I get nervous about my heroes. There are some which so far appear reasonably spotless ( Fred Rogers, Dolly Parton) and others who have clear claims to corruption in some way or other. Churches have these problems. Artists too. Sometimes I'd rather not know too much about artists personally- after all, often the artist is not claiming to be a role model but simply a great musician/actor/etc. I feel like the more we know about someone's personal life, the more likely we are to be disappointed or even horrified. I do like the phrase "trust the art, not the artist." But it's too simplistic to assume we shouldn't be affected by the moral choices of someone we admire. Especially someone who literally makes a career our of telling others how to live. But I don't think we toss out everything. If we did that, I suspect we'd narrow the pantheon be down to just a small hand full of people. It seems like we need a way/or ways for acknowledging the truth and then working towards mercy and forgiveness. And where possible, learning. How were King's worst choices made and how could he have done better?
I think an often undermentioned moral failing of King was in 1966 during the "March Against Fear" in Mississippi. It was during this march that other Civil Rights Movement leaders like Stokely Carmichael (a mediocrity at best) began to promote the idea of "Black Power". Reading the stuff that they put out, it's hard to tell the difference between them and the modern-day BLM. They were racists, pure and simple (I dislike using the word because it has come to mean virtually nothing, but it seems to me to be the best way to describe them). King didn't have any serious response or rebuttal to them. It seems he turned a blind eye to it.
I get nervous about my heroes. There are some which so far appear reasonably spotless ( Fred Rogers, Dolly Parton) and others who have clear claims to corruption in some way or other. Churches have these problems. Artists too. Sometimes I'd rather not know too much about artists personally- after all, often the artist is not claiming to be a role model but simply a great musician/actor/etc. I feel like the more we know about someone's personal life, the more likely we are to be disappointed or even horrified. I do like the phrase "trust the art, not the artist." But it's too simplistic to assume we shouldn't be affected by the moral choices of someone we admire. Especially someone who literally makes a career our of telling others how to live. But I don't think we toss out everything. If we did that, I suspect we'd narrow the pantheon be down to just a small hand full of people. It seems like we need a way/or ways for acknowledging the truth and then working towards mercy and forgiveness. And where possible, learning. How were King's worst choices made and how could he have done better?
I think an often undermentioned moral failing of King was in 1966 during the "March Against Fear" in Mississippi. It was during this march that other Civil Rights Movement leaders like Stokely Carmichael (a mediocrity at best) began to promote the idea of "Black Power". Reading the stuff that they put out, it's hard to tell the difference between them and the modern-day BLM. They were racists, pure and simple (I dislike using the word because it has come to mean virtually nothing, but it seems to me to be the best way to describe them). King didn't have any serious response or rebuttal to them. It seems he turned a blind eye to it.