I think both. I am an elderly (72) white woman born and raised in the South. MLK Jr was killed in my hometown when I was 15. Today I see people snatched off the streets of America by people who won’t show their faces. We have a cancer in our government that’s trying to destroy everything we’ve been about for the last 250 years. I’m both inspired and outraged. And I will not go down without a fight. At my age I’m more than willing to give my very life in sacrifice for my country.
I am close to your age and have considered that question - would I be willing to give my life to preserve our constitution and rights for all of us? Yes I would though clearly I hope it doesn’t come to that.
Inspiration does not come without perspiration, someone surely must have written. Outrage does cause angst. But speeches like King’s are inspiring and rereading it frequently does make one feel that there is a glimmer of hope that the pendulum will swing and we’ll be rid of the blight that has been wrought by Donald Trump.
Yes, great speeches are great. The Gettysburg Address by Lincoln is another as was the inaugural speech by JFK. But why, friends, do speeches of hate and acts of brutality cause the pendulum to swing back as it has today, to a near dictatorial and fascist-like government. If we are supposed to learn by history and mistakes, and today’s situation is surely a mistake, why has one man been enabled to erase the course of history to a time, before the Revolution and the writing of our Constitution, to controvert the intent of our Founding Fathers to make our government at the behest of the few at the detriment to the many?
That Trump is frighteningly close to Hitler is an enigma. It’s insulting and frightening and disgusting, isn’t it? Didn’t we learn that dictatorial governments are very, very bad? Didn’t the scary term “blitzkrieg” mean anything? Apparently and sadly, not. Because in just over eight months our country has been changed from one which was engaged in a great experiment to attempt to provide solace, peace and liberty for the many to a nation run by a person who is solely concerned about himself. It’s outrageous and it’s why I continue to write and harangue readers to step up to the plate and swing for the stars. Not Elon Musk’s stars, but the shining stars of liberty and equal treatment for all rather than for the few.
“We the People…” says it all. “In order to form a more perfect Union” adds meaning. We must endure.
If one believes this has all happened in eight months, yes, it's pretty scary. But we've been headed in this direction at least since the Reagan administration, and I'd go back further than that: to the white backlash against the civil rights advances of the 1960s, to the corporate backlash against the New Deal. And as to "dictatorial governments" -- Black people in the South lived under Jim Crow for almost a century, and conditions in the North weren't good either. Trouble is, too many white people thought it was all fine as long as we were doing OK.
Reading the names Bayard Rustin, A. Philip Randolph and Martin Luther King has made me cry a little. Parents had said "Don't go out today in DC." I left my office on Lafayette Park at lunch hour and saw Black people with picnic baskets relaxing with their families. I had a little frisson of improvement in my attitude that day.
Well, in MLK Jr's case, the need and rise of such an inspirational leader also rose out of outrage.
Sometimes the dialogue for inspirational change is the contrast of how things are now, compared to what could be and should be.
He painted the picture by envisioning a better future with his words.
The title of his book, Strength to Love comes to mind as a contrast to what is happening now. It is quite powerful.
So in a sense, knowing what could be and how things should be also can drive outrage over our current situation, as well.
Using the word outrage is perhaps based on the degree to which we have fallen behind what we morally know we should aspire to. So, in this case "outrage" is appropriate.
Inspiration for a right and just and better future that does not currently exist can inform our outrage and outrage also can inspire more efforts to reach our inspirational goals.
It seems both are often intertwined.
We could use an inspirational leader in this moment to point out the contrast of what is now happening compared to what could or should be.
This can be hard when we are moving backwards so fast and there seems to be no goal post from which to move.
Thus, even suggesting we go back to the status quo, can be somewhat inspirational compared to where we are headed now.
The old phrase "you don't know what you have got until it is gone" comes to mind.
Perhaps we need someone who can frame our outrage into inspiration since I think for many inspiration is more powerful, even if anger tends to drive some to the polls short term.
Simply expressing a vision for the future, unlike what is happening now, is both inspiring as well as outrage producing since we are heading backwards.
We need such a leader.
The US is turning a blind eye to the genocide and famine (we are now the ONLY UN nation voting "no" as others who used to vote with us, no longer can deny the obvious and vote for a ceasefire) and Trump is driving India's Modi into the arms of Putin and Xi. Human rights violations are being ignored on a large scale in our own nation as is increasing corruption. Trump invited Putin, a criminal to our shores and rolled out the red carpet for a man killing civilians on a large scale and he is not the only one. The world is feeling like a scary place that we are not shielded from here at home because we (our government) is not even attempting to champion for morality or what is just and right (quite the opposite). Our proud institutions for science and education and law are under threat, as well.
Personally, I need someone who can paint the picture for a better future, and that partly looks like the past, pre-Trump, but honestly, our nation has always been a very stressful place when it comes to personal health and financial security for many folks who have had to work many jobs to get by and still have to worry, so we need more than just that. I lost the use of one of my hands for an entire year due to an injury from over work and had a homebound kid at home with health issues and was a single mom. I had feared Trump's first election and the elimination of the ACA and then had to fear the 2nd. Thus, my health is not what it once was due to all of this. For those who pay attention to politics, this is far more frightening and stressful.
So, finding the right messenger who can frame the message is tough but needed.
Clearly, it is not me.
It also takes someone fearless who is not afraid to speak the truth or fear and try to hide when others do this by "pretending" not to agree when hard topics are discussed.
Clearly, it is you. You are doing an admirable job of giving voice to the angst we all feel, and the need for a new paradigm. Run for something!!
I think it’s hard to imagine a new paradigm because we’ve been beaten down by the rigged capitalist paradigm for so long. I get the capitalist mantra by friends and family all the time, who have the same anxieties I do, by daring to posit that we’ve been brainwashed. Money = merit, your worth to society, they say. When I point out that those who work hard, play by the rules, (but start from zero without inherited money) cannot possibly get ahead in a system of white (wealthy) privilege. They can barely keep their heads above water.
MLK saw that. Especially if the worker was black or brown, but not limited to that. Jesus too saw it, when he overturned the moneylenders’ tables. Outrage is compatible with Love. It’s what you do with it that matters. Love says don’t make other people’s lives harder, don’t profit off of other people’s hardship or labor. Pay fair, livable wages for work you need others to do for you. What’s so hard about that? But in our corporatist, capitalist system of laws written by lobbyists, the opposite is the goal. Maximize profit. Pay workers as little as possible, with as few benefits as you can, to those whose work you need, and whose needs you ignore. Compassion is weak and evil, says the VP. When we protest, remember that those against whom we protest are victims too. MLK said that. You can love your MAGA neighbor by vigorously disabusing them of their brainwashing. MAGA has been sold a pack of lies. They too are victims of the oppressive, lobbyist-designed system based on the myth that money = power = merit. The Naked Orange Mussolini thinks he only needs to court favor with the wealthy at home and the richest dictators abroad. Money flowing freely to him from those people, and corrupt law firms, and craven ideologues makes him think he is the divinely chosen one. What a sad little autocrat and his billionaire-chosen replacement.
Well said Sally, it seems you certainly have the skill to express this. Thank you for your encouragement, but as an old woman I found out long ago that I am the last person people tend to follow and listen to in real life. I don't know why. I seem to lack leadership qualities of some kind. However, I would not mind helping to be a voice and helping others who have that kind of leadership appeal and charisma though and who believe in this and to help put things into context and words, if it can help. I feel that if someone happens to like what I have to say, it means it is what they would also say, and so it also belongs to them and is also a part of them. It is not me or mine because I feel like we have a collective sense of morality in thought as people (most of us) and a collective notion of right and wrong and sometimes it is simply a matter of organizing this into words, like a jigsaw puzzle. MLK was good at making it tangible and grabbable. A collective sense of morality or something. It is us and it is ours and we can grab it and live it or try.
There is a surge of energy that accompanies outrage, but it is more akin to a sugar high; it dissipates. Inspiration is what we crave as a nation I believe. I just tried to have this conversation with two of my political friends. JFK, "ask what you can do for your country". The Red states have done very well under Democrats, and they did not gain votes. Fear or overcoming fear is another matter. That is what is driving MAGA, I think. They know how unfairly we have treated Indigenous people, immigrants, or slaves. So if they get the upper hand, the unfairness will be returned to white people. That is frightening, of course....Anger surges, Fear motivates. I am deathly afraid we have lost our country to oligarchy or fascism. This is motivating me. But Inspiration is what I am craving right now. To build, to create, to commune in common purpose, trying to save our planet is inspiring to me, but where is that clear vision? To overturn Citizens United, get the money out of politics, and return to the vision of securing a more perfect union. I once attended a self-awareness seminar, and the leader said, The reason we have apathy is we don't have a large enough vision. I think that is true of those of us who lean left.
EMERGENCY, not satire. BLUE state governors hold the key to stop the assault on constituents. Too much is at risk to wait! Mobilize Blue state National Guards when threatened. Wait until then. The invasion of one state by another is a call to state Governors to mobilize their National Guards to resist an UNLAWFUL assault. The U.S. military should not accept UNLAWFUL orders, and should not be present no matter how good they are at spreading mulch and collecting trash. The sooner we get this over with, the better. This confrontation is coming. It is coming! REMEMBER JANARY 6th! They started this civil war right then. We are stronger now than we will be tomorrow. The confrontation is not a battle or a war. It is a standoff at State borders. One state would be trying to invade another. One is the offender. The other, the defender. Spare me the “you are inciting violence”.
We all know TACO. Blocking a road at the border is not advocating violence, it is moving the conflict from the cities to the border, a much safer place for the state’s citizens. Also, the gerrymander fight is on. There is a new playbook. The old rules have been struck down by the Supreme Court. We need to change the gears here as fast as possible for deadly PREEMPTIVE strikes. Newsom has moved out on this already. Who is next? Hochul. Where are you? NO EXCUSE! Change your state Constitution. Pritzker. What are you doing?
Right now, I am fueled by outrage at the overall total STUPIDITY of this regime and the STUPIDITY of the voters who supported it, but even more, I am enraged at the UNINVOLVED who sat the election out and even now shrug everything off as 'I'm not into politics." Well, kids, politics will get into YOU real quick when you lose your health insurance and tomatoes are $4 each and you can't buy a shitty house anywhere for less than $660K .
I just became an abuela this week and I am outraged that my grandson will not know what this country was like when Repubs weren't fascists, when the CDC was the best public health agency in the world, when science was respected, when women and Latinos and African-Americans and immigrants were finally starting to get to an even playing field, and evangelical "christianity" wasn't crammed down your throat.
Outrage fuels my actions to write my stupid hypocrite GOP congressman 2-4 times every week, to attend protests, and nag my Dem senators to get off their asses and fight this regime. It may not be enough, but it's all I can do right now. Sorry I'm not a big enough person to wait for inspiration.
Lately, the outrage is winning. The hits just keep on coming and pushback, while growing, moves more slowly than the fresh assaults that appear each day. Outrage and fury are tempered by those in the states who stand firm and speak out without fear or favor. There is also a feeling that the Maga base is starting to shrink, at least around the edges. And there is actual fear -- the whole CDC/vaccine uproar triggers flashbacks to Covid and the millions that died. And another school shooting....
Thank you Mr. Beschloss for this post. I am motivated by anger and outrage at what Trump and his power hungry sycophants are doing to this great nation. I have been in the streets protesting, calling my congressmen/senators to protest and insist they fight harder, and yet even if millions of us protest will it be enough to get there. I'm afraid of the dark forces we face but still have the faith that 'good' will prevail over 'evil', which sounds kind of corny but that to me sums it up. I'm a 74 year old veteran and cannot fathom us losing our democracy, after having fought so hard to preserve it. Especially when I think of the losers who are driving us toward fascism for their own greed and power. Sickens me. I appreciate your thoughtful articles always, take care.
Inspiration? Outrage? I dunno... call it a sense of right and wrong... a sense of decency... a yearning to live in a society that works decently well for the maximum number of people. Not insanely great for a few rich and privileged and really sucky for everyone else. This has been my personal vision for over a decade... my point on the horizon that I aim for. I'm willing to work towards that ideal. So Inspiration? Outrage? I'm just showing up ready to work on it everyday. Who will join me?
The I Have a Dream speech was improvised. During the previous evening, King and his advisors met at a DC hotel to draft the speech he would give the next day. When he rose to give that speech, King was flat and relatively unanimated. Mahalia Jackson was seated behind him. She reached forward and whispered, “Martin, tell them about your dream.” With that, King abandoned the speech he had written and launched into the timeless I Have a Dream speech.
Various sources have reported it over the years. I’d forgotten this story. The NAACP site only says he was originally slated to speak for 4 minutes but spoke for 16 min. However History.com has a longer story and credits Mahala Jackson with the remark that changed the direction of his comments. It also says that part of the speech was not in his written text but had been used for other audiences.
I am inspired by both. When my anger is fueled by what I see, read and experience, I am moved by the people who have come before me, to continue to fight for what is right in whatever capacity I can. Sometimes I feel as though I’m not doing enough, but then I realize that collectively with the millions like me, we are making a difference.
Martin Luther King’s words should be used now to inspire resistance. To let the outrage fuel dissent and protests (peaceful). This is a very scary time. Keep fighting America, Canada 🇨🇦 and the world are watching closely.
Thank you for reminding us of King’s words. Today the country needs the reminder to stand up and be seen and counted as the resistance. Two Labor Day rallies/ marches are being mounted to make visible and loudly vocal our rejection of what is being perpetrated on our land. Check out www.50501 and look for where a “Workers Over Billionaires” rally is happening near you. Or find that info at “May Day Strong”. Join with others and let your voice be heard and respected.
I am driven by both inspiration and outrage, and believe that both are necessary to fuel the Resistance.
Misdirected disgust and or outrage, etc
https://youtu.be/pvgY9_yecMo?si=JKyNWRMiaXraC2b0&t=1199
Science finds the cluster of emotions derived from disgust to be "poorly calibrated and incompletely evolved.... eg....
...US anger over 911 was " easily misdirected at Cheney's unrelated oil rich target.. A million lives and a trillion dollars?
GULLIBILITY science is CBT?
I think both. I am an elderly (72) white woman born and raised in the South. MLK Jr was killed in my hometown when I was 15. Today I see people snatched off the streets of America by people who won’t show their faces. We have a cancer in our government that’s trying to destroy everything we’ve been about for the last 250 years. I’m both inspired and outraged. And I will not go down without a fight. At my age I’m more than willing to give my very life in sacrifice for my country.
I am close to your age and have considered that question - would I be willing to give my life to preserve our constitution and rights for all of us? Yes I would though clearly I hope it doesn’t come to that.
Inspiration does not come without perspiration, someone surely must have written. Outrage does cause angst. But speeches like King’s are inspiring and rereading it frequently does make one feel that there is a glimmer of hope that the pendulum will swing and we’ll be rid of the blight that has been wrought by Donald Trump.
Yes, great speeches are great. The Gettysburg Address by Lincoln is another as was the inaugural speech by JFK. But why, friends, do speeches of hate and acts of brutality cause the pendulum to swing back as it has today, to a near dictatorial and fascist-like government. If we are supposed to learn by history and mistakes, and today’s situation is surely a mistake, why has one man been enabled to erase the course of history to a time, before the Revolution and the writing of our Constitution, to controvert the intent of our Founding Fathers to make our government at the behest of the few at the detriment to the many?
That Trump is frighteningly close to Hitler is an enigma. It’s insulting and frightening and disgusting, isn’t it? Didn’t we learn that dictatorial governments are very, very bad? Didn’t the scary term “blitzkrieg” mean anything? Apparently and sadly, not. Because in just over eight months our country has been changed from one which was engaged in a great experiment to attempt to provide solace, peace and liberty for the many to a nation run by a person who is solely concerned about himself. It’s outrageous and it’s why I continue to write and harangue readers to step up to the plate and swing for the stars. Not Elon Musk’s stars, but the shining stars of liberty and equal treatment for all rather than for the few.
“We the People…” says it all. “In order to form a more perfect Union” adds meaning. We must endure.
If one believes this has all happened in eight months, yes, it's pretty scary. But we've been headed in this direction at least since the Reagan administration, and I'd go back further than that: to the white backlash against the civil rights advances of the 1960s, to the corporate backlash against the New Deal. And as to "dictatorial governments" -- Black people in the South lived under Jim Crow for almost a century, and conditions in the North weren't good either. Trouble is, too many white people thought it was all fine as long as we were doing OK.
Reading the names Bayard Rustin, A. Philip Randolph and Martin Luther King has made me cry a little. Parents had said "Don't go out today in DC." I left my office on Lafayette Park at lunch hour and saw Black people with picnic baskets relaxing with their families. I had a little frisson of improvement in my attitude that day.
Well, in MLK Jr's case, the need and rise of such an inspirational leader also rose out of outrage.
Sometimes the dialogue for inspirational change is the contrast of how things are now, compared to what could be and should be.
He painted the picture by envisioning a better future with his words.
The title of his book, Strength to Love comes to mind as a contrast to what is happening now. It is quite powerful.
So in a sense, knowing what could be and how things should be also can drive outrage over our current situation, as well.
Using the word outrage is perhaps based on the degree to which we have fallen behind what we morally know we should aspire to. So, in this case "outrage" is appropriate.
Inspiration for a right and just and better future that does not currently exist can inform our outrage and outrage also can inspire more efforts to reach our inspirational goals.
It seems both are often intertwined.
We could use an inspirational leader in this moment to point out the contrast of what is now happening compared to what could or should be.
This can be hard when we are moving backwards so fast and there seems to be no goal post from which to move.
Thus, even suggesting we go back to the status quo, can be somewhat inspirational compared to where we are headed now.
The old phrase "you don't know what you have got until it is gone" comes to mind.
Perhaps we need someone who can frame our outrage into inspiration since I think for many inspiration is more powerful, even if anger tends to drive some to the polls short term.
Simply expressing a vision for the future, unlike what is happening now, is both inspiring as well as outrage producing since we are heading backwards.
We need such a leader.
The US is turning a blind eye to the genocide and famine (we are now the ONLY UN nation voting "no" as others who used to vote with us, no longer can deny the obvious and vote for a ceasefire) and Trump is driving India's Modi into the arms of Putin and Xi. Human rights violations are being ignored on a large scale in our own nation as is increasing corruption. Trump invited Putin, a criminal to our shores and rolled out the red carpet for a man killing civilians on a large scale and he is not the only one. The world is feeling like a scary place that we are not shielded from here at home because we (our government) is not even attempting to champion for morality or what is just and right (quite the opposite). Our proud institutions for science and education and law are under threat, as well.
Personally, I need someone who can paint the picture for a better future, and that partly looks like the past, pre-Trump, but honestly, our nation has always been a very stressful place when it comes to personal health and financial security for many folks who have had to work many jobs to get by and still have to worry, so we need more than just that. I lost the use of one of my hands for an entire year due to an injury from over work and had a homebound kid at home with health issues and was a single mom. I had feared Trump's first election and the elimination of the ACA and then had to fear the 2nd. Thus, my health is not what it once was due to all of this. For those who pay attention to politics, this is far more frightening and stressful.
So, finding the right messenger who can frame the message is tough but needed.
Clearly, it is not me.
It also takes someone fearless who is not afraid to speak the truth or fear and try to hide when others do this by "pretending" not to agree when hard topics are discussed.
Clearly, it is you. You are doing an admirable job of giving voice to the angst we all feel, and the need for a new paradigm. Run for something!!
I think it’s hard to imagine a new paradigm because we’ve been beaten down by the rigged capitalist paradigm for so long. I get the capitalist mantra by friends and family all the time, who have the same anxieties I do, by daring to posit that we’ve been brainwashed. Money = merit, your worth to society, they say. When I point out that those who work hard, play by the rules, (but start from zero without inherited money) cannot possibly get ahead in a system of white (wealthy) privilege. They can barely keep their heads above water.
MLK saw that. Especially if the worker was black or brown, but not limited to that. Jesus too saw it, when he overturned the moneylenders’ tables. Outrage is compatible with Love. It’s what you do with it that matters. Love says don’t make other people’s lives harder, don’t profit off of other people’s hardship or labor. Pay fair, livable wages for work you need others to do for you. What’s so hard about that? But in our corporatist, capitalist system of laws written by lobbyists, the opposite is the goal. Maximize profit. Pay workers as little as possible, with as few benefits as you can, to those whose work you need, and whose needs you ignore. Compassion is weak and evil, says the VP. When we protest, remember that those against whom we protest are victims too. MLK said that. You can love your MAGA neighbor by vigorously disabusing them of their brainwashing. MAGA has been sold a pack of lies. They too are victims of the oppressive, lobbyist-designed system based on the myth that money = power = merit. The Naked Orange Mussolini thinks he only needs to court favor with the wealthy at home and the richest dictators abroad. Money flowing freely to him from those people, and corrupt law firms, and craven ideologues makes him think he is the divinely chosen one. What a sad little autocrat and his billionaire-chosen replacement.
Well said Sally, it seems you certainly have the skill to express this. Thank you for your encouragement, but as an old woman I found out long ago that I am the last person people tend to follow and listen to in real life. I don't know why. I seem to lack leadership qualities of some kind. However, I would not mind helping to be a voice and helping others who have that kind of leadership appeal and charisma though and who believe in this and to help put things into context and words, if it can help. I feel that if someone happens to like what I have to say, it means it is what they would also say, and so it also belongs to them and is also a part of them. It is not me or mine because I feel like we have a collective sense of morality in thought as people (most of us) and a collective notion of right and wrong and sometimes it is simply a matter of organizing this into words, like a jigsaw puzzle. MLK was good at making it tangible and grabbable. A collective sense of morality or something. It is us and it is ours and we can grab it and live it or try.
There is a surge of energy that accompanies outrage, but it is more akin to a sugar high; it dissipates. Inspiration is what we crave as a nation I believe. I just tried to have this conversation with two of my political friends. JFK, "ask what you can do for your country". The Red states have done very well under Democrats, and they did not gain votes. Fear or overcoming fear is another matter. That is what is driving MAGA, I think. They know how unfairly we have treated Indigenous people, immigrants, or slaves. So if they get the upper hand, the unfairness will be returned to white people. That is frightening, of course....Anger surges, Fear motivates. I am deathly afraid we have lost our country to oligarchy or fascism. This is motivating me. But Inspiration is what I am craving right now. To build, to create, to commune in common purpose, trying to save our planet is inspiring to me, but where is that clear vision? To overturn Citizens United, get the money out of politics, and return to the vision of securing a more perfect union. I once attended a self-awareness seminar, and the leader said, The reason we have apathy is we don't have a large enough vision. I think that is true of those of us who lean left.
The daily onslaught is having a desensitizing effect on me. Is it possible to be any more outraged?!
EMERGENCY, not satire. BLUE state governors hold the key to stop the assault on constituents. Too much is at risk to wait! Mobilize Blue state National Guards when threatened. Wait until then. The invasion of one state by another is a call to state Governors to mobilize their National Guards to resist an UNLAWFUL assault. The U.S. military should not accept UNLAWFUL orders, and should not be present no matter how good they are at spreading mulch and collecting trash. The sooner we get this over with, the better. This confrontation is coming. It is coming! REMEMBER JANARY 6th! They started this civil war right then. We are stronger now than we will be tomorrow. The confrontation is not a battle or a war. It is a standoff at State borders. One state would be trying to invade another. One is the offender. The other, the defender. Spare me the “you are inciting violence”.
We all know TACO. Blocking a road at the border is not advocating violence, it is moving the conflict from the cities to the border, a much safer place for the state’s citizens. Also, the gerrymander fight is on. There is a new playbook. The old rules have been struck down by the Supreme Court. We need to change the gears here as fast as possible for deadly PREEMPTIVE strikes. Newsom has moved out on this already. Who is next? Hochul. Where are you? NO EXCUSE! Change your state Constitution. Pritzker. What are you doing?
https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/gerrymander-fight?r=3m1bs
Right now, I am fueled by outrage at the overall total STUPIDITY of this regime and the STUPIDITY of the voters who supported it, but even more, I am enraged at the UNINVOLVED who sat the election out and even now shrug everything off as 'I'm not into politics." Well, kids, politics will get into YOU real quick when you lose your health insurance and tomatoes are $4 each and you can't buy a shitty house anywhere for less than $660K .
I just became an abuela this week and I am outraged that my grandson will not know what this country was like when Repubs weren't fascists, when the CDC was the best public health agency in the world, when science was respected, when women and Latinos and African-Americans and immigrants were finally starting to get to an even playing field, and evangelical "christianity" wasn't crammed down your throat.
Outrage fuels my actions to write my stupid hypocrite GOP congressman 2-4 times every week, to attend protests, and nag my Dem senators to get off their asses and fight this regime. It may not be enough, but it's all I can do right now. Sorry I'm not a big enough person to wait for inspiration.
Lately, the outrage is winning. The hits just keep on coming and pushback, while growing, moves more slowly than the fresh assaults that appear each day. Outrage and fury are tempered by those in the states who stand firm and speak out without fear or favor. There is also a feeling that the Maga base is starting to shrink, at least around the edges. And there is actual fear -- the whole CDC/vaccine uproar triggers flashbacks to Covid and the millions that died. And another school shooting....
Thank you Mr. Beschloss for this post. I am motivated by anger and outrage at what Trump and his power hungry sycophants are doing to this great nation. I have been in the streets protesting, calling my congressmen/senators to protest and insist they fight harder, and yet even if millions of us protest will it be enough to get there. I'm afraid of the dark forces we face but still have the faith that 'good' will prevail over 'evil', which sounds kind of corny but that to me sums it up. I'm a 74 year old veteran and cannot fathom us losing our democracy, after having fought so hard to preserve it. Especially when I think of the losers who are driving us toward fascism for their own greed and power. Sickens me. I appreciate your thoughtful articles always, take care.
Inspiration? Outrage? I dunno... call it a sense of right and wrong... a sense of decency... a yearning to live in a society that works decently well for the maximum number of people. Not insanely great for a few rich and privileged and really sucky for everyone else. This has been my personal vision for over a decade... my point on the horizon that I aim for. I'm willing to work towards that ideal. So Inspiration? Outrage? I'm just showing up ready to work on it everyday. Who will join me?
The I Have a Dream speech was improvised. During the previous evening, King and his advisors met at a DC hotel to draft the speech he would give the next day. When he rose to give that speech, King was flat and relatively unanimated. Mahalia Jackson was seated behind him. She reached forward and whispered, “Martin, tell them about your dream.” With that, King abandoned the speech he had written and launched into the timeless I Have a Dream speech.
I’d love to believe this. What is your source?
Various sources have reported it over the years. I’d forgotten this story. The NAACP site only says he was originally slated to speak for 4 minutes but spoke for 16 min. However History.com has a longer story and credits Mahala Jackson with the remark that changed the direction of his comments. It also says that part of the speech was not in his written text but had been used for other audiences.
https://www.history.com/articles/i-have-a-dream-speech
Thanks so much for this, Ann Sharon!
These days: Outrage!
I am inspired by both. When my anger is fueled by what I see, read and experience, I am moved by the people who have come before me, to continue to fight for what is right in whatever capacity I can. Sometimes I feel as though I’m not doing enough, but then I realize that collectively with the millions like me, we are making a difference.
You have expressed everything I was going to write. 💜
Martin Luther King’s words should be used now to inspire resistance. To let the outrage fuel dissent and protests (peaceful). This is a very scary time. Keep fighting America, Canada 🇨🇦 and the world are watching closely.
Thank you for reminding us of King’s words. Today the country needs the reminder to stand up and be seen and counted as the resistance. Two Labor Day rallies/ marches are being mounted to make visible and loudly vocal our rejection of what is being perpetrated on our land. Check out www.50501 and look for where a “Workers Over Billionaires” rally is happening near you. Or find that info at “May Day Strong”. Join with others and let your voice be heard and respected.