Letter from Birmingham Jail II

Here's our next quotation from King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

" I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relation to the struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: "An Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely rational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this 'hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation."

Cheney's Collateral Damage

When I first read this I laughed.

I ought to be ashamed of myself.

The US Vice-President, Dick Cheney, has accidentally shot and injured a man
during a quail hunting trip in Texas. [...]Ranch owner Katharine Armstrong said
Mr Whittington, 78, had been taken to Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital where was
said to be "alert and doing fine".
According to a spokeswoman, Mr Cheney
spent Sunday afternoon at the hospital.

Link

So will Human Right's Watch add that to the toll of injured civilians or what?

Letter from Birmingham Jail

I was going to add my own commentary but I don't think it's necessary just yet.

Quoting from Marin Luther King Jr. and his "Letter from Birmingham Jail."

I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fan in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality.

I urge you to consider the difference in the two types of peace King references here. There are as meaningful now as they were then.

AD Radio Open Lines

Tomorrow is AD Radio's first normal session, check out the snazzy new link in the sidebar.

They're also holding an equipment fundraiser with the goal of making the show more awesome than it already is.

Anyone can call in on any issue they want to discuss and of course anyone can leave money. If I can find a place to make a call. (I own a cell phone but quiet is hard to come by in a college dorm) you can count on me doing both.

We Have Arrived

Shock for me today. This blog, for what I think is the first time has been linked to by someone who I don't think I know in any capacity.

AD, College, old high school buddy, nope. I think someone actually found something I had to say here interesting enough to add as link without the benefit of knowledge of my AD ranting.

So big round of applause for The Anteater for recognizing quality. I shall respond by returning the great linking favor and most likely posting more on the issue we seem to share in common.

Life is good.