I saw a news article about Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday events being held on Monday. It took this long. Well, technically, I saw it referenced yesterday on a local news show. It was an 'about town' segment, where the energetic young reporter was showing what parents could do in the area with their kids on Monday. He mentioned they would be out of school due to MLK Day. Until then I forgot the day was around the corner.
I wrote about this development last year here. It is no accident of course. It never was. I don't mean it was some vast conspiracy. I merely mean MLK in one context was used for decades in order to drive home one form of the agenda. Now that is no longer convenient. Therefore, we're seeing the dawn of a new narrative.
I'm not saying it hasn't been mentioned anywhere. I can't read every article and watch ever newscast. I'm sure it has been mentioned before now. As I said in last year's post, however, it could have been the middle of August 20 years ago, and I would have heard MLK referenced and quoted at least three times in a week. By December I would hear almost daily countdowns to the holiday. Now? I think I've heard more references to Arbor Day over the last year.
Again, it is no accident.
What especially annoys me is that now our office has MLK day off, but not President’s day next month.
ReplyDeleteThat's what set people off back in the day. I don't think it's unintentional to suggest MLK should have a day while the presidents don't. Especially in light of the purging of the presidents we're seeing happen.
DeleteAnd I fear one of those descriptions is more damning than the others.
DeleteYou'll recall Anthony Esolen's distinction between popular culture and mass entertainment. An example of popular culture would be music people play at home on their own instruments. An example of mass entertainment is Lady Gaga.
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You can see the same with official holidays. Some are a recognition of the celebrations people hold in their own homes, some are political impositions. In between are celebrations fostered by local governments which people attend in person. Examples of the first would be Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and the Fourth of July. Examples of the last would be the Memorial Day parade in the suburban town in which I spent my childhood. Pretty much all the others are political impositions. And political impositions should be abolished.
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While we're at it, can Congress stay in its lane? Holidays recognized in federal law and binding on employers should apply only to the federal government as employer, to government corporations affiliated with the federal government, and to private enterprises which might be described as 'interstate' (i.e. subsidiaries of foreign firms, or possessed of a subsidiary abroad, or with HQ outside the state in which it is chartered, or employing people outside the state in which its HQ is located). If my local bakery and cafe is to be compelled to close, it is properly at the behest of the state legislature.
That's true. And in an age in which almost everything is political, expect far more new holidays to fall into the second category as opposed to the first. In fact, one of the major pushes in the last century has been the push to end the idea that America has a right to exist as a particular culture. First it was 'No WASP', then 'No WASC', then 'No WASR', then 'No WAS', now 'No W'. Having effectively done this, notice that nothing seems to replace it now except those binding holidays and ideals given to us from on high.
Delete"That's what set people off back in the day." Of course not. Not everyone bought into "the Civil Rights Movement™", some because they were racists, some because they saw that "the Civil Rights Movement™" carried its own form of racism, and some because they saw that the baby was being thrown out with the bath water. Among the last were those who noted that, up to that point, the only federal holiday that celebrated the birthday of one specific individual was Christmas, which (no coincidence) is also the only holiday that we are not now supposed to mention by name.
DeleteOh, I didn't mean it was the only thing. But that's what I remember. At the time I thought it was just our little school district since that's what I knew. As I got older and read and learned about that period, I found we were hardly alone. While I'm sure some of the issue was racism or this or that problem with the movement itself, not a few didn't like the way it was implemented. And it turns out it was quite a tumultuous development.
DeleteIMO, the veneration of King has been terribly overdone. It's not per se a bad sign when there's less of it.
ReplyDeleteYep. It began almost immediately, but hit hyper drive by the 90s and 00s. As my sons noticed, he became 'Discount Jesus', the symbol of righteousness and holiness for a nation in which the J-Word was no longer supposed to be mentioned publically. And not a few religious leaders of all stripes were happy to put Jesus under a bushel in deference to MLK. Nothing wrong with celebrating someone who did good things, but ours went to a level of veneration that Catholics are accused of giving to the Virgin Mary.
DeleteLet me know when someone is told to leave Mall of America because he's wearing an MLK shirt. "After all, it might offend someone!"
DeleteI wouldn't hold my breath.
DeleteYou ever notice how everyone in a decision-making position in the post-war period has terrible taste? Business executives, Educational administrators, miscellaneous NGO apparatchicks, government administrators, politicians, it seems not to matter. On every occasion, their seal of approval will go on something banal, brutal, grotesque, or some combination of the three. (Don't get me started on architects). Here's the latest from Boston.
ReplyDeletehttps://althouse.blogspot.com/2023/01/honoring-martin-luther-king-jr-with.html
I've seen that, and the criticisms. I think there are some cases where images have been photoshopped to make it look even worse, though I don't know why. It looks lame enough as it is. But while I heard nothing about MLK until last week, I have noticed an attempt to get back to MLK as 4th Member of the Holy Trinity - at least during the weekend. Funny how moldable things are by the press.
DeleteNo offense, but I think you live under a rock. MLK is the one historical figure the American left has yet to defenestrate. It's no exaggeration to claim that they regard him as a messiah figure. Ironic, given the rape allegations surrounding him. I'm more partial to Malcolm X.
ReplyDeleteUp until a couple years ago. That's my point. Since 2020 - BLM protests/riots - they've had to tweak the narrative. In 2021 the holiday came and went almost ignored. In 2022, it came and went fast, with most of the attention on individuals saying MLK never said we can't judge people based on ethnicity, or that violence was always wrong. That's when my sons started calling him "MLK - Ninja Warrior" since there were so many posts, articles, and editorials saying the whole MLK thing - just like equality or not judging on skin color themselves - was completely misconstrued. This year I heard the first mention of MLK the week before the holiday. I merely point out that compared to when my sons were in school - and they began preparing for a month or more of MLK projects before the Winter Break (Christmas to some) - the difference is almost stunning. Over the next few years we'll have to see where it goes, but clearly the 'MLK as Secular Messiah' narrative took a hit after the much celebrated and endorsed BLM protests/riots/violence/death.
DeleteI'm more partial to Cowboy X. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRj0oub2TLY
DeleteI vaguely remember that, and I didn't even watch the show!
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