The real MLK was a radical.

@Ultraverified @violetmadder @amerpie being, and staying, kind as well as loving in a society built on aggression is, by its very definition, a radical act in and of itself.

@squirrel @amerpie naive is assuming the problems with the current system can be solved any other way

@amerpie Last year a local church had a whole seminar about the radical king (election year, people came).
This year our locl community radio weft.org is doin' a thing top of next hour 4:00 CST for several hours of the stuff that doesn't get out there enough.
Now, aren't there also copyright issues w/ much of what was said and written?

@amerpie it’s not wrong.

@capngloval @amerpie describing capitalism as "not perfect" is kind of burying the lede. It is an awful system, designed by wicked people to accumulate power while simultaneously getting the have-nots to blame themselves for their failure to be one of the haves and crabs-in-a-barreling each other.

Capitalism is perfect, in the same way that a xenomorph is perfect. Unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.

@amerpie Wait until MAGA finds out Jesus Christ was an early socialist, sharing bread & wine, feeding the poor & healing the sick without demanding monetary payment or recurring donations for legal defense funds not even existing!

Donnie may be able to walk on Trump wine — after he dropped a bottle onto the floor.
But he'll never be able to walk on water.
And he's not above the law & won't ever be!

@amerpie not a radical. just an OG christian.

@ChrisUplus @Ultraverified @amerpie

Exactly!

And while we're at it: "radix" from the Latin, root. The term "radical" refers to the fundamental origin of a thing, and came into heavier political use in the 18th century with people talking about suffrage and the abolition of slavery, calling for "radical reform" as in meaningful and dramatic change at the roots of an issue. In the wake of the upheaval of the 60s and 70s it was shortened to "rad" as a slang expression for something exciting and positive.

The concept itself is neutral, but conservatives are the ones who will tend to automatically view its connotations as bad and scary because they don't like change and don't want anybody rocking the boat. To them it is basically interchangeable with "extremist".

Dr. King was definitely out to rock the boat. A radical in the best way-- who was reviled, feared, hated, persecuted, murdered... and then the system did its best to sanitize and co-opt his legacy. We named some streets after him, yay civil rights, he won look racism is over everything is fixed okay everybody now go sit back down and shut up.

Nothing short of radical change can save us now, with the whole planet sprinting towards catastrophe for profit.

@fbinin @amerpie gdp is growing pretty fast but the incomes aren’t. Growth is only for the rich, the common man in India still lives without proper access to things.

@amerpie YAY!!! Rare historical figure that was accually a good person o_O

@jlou @amerpie why would you though? say you could have something like the nordic model, instead? still capitalism, but with quite a bit of equality.

@squirrel @amerpie Nordic model doesn’t resolve workers’ inalienable rights violations that occur routinely under all forms of capitalism. Capitalism is deeply inefficient at allocating resources towards public goods and dealing with externalities.

@jlou @amerpie what rights are being violated?

@squirrel @amerpie the inalienable right to appropriate the positive and negative fruits of your labor.

Source: https://www.ellerman.org/inalienable-rights-part-i-the-basic-argument/

@jlou @amerpie thanks. that was interesting. these cooperatives are free to operate within a Nordic model, though. you don't have to burn it all down for these to gain traction.

@squirrel @amerpie The problem is the violation of workers’ inalienable rights in non-democratic non-cooperative firms. The employment contract must be abolished making all firm’s democratic.

Abolishing capitalism ≠ burning it all down

We can have economic democracy and keep many market institutions.

@jlou @amerpie I understand why somebody would want this. Myself, I kinda feel quite happy renting myself out and not having any responsibility for the fruits, good or bad, of my labor.

I mean, it is a capable way or organizing, but I'm unsure if it is everything to everyone, if you know what I mean.

@Ultraverified @amerpie
"decent, caring, thoughtful human being" IS radical. It allows us to focus not on chasing money, but on caring for each other.

@squirrel @amerpie

Responsibility is non-transferable even with consent. No matter how much you like the terms of the employment contract. You can’t fulfill it because a de facto person can’t become de facto non-person to fulfill the legal role of a non-person.

@jlou @amerpie it feels a bit patronizing, tbh.

I mean, we have the concept of non-transferable rights in most democracies, but I guess I'm comfortable with the specifics as they are today because I've lived with them forever.

Thanks for giving me something to think about, friend.