What MLK stood for
It’s Martin Luther King Day here in the US. So here are some thoughts from the man, from an assortment of his writings, that seem to me especially appropriate today.
Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon … which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.
Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.
Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Now that we’ve had this serious moment, go take a look at Yo, Is This Racist, if you haven’t already. It’s fucking hilarious.
Like this:
Posted on January 16, 2012, in actual activism, inspiring, racism. Bookmark the permalink. 65 Comments.
“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
This needs to be plastered on every MRA site.
Lurker surfaces!
These are awesome quotes. Here’s to you, MLK Jr.! Happy post-mortem birthday!
I’ve got nothing against ignorance - there’s no-one on the planet who isn’t ignorant of a colossal number of things. But wilful ignorance is another matter entirely.
If you’re wrong about something, that’s fine - but if you continue to push the same line even after it’s been proven to you beyond any doubt that you’re wrong, that just makes you an asshole. Or worse.
Maybe everyone here should make a pact to only reply to the trolls with those quotes. No other response, just those.
I’ve been to Yo, is this racist before and it IS hilarious. Well at least the responses to some very dumbass and clueless questions are. I really like the weekly summaries.
I don’t understand that “Yo Is This Racist” site. What’s the context for some of these random lines?
Interesting that you posted a speech from Martin Luther King a man who I greatly admire for his struggle for civil rights, but who is also by all accounts a sexist chauvinist who opposed women playing a major role in the civil rights movement and who forced his wife into a very traditonal home maker role while perpeutally cheating on her. While none of these particularily affect my judgement of the mans achievements, I believe all people are flawed in their own way, I do see a parallel with your own condemnation of AVFM calling Tom Ball a hero for their movement. You said that by hailing Tom Ball as a hero AVFM had to also agree with his calls for violence, rather than taking the more nuanced approach that while Tom Ball may well be a beacon for men being abused by the family courts that AVFM does not have to agree and advocate with every one of his believes in order to view him as a hero.
Crumbelievable: People message him asking him if things are racist. He answers.
Ullere: Here’s the deal. “X has some beliefs I agree with and some beliefs I virulently disagree with, but fought hard and successfully for the beliefs I agree with and so I honor him, with awareness of where he fell short” is a valid statement to make. “X had some beliefs I agree with and advocates violence in support of them; I agree with the beliefs but not the violence, so he’s a hero” is not.
It’s even worse than that, ozy. It’s more like, “I agree with the beliefs and also that we must take strong measures, like he did, and also know that our enemies in this war won’t listen until we fuck their shit up. But of course we can’t advocate violence. Not with the feminazi-run government watching.”
Crumbelievable: It’s playing on the fact that many people are clueless about what racism actually *is* (example: people won’t say racist things but will perform racist actions), plus the fact that any social justice theory can be carried into absurdity.
Ullare, MLK, despite his flaws, had a profound ethical vision, and worked for years against great opposition to make this world a better place. He was killed for it. His presence on the earth made life better for millions of people.
Tom Ball engaged in one act of activism, killing himself in order to encourage other men to firebomb courthouses and police stations. He was the ethical equivalent of a suicide bomber.
For sample quotes from MLK, see above.
Some sample quotes from Ball:
and this:
and this:
Here is a good read on sexism in the civil rights movement. http://www.tolerance.org/activity/sexism-civil-rights-movement-discussion-guide
Did Ullere really just compare Thomas Ball to MLK? Oh good lord.
And we’re not so inclined to take the ‘nuanced approach’ when the sort of violent rhetoric used by Elam and his AVFM cohorts would fit perfectly into Ball’s manifesto. When Elam says he doesn’t condone Ball’s actions, he’s lying through his teeth. Elam loves violence and has made his desire to see feminists suffer quite clear.
Molotov cocktails are totally nonviolent you guys!
( on opposite day)
Thanks to Ball and Manboobz, just learned how to make a Molotov cocktail. ^_^
To be fair, Kyrie, the dictionary definition basically tells you how to make one:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/molotov%20cocktail
That said, Ball went on to talk about what kind of bottle to use to make sure it works properly.
“Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”
These are some fine words from MLK. For the last couple of generation men have tried to overcome womens use of State violence and personal violence backed by the State by peaceful means.Women demand revenge for a percieved oppression in history which never happened. Women are aggressive and retaliate if any man dares disagree in the slightest with whatever opinion they put forth. Mens love is met with more oppression and hate.
————
“Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.”
Hatred of man is taught by the State, in our schools, in our corporations, in the media. Womens insatiable lust to hate men is everywhere. Become an overnight millionaire by selling shirts with slogans like “boys are stupid throw rocks at them” speaks volumes about a society. Hatred of men is the driving force to selling products.
————
“Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.”
The rot has flourished. Women having all the power call good evil and evil good, lies are truth and truth are lies.
———-
“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
Nothing describes the mentality of women today who’ve been so easily led by a few men at the top. MLK spoke some fine words. I wonder if modern day women will learn from them or twist the meaning to portray women as victims?
The original molotovs generally used booze, not gas, as the flammable liquid. Hence “cocktail”.
Wow, NWO, that word salad almost makes sense. wait a sec… /me rereads… Okay, never mind, your record of bullshit, outright lies and dumbfuckery stands.
And the great NWO tradition of attempting to claim the achievements of far greater men for himself on the grounds that like them he has a penis continues. It’s particularly funny in this case for obvious reasons.
NWO, honey, racists don’t get to co-opt MLK in an attempt to support their chosen causes.
NWO - ” For the last couple of generation men have tried to overcome womens use of State violence and personal violence backed by the State by peaceful means.”
the “last couple of generations”
would take you back
past MLK.
Oh, wait, though, do you think that’s what he was talking about, and you don’t actually think you’re co-opting anything? XD
Become an overnight millionaire by selling shirts with slogans like “boys are stupid throw rocks at them” speaks volumes about a society. Hatred of men is the driving force to selling products.
NWO we went through this last summer remember? xD Where I responded with examples of boy’s and men’s shirts that joked about raping women and also told you I was against that shirt and all the problematic issues with gender roles and “girls vs boys” narratives on the playground and etc? xD And then you screamed at me that you would never talk to me again if I still believed in gender roles, and then you ran off for the rest of the day (as you tend to when I show up xD)
It’s strange cuz then you started to talk to me again later xD Kinda like when you swore that you’d never talk to me if I kept speaking the way I did, and then if I ever referred to you in the third person (he’s a weird one, that NWO xD ) and recently that you NEVER READ A THING WITH A SINGLE SMILEY ON IT RAWRRRRRR
xD
So do you want to re-hash this again?
Round 2? 
Let’s see if you’ve done more research this time
Or should we just accept that you lost on this point, that that shirt doesn’t indicate the feminist conspiracy controls the world, and move on? :3
ALSO!
I HAVE A CHALLENGE FOR YOU NWO!
David will ban (moderate) you for a year… but if IN THAT YEAR, you post into the moderation queue at your current rate (i.e. 4-6 hours a day, every single day), then you have proven your sincerity (and obsessiveness) and you will get a “get out of jail free” pass for the rest of your internet life!
That means you can call me all the insults and slurs you want, you can even used banned words and swears, and NOTHING you say will ever be moderated ever again, and you won’t even have to fear limiting yourself (because you’ve said in the past you have to in order to avoid being moderated).
What do you say?
I’m just curious how much trolling Manboobz means to you.
xD
Oh and NWO… do you support that bill in Tennessee right now?
Seems like something you’d support.
I bet you wish you could stomp a mudhole through me too don’t you xD
Also I feel great about myself today
And I bought a hoodie and a sweater I badly needed and I borrowed a ton of music from the library 
(you know those things you hate cuz they benefit others)
Make me feel crummy!
C’mon!
Be careful, Ami, he could totally read that third post. XD
I think if he’s able to comprehend the challenge, he’d DO it.
I did an awesome consultation on Saturday too, AND got invited to be on the board of one of the agencies I consulted with (because I live in the area and they thought I would be a great fit)
MY POWER IS EXPANDING NWO xD
I’m now on BOARDS of social service agencies that serve CIS STRAIGHT MEN.
(srsly if you really believe I’m a threat this would bother you, of course, you know, you don’t xD )
See, NWO, the thing is, if you really thought that feminists and trans people held the power you did, you would actually be scared of what I could do. But you live in the real world even though you like to pretend you don’t, and you know I’m not actually a threat to you as a straight cis man. xD
NWO won’t do it. He LIKES pretending he’s persecuted and oppressed with the threat of moderation looming over him. xD
Oh and could ppl be so kind and c/p that challenge to NWO whenever you see him?
NWO is using MLK quotes to support his argument??
Oh and this is relevant to NWO’s beliefs:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/2012/01/16/giraffes-are-heartless-creatures/
xD
” For the last couple of generation men have tried to overcome womens use of State violence and personal violence backed by the State by peaceful means.”
Since the beginning of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun!
NWO, what would MLK say to me?
I’m curious since NWO has now become the MLK speech generator apparently xD
Test of Ami Challenge:
Ami’s challenge to NOW:
Making sure I got the HTML right.
Have copied and will fling dramatically to the ground in front of NWO (*imagines ringing noise of gauntlet*) because, wow, that’s an amazing challenge.
Damn autocorrect: I corrected the spelling once, but it must have done it again.
*goes grimly to fix*
NWO won’t take the challenge, he’s too much of a coward to do or agree with anything Ami says.
NWO, you know that bit about willful stupidity and ignorance? MLK was talking about guys like you.
I think “Women demand revenge for a percieved oppression in history which never happened” needs to go in the Book o’ Larnin!
Watch out… the more we’re messing with the spelling of “learning”, NWO’s book is soon gonna be named “NWO’s Book of Lenin” xD
“Hatred of men is what sells products” also need to go in the BoL. Who knew hate is what drives tampon sales?
http://ami-rants.blogspot.com/2012/01/libra-tampons-decides-who-is-real-woman.html
The funny thing is NWO COULD point to this ad that hatred sells tampons… but he won’t… because he agrees with it xD
It’s like how the AVfM ppl COULD rip Radhub for the anti-trans, anti-sex worker, anti-slut aspects in their midst… but they don’t… because they agree with them on it xD
“NWOs book of Mao” would fit better. “Let’s all bang on pot lids to make all the crows fall out of the sky and die” is a policy truly worthy of Slavey’s level of intelligence and common sense.
CassandraSays - That can’t compute in NWO brain, because we’re all supposed to LOVE soviet china!
NWO, you do know that MLK (and civil rights activists in general) were met with state violence, and vigilante violence, and MLK still preached nonviolence?
The MRM, by contrast, has been met with … some people making jokes about them online, and quite a few MRAs have responded with threats and talk of violence.
NWO
I’ve missed you Please give more to your “book ‘o” learin”.
O I know you are oppressed….Much more then these men ever were http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005LXK6TG/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title
We all feel so sad for you.
In the end mra’s are really split between nice guys.
http://standyourground.com/forums/index.php?PHPSESSID=4227f83e2e7ff4e49605c4ec74d8ca54&topic=22597.0
There’s a commenter on that page whose screename is Neoteny? Pedobear for the win!
@David Futrelle
“NWO, you do know that MLK (and civil rights activists in general) were met with state violence, and vigilante violence, and MLK still preached nonviolence?”
Who would know better about decades of State violence than men? After too many men have their children kidnapped, are falsely imprisoned, have their unborn children killed, are kicked out of their homes, are denied employment, education, sports for being men.
When even the mention of such injustices are met with derision and more hatred instead of compassion and sympathy. When all State funding, agencies, corporate and private charity goes to half the population who call themselves victims, while the other half suffers languishing in poverty. When half the population recieves help for any criminal activity while the other half is harshly punished.
When half the population is continually portrayed as angels and victims no matter the circumstances, while the other half are continually portrayed as devils on matter the cicumstances. When the half that are portrayed as angels always have the final say in all matters and give only lip service, misinformation and they determine what is oppressive. Eventually, the well of nonviolent activism runs dry. And the devils will hate the angels.
Really? MLK and other civil rights activists organized boycotts, marches, mass demonstrations in Washington. They engaged in consistent real-world activism for years and years, at great personal cost.They were met with fire hoses and dogs; civil rights workers and little girls in church were killed by racist white vigilantes. Somehow MLK kept to his message of nonviolence.
What sort of “activism” has the MRM engaged in? An online petition or two? Some harassment of individuals? Have you guys organized any marches? Any real, focused boycotts?
How can the “well of nonviolent MRM activism run dry” if you guys haven’t even started digging it?
NWO, if women are as awesome as you say they are, I’d have a decent job by now. All I’d have to do is write “I have boobs” on my CV and bam! I’m president of everything!
NWO: Black people were enslaved, kept from voting, legally confined to inferior schools/libraries/trains/water fountains/everything fucking else, and lynched. They somehow managed to be nonviolent. You can manage it too.
Did you try crying in the street? 9 times out of 10, that works.
@ NWOSlave
What (non-internet) activism have you, personally, participated in?
What have you, personally, done to remedy the injustices that you see?
How far would you go, in terms of non-violent activism?
Recently a man shot dead 8 people in a salon, one of the victims being his ex wife. Was he a terrorist? A murderer? A scumbag? How do you feel about him?
re Molotov Cocktails: There are ways to improve them, esp. when the target is an armored vehicle.
darkside cat: The use of “Cocktail” was a joke. They used wine/liquor bottles to hold the gasoline (as well as the additives to make it sticky), and Molotov was the person they wanted to deliver them too (see Molotov/Ribbentrop Pact): It was reaction to the comments of Molotov that the Soviets were sending aid/food to the Finns.
Alcohol doesn’t burn hot enough, nor long enough, to be an effective weappon against anything but people. Even an automobile will survive (unless the windows are broken). Gasoline will burn hot enough to kill people inside a car, and ignite secondary flammables in vehicles that aren’t sealed against it.
And, in the event that it doesn’t, it is your duty as a feminist and Modern Woman(tm) to falsely accuse the dude. You can’t leave these immune motherfuckers to roam the streets at will!!
I laughed at “Yo, Is This Racist?” until I hurt myself. The wittiest thing I’ve seen all year. And educational!
No mention of Martin Luther cheating on his wife?
Emily: Why should it be mentioned?