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That's a strange position to pivot off of - there's no normative claim in that entire passage, just an analytical deconstruction of a societal manifestation.
by lanternfish 5y ago
That's a strange position to pivot off of - there's no normative claim in that entire passage, just an analytical deconstruction of a societal manifestation.
- hcurtiss 5y ago"Often the Negro does not even want what he takes; he wants the experience of taking. But most of all, alienated from society and knowing that this society cherishes property above people, he is shocking it by abusing property rights." Maybe times have changed, but this is excusing and not at all accurately characterizing the people I saw looting Nike, Best Buy, and Walmart. It was naked theft under the cover of "equity." I want to know whether MLK was principled, or a politician making excuses. I'll do more research.
- mxkopy 5y agoInteresting...you seem to have a superpower... you can look at someone and read their exact psychological state... you know their wants and intentions from a glance... How do you sleep with such a burden?
- dangerface 5y ago> The rioters are not seeking to seize territory or to attain control of institutions. This sentence is particularly egregious. To see MLK just come straight out and say black people don't target institutions because they don't care about changing them kind of defeats any legitimate argument for rioting. The problem with the MLK quote is that he is just confirming what every racist white person thinks, institutional racism isn't a thing black people just want free shit and are willing to resort to violence to get it.
- klyrs 5y agoI don't think anybody is defending the legitimacy of rioting, are they? The MLK quote is an examination of the rioters' motivation and state of mind.
- dangerface 5y agoThe topic being discussed is whether there is a legitimate defense of rioting and plenty of people feel like it is. For example if the police abuse their powers its just for citizens to riot against the police smashing police cars and throwing bricks at police stations / cameras. Its very easy to justify the legitimacy of this as you are directly disrupting the ability for the police to operate freely. Looting another citizen is much harder to justify the legitimacy of, disguising looting as rioting makes it easier to do so.