Do you believe in the philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr?

[undeterred]

Specifically, do you believe in the philosophy of nonviolent resistance?

This was at the core of MLK's thinking. In his life and death he tried to embody Ghandi's teachings regarding resistance and revolution and the Christian doctrine of love. He believed that violence begets violence and that nonviolent resistance is the greatest tool in the struggle for freedom and equality.

Are you with MLK? Do you think he stood for something else?



Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars... Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

Martin Luther King Jr

[BlooInBloo]

1. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I'm with him...

The other half of the time, I'm with X.

[MercutioATC]

12. That's about 2 more days a week than I.

...but I'm a troublemaker by nature...

[tabasco]

2. Not when dealing with the taliban and al qaeda

I want them all dead.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

4. You forgot the others in that group -

Operation Rescue.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

3. Not tonight, no ..........

Maybe tomorrow I shall again, but tonight, no, I do not embrace nonviolence. And I'm not even ashamed of myself ...........................

[McCamy Taylor]

5. Dr. King and Brother Malcolm were not as different as some would have us believe.

It is just that King had lived a fairly happy life and Malcolm had a shitty life, so Brother Malcolm had more anger and fear to get rid of before he could reach the same conclusions on his journey to Mecca.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2728872

If the Obama administration were to actually use this murder as an excuse to continue the lawlessness of the Bush administration---illegal detentions, waterboarding, murder----that some have recommended here today, it would be a major catastrophe. I can not imagine them playing the Terra card. But it bothers me how many people seem ready to go along with another Terra scare.

Violence is nothing but people giving in to fear.

[NightWatcher]

6. we must protect ourselves, even if it comes to violence

sometimes it may not be the high road, but like X said, "by any means necessary"

[Downtown Hound]

7. It's a goal worthy to strive for

And I've been arrested for non-violent civil disobedience twice in my life. But I have a hard time condemning people that don't agree. I'm sympathetic to the anarchists that break corporate windows. Even though I don't agree with them, it's often the only punishment corporations ever receive in this country, and they hurt so much. I'm sympathetic to the vigilante that kills those that murdered his family members. I'm sympathetic to the kid in school that one day gets tired of being picked on and lays a good hard left hook on his bully.

So yes, I believe in Dr. King's ideals. But I am of no illusions about how difficult they are to achieve. And to those that may falter on the way to this new enlightenment, I find I have a hard time getting preachy on them.

[billyoc]

8. I don't condone non-violence.

[Critters2]

9. Yes. nt

[tomreedtoon]

10. Hell, no.

It was emphasized when he was first studied that he wanted to shame people into doing the right thing. The NAACP believed in using lawyers and lawsuits along with strikes and marches.

Love can only go so far. See Aaron McGruder's The Boondocks episode "The Return of the King" for a vision of an angry Dr. King - a righteous anger that would be too "uncivil" for anyone here at DU to express, even in the face of a jerk like Dick Cheney.

[chimpyisstillsatan]

16. shame comes from within, violence is wrought externally

Righteous anger and emotional rage do not equate to violence unless they are externalized. Big difference.

[undeterred]

17. Shame in context:

The nonviolent resister must often express his protest through noncooperation or boycotts, but noncooperation and boycotts are not ends themselves; they are merely means to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent. The end is redemption and reconciliation. The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community, while the aftermath of violence is tragic bitterness.
-Martin Luther King, Jr., 1957

[JTG of the PRB]

11. It's a wonderful ideal, and something I whole-heartedly believe in. BUT...

...sometimes, it just doesn't work that way. It's a wonderful sentiment, and it should always be Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, and so on. But when the need truly arises, when there is no other way at all, sometimes more drastic measures are needed...

[undeterred]

13. King was looking for an effective method, not just an ideal.

And it is an effective method, epecially when lots of people do it together. I believe that nonviolent resistance is a drastic measure.

[chimpyisstillsatan]

14. without reservation or doubt, YES!

I stopped sucking my thumb at age three, and nobody scares me enough to make me even consider compromising my principles. Fear drives violent reactions, strength underpins nonviolence.

Scott Roeder, Jim David Adkisson, Eric Robert Rudolph, Tim McVeigh, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, none of those fuckers can scare me into hurting another human being. I may need the help of others to make it stick at a societal level, but if crybabies like the Republicans demand violence as their solution, I'll gladly suffer alone.

Ghandijee and Dr. King never said nonviolence is easy. They taught that it is the right thing to do, and showed it is effective and justifies any necessary personal sacrifice. Love will conquer all.

[roody]

15. Yes.

[mitchum]

18. Believe in? Yes. Embrace? No.

[anaxarchos]

19. Dr. King may have believed in non-violence "philosophically", but...

...he preached it mainly as a tactical matter (as did Ghandi):

I am convinced that for practical as well as moral reasons, nonviolence offers the only road to freedom for my people. In violent warfare, one must be prepared to face ruthlessly the fact that there will be casualties by the thousands. In Vietnam, the United States has evidently decided that it is willing to slaughter millions, sacrifice some two hundred thousand men and twenty billion dollars a year to secure the freedom of some fourteen million Vietnamese. This is to fight a war on Asian soil, where Asians are in the majority. Anyone leading a violent conflict must be willing to make a similar assessment regarding the possible casualties to a minority population confronting a well-armed, wealthy majority with a fanatical right wing that is capable of exterminating the entire black population and which would not hesitate such an attempt if the survival of the white Western materialism were at stake.

Arguments that the American Negro is a part of a world which is two-thirds colored and that there will come a day when the oppressed people of color will rise together to throw off the yoke of white oppression are at least fifty years away from being relevant. There is no colored nation, including China, which now shows even the potential of leading a revolution of color in any international proportion. Ghana, Zambia, Tanzania and Nigeria are fighting their own battles for survival against poverty, illiteracy and the subversive influence of neocolonialism, so that they offer no hope to Angola, Southern Rhodesia and South Africa, and much less to the American Negro.

The hard cold facts of racial life if the world today indicated that the hope of the people of color in the world may well rest on the American Negro and his ability to reform the structures of racist imperialism from within and thereby turn the technology and wealth of the West to the task of liberating the world from want.

This is not time for romantic illusions about freedom and empty philosophical debate. This is a time for action. What is needed is a strategy for change, a tactical program which will bring the Negro into the mainstream of American life as quickly as possible. So far, this has only been offered by the nonviolent movement.

Nonviolence: The Only Road to Freedom
Martin Luther King, Jr.
May 4, 1966

[undeterred]

21. Yes indeed.

[RandomThoughts]

20. I believe it completely.

Every fiber of my being knows that to be true.

I believe that is part of the teachings that come from God.

Evil exist to create evil, and love creates love.

You battle evil by loving your enemy, and you bless those that harm you, you show love in all things and refuse to let the ideas of hate, anger or violence as part of your being.


Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars... Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

Martin Luther King Jr

[H2O Man]

22. 100%.