Don’t You Dare Conflate MLK and Obama

[limpyhobbler]

39. Actually it's very cool to learn about the philosophical ideas of liberation and non-violence

developed by the thinkers and leaders of past generations, and then to apply those ideas to the current events.

Sometimes doing that might take the rhetorical form of asserting how a past thinker might have responded to the issues of today.

Such an assertion is an opinion. It's ok to simply state one's opinion without having to always say "this is just my opinion". Because it's implied. There is nothing arrogant about it. Adults understand that when one asserts their viewpoint on a controversial issue, it is always an opinion.

For example I would say: If Jesus Christ were alive today he would protest the death penalty.

While it could go without saying, this is just my opinion. It's not arrogant for adults to state their opinions, even if you happen to disagree with it.

How can I be 100% certain that if Jesus Christ were alive he would oppose the death penalty? I can't be 100% certain. But I don't need so say that expressly. It's implied because adults understand that without being told.

I agree with you, it's possible that in the intervening time he may have changed his mind. But based on his actions in life, and based on the philosophy that he espoused, Martin Luther King would have rejected many aspects the what Obama represents.

I agree, nobody can actually know 100% for sure how a historical figure would view current events.

I would have thought that was so obvious it could go without saying.

Adults understand automatically and implicitly that nobody can literally know what a deceased person would have thought if they had been alive. So people should be able to just skip over that mundane point and move on to the interesting part of giving their opinions on what historical figures would think of some current issue, without having to rehash the fact that it's just a guess, and just an opinion.



(in my opinion)