be appearing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial tomorrow to announce he's back. What do you imagine he'd say?
What do you suppose the reaction would be?
