{"id":32972,"date":"2021-07-04T12:28:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-04T16:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/?p=32972"},"modified":"2021-06-16T11:49:59","modified_gmt":"2021-06-16T15:49:59","slug":"reinterpreting-mlks-ideas-of-freedom-for-the-age-of-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/04\/reinterpreting-mlks-ideas-of-freedom-for-the-age-of-covid\/","title":{"rendered":"Reinterpreting MLK’s ideas of freedom for the Age of COVID"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today we celebrate our traitorous rebellion from the legitimate rule of Great Britain, carried out in the name of “freedom.” The rebellion enabled us to continue chattel slavery and stealing land from Native Americans west of the Proclamation Line<\/a>. Let’s consider our current state of “freedom” as we all take a break from cashing our unemployment checks on this holiday of July 4th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Martin Luther King, Jr., whose first book was titled Stride Toward Freedom<\/strong><\/em>:<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freedom <\/strong>is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.<\/p>

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.<\/p>

If you can\u2019t fly then run, if you can\u2019t run then walk, if you can\u2019t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.<\/p>

All we say to America is, \u2018Be true to what you said on paper.\u2019 If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges<\/strong>, because they hadn\u2019t committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly<\/strong>. …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

MLK, Jr. was one of our greatest thinkers, but even his mind could not stretch to the idea that people in Massachusetts, California, and New York would actually welcome being locked down for more than a year:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

(When exactly?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reasonable people, of course, would point out that healthy young people in these states were denied what had formerly been considered their rights for only 16 months or so. And maybe this coming fall or winter too, depending on what the public health technocrats recommend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A right delayed is a right denied.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Let’s see how the ideas of our greatest thinker on the subject of freedom have been reinterpreted during the ongoing coronapanic…. some photos from an April 2021 trip to Atlanta and the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park.<\/a> The “Freedom Hall” was closed “out of an abundance of caution regarding the COVID-19 virus”:<\/p>\n\n\n\n