The Watchtower of Destruction: The Ferrett's Journal - February 21st, 2008
[Recent Entries][Archive][Friends][User Info]
|
09:02 am
[Link] |
The Greatness of Martin Luther King
I've seen the video - grainy footage from the 1960s, but that loud, sometimes-wavering preacher's voice comes through loud and clear. He's standing at the Lincoln Memorial before a crowd of thousands, his head raised with passion... And he's almost shouting as he tells them the truth:
"I have a policy!" he says. "That over the course of the next eighteen months, we will continue our slow process of costing the Southern economy money as selected members of the Negro community refuse to frequent restaurants, clothing shops, and goods stores that we have listed on our official headquarters as being Negro-unfriendly!
"I have a policy that aims to reduce the southern economy's efficiency by a full 6.8%, causing a ripple effect of causing White people to use their jobs! But never fear - I have a policy, wherein we will use selected contacts in the newspapers and media to help mediate the backlash effect of anger from disenfranchised white voters who might otherwise blame us!
"I have a policy today, and over the next hour I will regale you with the minutiae of my vision!"
Then the crowd went fucking nuts. It was amazing. What they'd come there to see was not an inspirational talk that would make them feel good about a man who they were entrusting the fine details of their policy to! Foolishly, I'd thought that they'd all come there to hear the grand vision - the noble sentiments that fueled that policy, the ideas that he was struggling to achieve.
But no. It was strange. It was as if MLK was a car salesman, and the crowd had come there not to understand what the car they would drive would be like, but to hear the endless lists of upholstery stitches and welding marks that would make the car.
In that day, I realized how badly I misunderstood the American public. They didn't want to hear about stupid dreams, or listen to inspirational speeches. What's moved their hearts since Day One were the policy wonk speeches - like Lincoln's famous "Gettysburg Principles," wherein he wisely ignored the dead of the Civil War and instead addressed the new general-rotating system he was putting into place to solve the problem of inefficient Northern combat scenarios. And when Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," and then went on for three hours about various local jobs that citizens could do, that extension of time was a masterwork of public speechmaking.
That's why Obama's going to fail. All he does is give people hope with foolish platitudes. His policies are all listed on his site, where people would have to click a link to get them. How's he ever going to get traction in America by giving inspirational speeches?
|
|