[voberoi]

> "I have a dream" doesn't derive its power from any law King helped pass, but from how it reorganized our relationship with possibility.

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MLK was an incredible organizer whose work helped get the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Acts passed.

That isn't a "facade". They're real policy and that is his legacy. His words don't take on mythical status without those significant accomplishments.

Not only is this article poorly-written and hard to parse with pointless sentences like "We are all legislators in the parliament of consciousness", the author's entire premise is wrong.

I hope people don't actually think this way. Activists, organizers, and politicians aren't just Jungian symbols or "cultural vibes".

The policies they fight for, organize around, and enact actually cause things to happen -- for better or worse.

[wahern]

MLK was able to actually organize large, potent, real-life networks of people from all walks of life, a plurality of whom actually took on substantial physical, legal, social, and monetary risks. People today have been convinced that activism revolves around Twitter feeds, Facebook Likes, declarations of sentiment & affiliations, and similarly vapid activities, much of which is anonymous or impersonal (even when in-person). On the rare occasions that they actually put themselves at real-life risk (e.g. arrest), the moment they pay the price the group collapses (e.g. Jan 6 insurrectionists, Gaza college campus protests, etc). MLK succeeded because large groups of activists paid the price over... and over... and over... until most Americans were convinced of the righteousness of their cause even when they were unable to relinquish their personal prejudices. (Notably, I don't think MLK ever expected most people to relinquish their personal prejudices, only that they soften their hearts enough to permit meaningful political changes that, in turn, might allow for some of those prejudices to diminish through the passage of time.)

So, yes, sadly activism today is largely symbolic, and I'd agree that most "activists" are symbols made manifest through media personalities. There are certainly old school activists around, and the fervor behind activism still burns within people, but the society has changed tremendously. All that energy just radiates into space, resulting in frustration and impotence.

The only significant risk taking you still see today at any meaningful scale is spending money. That's not nothing, but it'll never have the power that other forms of activism could have (when they're well organized), and it's blunted by opposing interests also throwing large sums of money into advocacy.

Also, I don't mean to discount the value of the army of people who are still involved in politics, doing things like canvassing, volunteering, etc. That kind of activity is just as if not more important than directed political and social activism. But general civic participation also seems diminished as compared to 50+ years ago, replaced by large sums of money, largely from mega donors (the "good" and "evil" kind), funding paid work.