MLK’s speech: "assumes the sale" for racial justice

On August 28, 1963. That was the day of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech. King began by stating the is “the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.” His remark holds true today. Possibly it remains true for the rest of American history. The reason—King’s visionary speech.

I was 14 years old at the time. Do not recall understanding King’s speech but the Civil Rights movement was in full swing. In those days many found MLK Jr to be too moderate, too willing to work for the white man. Malcolm X, may felt, was the true revolutionary.

Just listened to the 17 minutes speech. Taken by the great logic of his remarks:

Problem stated:

1) Negro lives on an island of poverty.

2) Negro is languishing in the corners of American society.

3) America issues a promissory note to every citizen—guaranteeing life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness—except to the black man. 

4) There should be sufficient funds in the “great vaults of opportunity of this nation” to promise the same acess to freedom and the security of justice to citizens of all races.

Solution:call to action

1) Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.

Warnings issued:

1) The riots were not a case of the Negro blowing off steam. The revolt will continue to shake the nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

2) Black men should not give up the thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

Common Ground: the American dream

1)   I still have a dream. It is deeply rooted in the American dream.

The famous closing of the “I Have A Dream” speech “assumes the sale”—assumes a future of racial justice.

·      The children of slave owners and former slaves sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

·      Mississippi will no longer be sweltering under the heat of oppresson—but will become an oasis.

·      My 4 little children will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their characer.

Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.

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Tom Wolfe: writer "got" McLuhan

Tom Wolfe, pioneer of New Journalism, "got" Marshall McLuhan in a way few other writers, thinkers, pundits and fellow travelers ever did. Wolfe wrote an article for the New York Herald Tribune in 1965, asking "what if he is right?" in its title and we now know that McLuhan anticipated the electronic environment a remarkable achievement for a man who died in 1980.

 Tom Wolfe, pioneer of New Journalism, "got" Marshall McLuhan in a way few other writers, thinkers, pundits and fellow travelers ever did. Tom Wolfe died last week at 88 years of age. The news anchors highlighted Wolfe as a pioneer of the New Journalism and as a novelist with a keen eye for societal structures and strictures. None mentioned Wolfe and his interest in Marshall McLuhan.

Wolfe entered the world of Sixties and a Ken Kesey led group of acid-dropping hippies in “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.”You were either “on the bus”with the acid droppers or otherwise “off the bus.”Wolfe never dropped acid but managed to stay on the bus to tell the story.

Wolfe captured the excitement of the Apollo space program with“The Right Stuff”.  He helped make test pilot Chuck Yeager a household name with his evocative stories of cool cucumber pilots breaking the sound-barrier and moving us closer to the heavens.

In the “The Bonfire of the Vanities”Wolfe explored Wall Street greed back in the Eighties and the high rolling Masters of the Universe with their big ambitions and financial clout. 

McLuhan, probably a sociologist at heart, loved society and its paradoxes—the“human carnival,”he always stated, was going stronger than ever and provided a great palette for the writer observer, the student of human foibles.

None of the news broadcasts or Tom Wolfe obituaries mentioned his interest in the theories of Marshall McLuhan. As far back as 1965, Wolfe wrote an article on McLuhan where he asked in the title—“what if he is right?”

McLuhan correctly perceived McLuhan had unlocked the cuckoo clock of technology and the profound effect the new electric environment would have on us all. Wolfe, a quick study, explains the shift in sensory balance as Electronic Man moves from the printed word with its emphasis on the eye and the visual to the acoustic, multi-sensory electic world. McLuhan brilliantly predicted a return to a kind of tribalism, the rise of a global village where we all sit around an electron-powered campfire.

Wolfe mentions McLuhan's book "Understanding Media" as an underground best-seller at the time of this article. He points out McLuhan as the master of the epigrammatic statement with "global village" and "the medium is the message." 

What you say on the cellphone is much less important than the fact that you are using a cellphone.”

The new electronic man becomes more emotional as he leaves the visual logic of the printed page. The tribesman in the jungle gets his information around a campfire. The process is intimate and emotional. Our social media world rocks with out-of-control emotions as information travels at the speed of light and everybody knows the business of everybody else.

Follow the link here to read the New York Herald Tribune article from 1965.

http://www.digitallantern.net/mcluhan/course/spring96/wolfe.html

The full title of the piece:

suppose he is what he sounds like,
the most important thinker since
newton, darwin, freud, einstein,
and Pavlov what if he is right?

-TOM WOLFE

Turns out--  McLuhan was right!

Electronic World: electrocutes instantly

The social network is lately full of scandal. Scandal production rises to meet the speed of communication. Is there more scandal-- or just more reporting? Trump's adultery, Michael Cohen's payoffs, Stormy Daniels making a media splash-- has been happening since Adam and Eve or, at least, since Luci and Dezi took over the television airwaves.

So, what has changed?

Transparency. The incredible transparency that allows us to get the dirty details on everybody. Think of the big names that disappeared from the scene almost instantly-- Charlie Rose, Louis CK, Russell Simmons, Matt Lauer, Harvey Weinstein, Al Franken, Elliot Spitzer, Bill O'Reilly.  Those bights ignited, burned quickly and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The speed of collapse has changed. Decades of stardom gone in a few days.

We learn too much sometimes--  the sexual behaviors of Dustin Hoffman, bothered me. I liked his movies... including Midnight Cowboy and The Graduate most of all. Now I have to push Dustin Hoffman's rumored sexual behaviors out of my mind when I watch those films.

Ronan Farrow turns out to be the Sherlock Holmes of our era. Ronan did what The New York Times, Washington Post, etc could not do without him-- got the #metoo movement going.

Ronan got published in The New Yorker to get those Harvey Weinstein stories out. Ronan entered the annals of American history with his reporting on Harvey Weinstein. Ronan began his public career on shaky ground He failed as a MSNBC TV personality starting at too young. But he came back as a muckraking journalist and has changed society. Maybe Ronan has a political future?

Woody Allen is Ronan Farrow's father. Ronan stuck tightly to his sister's accounts of Woody having abused her sexually as a child. We have no proof of what actually happened but does that matter? Once the rumor takes hold, publish the rumor. Suddenly Woody seems guilty in the court of public opinion. Nobody cares to hear Woody's side of the story.

Woody has a wonderful sense of humor. Now I gotta consider Ronan's sister when watching a Woody Allen film. This places Ronan's sister on equal footing with Woody Allen-- one of the great comic geniuses.

Donald Trump has eluded the rapid fire dangers of the social network. Trump has brilliantly exploited the technology to great advantage.

Interesting the Donald Trump figured out Twitter at 70 years of age. Donald showed a preternatural ability to recognize Twitter as such an effective tool. He revolutionized American politics with the Twitter method for communicating with the electorate, at least his portion of it. This has nothing to do with morality. Twitter is available to us all.

Just remember... the electronic world electrocutes instantly.