I sense there is unspoken relief about the holidays being over. We aren't done with such things because the MLK holiday lies ahead. It has been modified to "Martin Luther King Day of Service."
I have argued there's a condescending aspect of the holiday, to simply honor a person whose raison d'etre was to advocate for rights that people were naturally entitled to. "Thanks to Martin Luther King for summoning pressure on the powers-that-be to let black people into the mainstream of society, to accord them basic rights."
(Remember that it's raison d'etre, not raisin. It's not a breakfast cereal.)
Well of course Martin Luther King was a great, eloquent person. What's sad is that a leader in this mold was needed to simply influence the entrenched powers (white people in the Deep South primarily) to do what was right in the first place. So we got MLK Day to remind us of this sad fact annually.
I would argue that many people shared my interpretation, some subconsciously maybe, and this is why we have seen the original day of honor morph into "Martin Luther King Day of Service." The new iteration obviously has grand merits.
I was skeptical of the holiday partly because it came so soon after Christmas and New Year's. (Barry Goldwater said "it's just another day when the mail won't get delivered.")
Look to the young
There has been a marked trend of the national media paying less attention to the MLK holiday. Is that because of the issues I have identified, i.e. the condescending nature? "We are so grateful to this person who persuaded all the mean white people that they had better shape up." It's almost as if we're honoring white people for eventually being persuaded. There were not "two sides to the issue."
The young generation of today has a whole new sense about things. They don't care to hear about Lyndon Johnson. They don't care to hear about arm-twisting with some of the southern U.S. "meanies."
The steps were necessary but when recorded in history, it all appears so discouraging about human nature. I mean, the fact that such extraordinary measures were needed to establish common sense principles of equality. Black people being beaten up when crossing a bridge?
Young people fundamentally accept equality. This applies to gay rights too. Amazing how that issue rose up and then dissipated. Accommodation has become the norm.
Lyndon Johnson nullified any and all positive things he did, by his acquiescence w/ Vietnam. It is interesting that when "Lady Bird" Johnson died, the media paid scant attention to it. The boomers did not want to be reminded of the Johnsons.
I recently exchanged holiday messages with a friend in Iowa who's a Methodist. Last I checked, the Methodists were still torn over gay rights. I guess we're talking about gay ordination. And that's gay rights - equal access for advancement. I have read that the Methodists could fracture over this.
Here in our Morris MN we have had a whole new church, including the physical building, set up because of resistance to gay rights. Political feelings are strong out here in the hinterlands. The feelings are regressive and they are counter to the forces of history. A friend advises me that any church established on such emotional grounds is not likely to have a sound future.
Hey, the election is over
Today again I will probably have to look at the big "Trump-Pence" sign out along the Shopko highway. Pay no attention to the fact Shopko is shuttered, although I've heard rumors that it could be resuscitated (not as Shopko).
The Trump-Pence sign is in a conspicuous location, where people turn off the highway into town by Subway/Pizza Hut. The sign is close to Greeley Plumbing. I'm not suggesting that Greeley has anything to do with it. So, who does? Who answers for this sign? Could they step forward? Is it some Apostolics? Those people are very up-front being pro-Trump.
The Apostolics also do some very important things for our Morris, and I just wish they could be a little more reasonable politically, a little more rational. So much of the Trump support seems emotional. Trump has a gift of getting in front of a crowd and giving a stemwinder. Adolf Hitler noticed his own talent for doing this as he began his rise. It's the talent of an evangelist like Billy Graham. It probably becomes like an intoxicating elixir for those who have the gift. It might become an addiction, a "high" that begins to feed on itself. "Look at all those cheering and fawning people. I can't believe it."
Well, Trump could definitely wow a crowd out here in West Central Minnesota. His single-minded priority now is to reverse the election, in a time when we desperately need the federal government with its unique powers to help us get past the pandemic. We lose time with each passing day.
I personally face risks with my Trump criticism. The other day I got an email from a friend who indicated some concern with my Christmas song for 2020 because it got "political." My song did not mention Trump by name. I merely tried expressing optimism about Biden waiting in the wings.
Yes, you can interpret that as being anti-Trump. But the hope is expressed that a new regime in Washington D.C. will expedite the attack on the virus so that next Christmas and New Year's, we can have our normal coveted holiday season again.
"Now with Biden we can hope."
My friend/critic wrote "cute song, a little political for the holiday season perhaps."
Cute. . .
He described himself as a libertarian or libertarian-leaning. Well congratulations. Many people find it "cool" to identify themselves as libertarian. I will share my response email to him here. I address him and his spouse:
Hi to the (names withheld) - Thanks for listening to my song. If I stepped over the line to make a political statement, it was probably because of Trump describing U.S. military service people, even the deceased, as "losers" and "suckers." Trump wonders why so many people voted Republican in the downballot races but not for him. Seems rather obvious that sensible and mature Republicans found a lot to be offended by.
There are two lines I could have changed in the song to make it totally palatable, but then it would have seemed even more "cute" and that is not something I would strive for. Also, being cute in a time of widespread death due to the pandemic would seem ill-advised. Now Mitt Romney is coming forward strongly to state the obvious: the federal government has got to lead with its resources to get the vaccination out there. Joe Scarborough says there's sometimes a misunderstanding among Republicans: yes Republicans do not believe in big government, HOWEVER when the federal government is in a position of having to do a job, it must do the job with maximum competence.
There are so many offending things about Trump, I wouldn't know where to start, except to cite the "losers/suckers" quote. We had a friend of the family killed by friendly fire in Vietnam in 1966, and my late cousin Norman of CA won the Bronze Star for service in Vietnam. I do not think warmly of Trump.
More songs in 2021? I do have some others ready to go, if the spirit moves me. I have a song called "Morris Minnesota" which I would dedicate to the Sesquicentennial, but I haven't heard any talk about Morris even celebrating the Sesquicentennial (150 years). I played in the German band for the Morris Centennial in 1971. We wandered around town playing, really. It was my first time in the Met Lounge!
"Alice Through the Looking Glass"
It is Monday and we'll be dragged through another day of absolutely sensational news about the mob boss behavior and language of the president.
So people will ask: has Trump crossed the line this time? So redundant and sickening. We have been through this so many times. Is this "the last straw?" With every eruption or revelation, we can pound our fist on the table but it doesn't matter. Nothing happens. In the meantime, news media outlets get breathless viewers or readers all day long. Better this than to be boring, I guess.
However, I grew up believing that "conservatives" had a basic nature of wanting to be temperate, to stay on an even keel with minimal boat-rocking. How contradictory is the behavior of "conservatives" now? They are no longer conservative at all. And look at the nation's deficit! Should conservatives look the other way on this?
It appears I am unable to persuade anyone out here in the Morris MN area. All we can do is plant some seeds of reason that might sprout at some time. What happened to the people in the immense fawning and saluting crowds at Nuremberg? Where did they end up in the rubble of war? History can repeat itself. "Those who ignore history. . ."
My podcast for Jan. 4
I invite you to visit my "Morris Mojo" podcast where I continue the theme of community music. That's three episodes in a row. This began with talk about under-use of the Killoran stage at East Side Park. Congrats to Skip Killoran on writing a letter to the Chamber of Commerce. How dynamic is the Chamber? Don't make me answer that. Here's the permalink for my episode titled "Music maestro, please."
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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