MLK Day on a G & M Life

Martin Luther KIng Jr. is one of the most famous folk heroes of American culture. If you cut it down to just those who are black, he is probably number one (But Obama is closing in on that too). However much of his agenda is in fact ignored by the media and few people know about it. In a way this defeats the purpose of celebrating his accomplishments.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrates the man who "defeated" segregation, the man who fought for racial equality at a time when there was known. That is why we celebrate MLK day, to honor all that he accomplished. However, if you look at the grand scheme of what he did, he failed at most of what he tried to do and what he did accomplish was practically an accident. Nobody honors Hitler for helping to have the Jews integrated into society more than they had been (My opinion more than fact I guess), and yet we honor Martin Luther King Jr. This seems a tad odd, but I do not deny that he accomplished a lot.

MLK Day however, tells people a multitude of things that are "crucial" to a good and meaningful life. For instance, fighting the system, exactly what Martin Luther King Jr. did to be honored. It also encourages people to fight for what they think is right. These are both pretty mainstream messages that are common in most forms of culture. What I would like to propose though is that the holiday in fact tells people that overlooking what you don't like and focusing on the good is necessary to a good and meaningful life. That is basically what the holiday is doing, and since it is so celebrating so widely, it is basically encouraging that you just overlook the bad. I think that for this reason the holiday might not be all it should be.