A Glimpse of Ben Carson

[Nemo]

NPR had a contest years back in which people would respond to a prompt, the prompt being "This I Believe". Needless to say, the essay topics were pretty diverse. A random assortment of essays, some by famous people, some by not so famous people, were compiled into a book. Dr. Ben Carson's essay was one of them.

Here is a link to Dr. Carson's essay.

Regarding what it says about his personal beliefs, it validates something I speculated a while back. Namely, Carson had a somewhat rough childhood (being raised by a single parent) and wanted to disassociate himself from the ghetto culture, which I can't say I disagree with at all. Also, Carson embraced religion for emotional reasons and adopted the other stuff (gay bashing) because he saw it as part of a package deal.

[Barbarella]

NPR had a contest years back in which people would respond to a prompt, the prompt being "This I Believe". Needless to say, the essay topics were pretty diverse. A random assortment of essays, some by famous people, some by not so famous people, were compiled into a book. Dr. Ben Carson's essay was one of them.

Here is a link to Dr. Carson's essay.

Regarding what it says about his personal beliefs, it validates something I speculated a while back. Namely, Carson had a somewhat rough childhood (being raised by a single parent) and wanted to disassociate himself from the ghetto culture, which I can't say I disagree with at all. Also, Carson embraced religion for emotional reasons and adopted the other stuff (gay bashing) because he saw it as part of a package deal.

Shame he didn't run to a church like the ECUSA, PCUSA, ELCA, or UCC. He should know that you can still love that nice Nazarene without being a bigoted, creationist, Bible-literalist cretin.

Had he picked a sane, Christlike church, he would still be considered a noble figure and great role-model, today.

Believe me, he WAS a role-model, especially for the black Community....
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/16/ben-carson-was-a-role-model-for-black-teens-until-he-sold-out-to-the-right.html
....Such a tragic story. Someone like him was someone for black kids to look up too, only to burn bridges and come out as "Dr. Ruckus".

[RUCKUS: The equivalent of an "Uncle Tom". Except the REAL Uncle Tom was actually a heroic, pro-black character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's abolitionist classic, Uncle Tom's Cabin. We need to retire "Uncle Tom" from the maws of minstrelsy and see him for the good man he was. "Uncle Remus" doesn't really fly with me, either because that Disney flick was considered "fair for it's day" even if it doesn't look well, now (Remus was a gentle bearer of homespun wisdom who helped people & the Br'er Rabbit stories were an African/Black American folk tradition. "UNCLE RUCKUS" is a FAR better term!]

[Ultimate Paragon]

Or maybe Methodism or one of the more tolerant Baptist churches.

[Barbarella]

Or maybe Methodism or one of the more tolerant Baptist churches.

Dubya's a Methodist.

I'm not saying that mainstream denominations have their wingnuts. However, the denominations that I mentioned wouldn't appeal to the Teabag crowd.

There's Conservatives and then there's Wingnuts. The former are okay but the latter are crazy.

[Ultimate Paragon]

Or maybe Methodism or one of the more tolerant Baptist churches.

Dubya's a Methodist.

I'm not saying that mainstream denominations have their wingnuts. However, the denominations that I mentioned wouldn't appeal to the Teabag crowd.

There's Conservatives and then there's Wingnuts. The former are okay but the latter are crazy.

Just like with Liberals and Moonbats.  Or Moderates and "Gut Maybes".

[Barbarella]

Or maybe Methodism or one of the more tolerant Baptist churches.

Dubya's a Methodist.

I'm not saying that mainstream denominations have their wingnuts. However, the denominations that I mentioned wouldn't appeal to the Teabag crowd.

There's Conservatives and then there's Wingnuts. The former are okay but the latter are crazy.

Just like with Liberals and Moonbats.  Or Moderates and "Gut Maybes".

What's a "Gut-Maybe" does it mean Progressives think with their "gut" only part-time?

Moonbats weird me out, too. I'm super-hippie-dippie-lefty into flower-power but I my motto is "Radical change via moderate means". You need to appeal to more folks to change society. More people would listen to someone like Martin Luther King Jr. rather than someone like Stokely Charmichael. You can call me as "Sane-Lefty". Extreme Leftists, hardcore Communists, extreme Anarchists, etc., weird me out and they actually hurt Progressivism.

One needs to be Moderate & not alarmist in their ways & methods.

[Ultimate Paragon]

Or maybe Methodism or one of the more tolerant Baptist churches.

Dubya's a Methodist.

I'm not saying that mainstream denominations have their wingnuts. However, the denominations that I mentioned wouldn't appeal to the Teabag crowd.

There's Conservatives and then there's Wingnuts. The former are okay but the latter are crazy.

Just like with Liberals and Moonbats.  Or Moderates and "Gut Maybes".

What's a "Gut-Maybe" does it mean Progressives think with their "gut" only part-time?

Moonbats weird me out, too. I'm super-hippie-dippie-lefty into flower-power but I my motto is "Radical change via moderate means". You need to appeal to more folks to change society. More people would listen to someone like Martin Luther King Jr. rather than someone like Stokely Charmichael. You can call me as "Sane-Lefty". Extreme Leftists, hardcore Communists, extreme Anarchists, etc., weird me out and they actually hurt Progressivism.

One needs to be Moderate & not alarmist in their ways & methods.

It's a term I coined myself.  "Gut-Maybe" refers to the "bad" kinds of moderate.  Like those who think refusing to take a side makes them morally superior, or those in love with the middle ground fallacy.

I was inspired by the Neutral Planet from Futurama, whose president at one point claims "all I know is my gut says 'maybe'."

[TheL]

Or maybe Methodism or one of the more tolerant Baptist churches.

Dubya's a Methodist.

I'm not saying that mainstream denominations have their wingnuts. However, the denominations that I mentioned wouldn't appeal to the Teabag crowd.

There's Conservatives and then there's Wingnuts. The former are okay but the latter are crazy.

But is he Methodist or United Methodist?

[VainRobot]

What's a "Gut-Maybe" does it mean Progressives think with their "gut" only part-time?

Moonbats weird me out, too. I'm super-hippie-dippie-lefty into flower-power but I my motto is "Radical change via moderate means". You need to appeal to more folks to change society. More people would listen to someone like Martin Luther King Jr. rather than someone like Stokely Charmichael. You can call me as "Sane-Lefty". Extreme Leftists, hardcore Communists, extreme Anarchists, etc., weird me out and they actually hurt Progressivism.

One needs to be Moderate & not alarmist in their ways & methods.

Martin Luther King Jr. wasn't the moderate that history has whitewashed him to be. In fact he was a socialist who saw white moderates as one of the greatest opponents to the civil rights struggle:

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.”

[Ultimate Paragon]

What's a "Gut-Maybe" does it mean Progressives think with their "gut" only part-time?

Moonbats weird me out, too. I'm super-hippie-dippie-lefty into flower-power but I my motto is "Radical change via moderate means". You need to appeal to more folks to change society. More people would listen to someone like Martin Luther King Jr. rather than someone like Stokely Charmichael. You can call me as "Sane-Lefty". Extreme Leftists, hardcore Communists, extreme Anarchists, etc., weird me out and they actually hurt Progressivism.

One needs to be Moderate & not alarmist in their ways & methods.

Martin Luther King Jr. wasn't the moderate that history has whitewashed him to be. In fact he was a socialist who saw white moderates as one of the greatest opponents to the civil rights struggle:

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.”

And he was right.  The "middle road" isn't always the best one to take.  Sometimes, compromise is nothing more than allowing those in the wrong to have a say.

But I disagree with him on definitions.  In my opinion, a moderate is somebody in favor of equal rights.  Then again, I live in a time with different values, so maybe I'm falling into presentism.

[Barbarella]

What's a "Gut-Maybe" does it mean Progressives think with their "gut" only part-time?

Moonbats weird me out, too. I'm super-hippie-dippie-lefty into flower-power but I my motto is "Radical change via moderate means". You need to appeal to more folks to change society. More people would listen to someone like Martin Luther King Jr. rather than someone like Stokely Charmichael. You can call me as "Sane-Lefty". Extreme Leftists, hardcore Communists, extreme Anarchists, etc., weird me out and they actually hurt Progressivism.

One needs to be Moderate & not alarmist in their ways & methods.

Martin Luther King Jr. wasn't the moderate that history has whitewashed him to be. In fact he was a socialist who saw white moderates as one of the greatest opponents to the civil rights struggle:

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.”

And he was right.  The "middle road" isn't always the best one to take.  Sometimes, compromise is nothing more than allowing those in the wrong to have a say.

But I disagree with him on definitions.  In my opinion, a moderate is somebody in favor of equal rights.  Then again, I live in a time with different values, so maybe I'm falling into presentism.

Also, Socialism isn't the yucky "Red-Stalinist" mess people assume it is. Socialism in varying degrees is a good thing.

And like I was saying before, you can be a radical while still appearing respectable and/or moderate in your methods. Radical change works best when you appeal to more people.

[Lt. Fred]

What's a "Gut-Maybe" does it mean Progressives think with their "gut" only part-time?

Moonbats weird me out, too. I'm super-hippie-dippie-lefty into flower-power but I my motto is "Radical change via moderate means". You need to appeal to more folks to change society. More people would listen to someone like Martin Luther King Jr. rather than someone like Stokely Charmichael. You can call me as "Sane-Lefty". Extreme Leftists, hardcore Communists, extreme Anarchists, etc., weird me out and they actually hurt Progressivism.

One needs to be Moderate & not alarmist in their ways & methods.

Martin Luther King Jr. wasn't the moderate that history has whitewashed him to be. In fact he was a socialist who saw white moderates as one of the greatest opponents to the civil rights struggle:

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.”

And he was right.  The "middle road" isn't always the best one to take.  Sometimes, compromise is nothing more than allowing those in the wrong to have a say.

But I disagree with him on definitions.  In my opinion, a moderate is somebody in favor of equal rights.  Then again, I live in a time with different values, so maybe I'm falling into presentism.

That was the terminology of the time. You got the "hard liners" - people who believe black people are human, and people who want to mass murder them if they could get away with it - and then you got the "moderates" who stand to be convinced either way. But don't push them! They'll get to it in their own good time!

This sort of moderate.

#Invalid YouTube Link#

[VainRobot]

And like I was saying before, you can be a radical while still appearing respectable and/or moderate in your methods. Radical change works best when you appeal to more people.

Martin Luther King Jr's methods WERE radical. Pacifism is not mutually exclusive with radicalism. He practiced a method of protest called civil disobedience, which meant he actively encouraged people to break the law. Many moderates were upset by his methods because he encouraged black people to rise up in direct conflict against police, government, and other racist institutions.

From his Letter from a Birmingham Jail:

Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.

The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.

He actively sought to create social unrest and conflict because he believed it was the only way the oppressors could be confronted.

Martin Luther King Jr. did NOT run a civil rights campaign that appealed to white people, he ran a campaign that brought black anger directly to the door of his oppressors to make them uncomfortable and afraid. To call him a moderate is to completely whitewash history and the struggle that civil rights advocates had to go through. People often say that modern black protestors should be less angry and obey the order of things, but we know from history that civil rights aren't achieved by sitting around and asking politely.

[VainRobot]

Also of note is this letter, written by a group of white moderate clergymen decrying MLK's protests which the Letter from a Birmingham Jail was a response to:

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/letter-to-martin-luther-king/

We further strongly urge our own Negro community to withdraw support from these demonstrations, and to unite locally in working peacefully for a better Birmingham. When rights are consistently denied, a cause should be pressed in the courts and in negotiations among local leaders, and not in the streets. We appeal to both our white and Negro citizenry to observe the principles of law and order and common sense.

[Barbarella]

And like I was saying before, you can be a radical while still appearing respectable and/or moderate in your methods. Radical change works best when you appeal to more people.

Martin Luther King Jr's methods WERE radical. Pacifism is not mutually exclusive with radicalism. He practiced a method of protest called civil disobedience, which meant he actively encouraged people to break the law. Many moderates were upset by his methods because he encouraged black people to rise up in direct conflict against police, government, and other racist institutions.

From his Letter from a Birmingham Jail:

Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.

The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.

He actively sought to create social unrest and conflict because he believed it was the only way the oppressors could be confronted.

Martin Luther King Jr. did NOT run a civil rights campaign that appealed to white people, he ran a campaign that brought black anger directly to the door of his oppressors to make them uncomfortable and afraid. To call him a moderate is to completely whitewash history and the struggle that civil rights advocates had to go through. People often say that modern black protestors should be less angry and obey the order of things, but we know from history that civil rights aren't achieved by sitting around and asking politely.

Okay, I got it. You have a good point. I was basically looking at him through the filter of time & values dissonance. Indeed, he was radical.

I'm basically seeing everything from a present-day perspective. Nowadays, non-violent protest marches and peaceful civil disobedience is seen as reasonable.

Perhaps the words I was really looking for were "violently militant" instead of "radical".

Words & labels are funny things. People have different perceptions and often the very fabric of reality seems subjective.

And now, I'll do my impression of that guy from Scanners...