Bob Herbert: The Lost Voice of Protest

[Sapphire Blue]

The Lost Voice of Protest
by Bob Herbert

(excerpt)

The widespread celebration of Dr. King’s birthday on Monday brought that Vietnam speech to mind. It’s both gratifying and important that we honor this great man with a national holiday. But it’s disturbing that we pay so much more attention to the celebrations than we do to the absolutely crucial lessons that he spent much of his life trying to teach us.

Whether it’s the war in Iraq, or the plight of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, or the violence and self-destructive behavior that plagues so many black Americans, our attitude toward the wisdom of Dr. King has been that of the drug addict or alcoholic to the notion that there might be a better way. We give lip service to it, and then we ignore it.

In the Vietnam speech, Dr. King said, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” He may as well have been speaking into the void. The war in Iraq, a reprise of Vietnam, will cost us well over a trillion dollars before we’re done, and probably more than two trillion. More than 3,000 American G.I.’s have been killed and the death toll for Iraqis is tallied by the scores of thousands.

(snip)

Here at home the city of New Orleans is on life support, struggling to survive the combined effects of a catastrophic flood, the unconscionable neglect of the federal government, and the monumental ineptitude of its own local officials. As ordinary residents of New Orleans continue to suffer, the rest of the nation has casually turned away. The debacle is no longer being televised. So it must be over.

Dr. King held the unfashionable view that we had an obligation to help those who are in trouble, and to speak out against unfair treatment and social injustice. “Our lives begin to end,” he said, “the day we become silent about things that matter.”

New Orleans matters. And the long dark night of the war in Iraq must surely matter. But not enough voices of protest are being raised in either case. The anger quotient is much too low. You can’t stop America’s involvement in a senseless war or revive a dying American city if your greatest passion is kicking back with pizza and beer and tuning in to “American Idol.”

Continued @ http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0118-27.htm

[Sapphire Blue]

1. Bob Herbert: "We give lip service to it, and then we ignore it."

:kick:

[hfojvt]

2. unfortunately, this thread seems to be ignored here too

Our passion is to kick back and watch Colbert. Soon there will be a thread on the local guy whose wife and child died in childbirth because he belonged to a religion that opposes professional medical care

We do protest the war though, but 'we' seem to be a tiny minority. Perhaps a large enough group to swing the last election, but having swung the election, there is still not a mass movement. The local speaker at the MLK event in KC did strongly call for an end to the war. But wars are not ended easily. Eugene McCarthy influenced Johnson not to run for re-election in 1968, but Democrats still lost to Nixon and the war was still not over in 1972.

[Sapphire Blue]

3. Yes, people do protest the war, but standing up for social & economic justice just doesn't seem...

... to matter, isn't considered a 'winning issue', can't seem to compete w/Colbert/American Idol/etc. or the GD topic du jour.

And now, w/o further interruption, we return you to the 1,000 Hillary Clinton threads.

[bobbolink]

4. "approaching Spiritual Death"

I"d say we're already there. :cry:

"We give lip service to it, and then we ignore it."

So right! I really do think this whole nation is going to have to fall apart, cuz people sure aren't willing to really look deeply inside, and see the rottenness.

:cry:

Another great article! Recommended and bookmarked!

:loveya:

[EFerrari]

5. What a gift Bob Herbert is.

K&R

[OneBlueSky]

6. we've become a nation of spectators . . .

everything is designed to keep us on our asses in front of one screen or another, rooting for the good buys and booing the bad guys . . . from movies to tv to sports to video games, it's all about keeping the populace passive and uninvolved in real life while those in power rob us blind and destroy the planet . . .

[bobbolink]

7. "The anger quotient is much too low."

INDEED!!

THat is the ONE point I just can't understand.

Obviously, from the results of the November election, there is much discontent.

Yet, where is enough outrage to actually CHANGE things????