I Have A Dream – Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the Supreme Irony
January 15, 2004
by Mike Spinney

Martin Luther King Jr. Day isn’t a real holiday. You can tell because no one is out there using the event as an excuse to shill for a quick buck.

I can only guess the reason is that everyone from Walmart to Slick Rick’s Used Car Emporium is afraid of finding Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition camped out in their parking lot shouting cleverly rhymed race-baiting slogans and mugging for every camera in the neighborhood.

Don’t get me wrong; I fully support honoring Dr. King with a national holiday. I have the utmost respect for the man, who lived and died for the noblest of causes and principles, and who exemplified the words of Jesus Christ who said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

But I do find it more than just a little ironic that a man who followed the teachings of Christ, indeed, was martyred and became an exemplar of the life lived by the very Son of God would, for the sake of political correctness, be treated with more reverence than Jesus himself.

I’m not sure King would have wanted to be regarded as more sacred as the King of Kings, but the evidence is overwhelming.

Christmas, the holiday established to remember the birth of God’s only son, has devolved into little more than the apex of a month-long marketing spree; where consumer spending and economic indices are watched with greater anticipation than our moral compass. Retailers sell their souls in the month of December and hope that, by tempting shoppers with the promise of satisfying wanton lust, they can make up for eleven months of sloth.

Likewise, our culture celebrates the death and resurrection of that same savior by stuffing candy and colored eggs into baskets under the pretense that a beneficent rabbit is on the loose spreading joy throughout the land. I’m sure Jesus is right pleased that he chose to suffer on a cross so that we could nibble the ears off a chocolate bunny.

From a more secular perspective, our national heritage is treated with no more respect.

One month hence, hucksters of every stripe will don powdered wig and stovepipe, while imploring any who care to listen to “save a few presidents” on an electronic nosehair trimmer or some other contrivance. Independence Day and Labor Day are mere excuses for an extended weekend. And I doubt four out of five random citizens can tell you when we observe Flag Day.

It’s a shame.

It’s a shame because, when I look up and down the calendar, I see no holiday better suited for inspiring the American entrepreneurial spirit.

Consider the possibilities as the image of a Dr. King impersonator appears on your television screen bellowing:

“I have a dream… a dream of lower prices!”

“I have climbed the mountain… and it’s a mountain of savings!”

Or, “Free at last, free at last… buy one, get one free – while supplies last!”

(Mike Spinney is a volunteer staff writer for 2 Walls Webzine)

Response from: Mike Webb
January 18, 2004

I try not to respond to most things written on 2Walls because everyone has the right to write whatever they think. But Mike Spinney's MLK piece is so wildly off the mark that I couldn't help myself.

If I understand Spinney correctly, I think he was trying to make a point about the overcommercialization of Christmas and Easter. Although that's true, what does that have to do with MLK? People go to church every Sunday to worship Jesus, and somehow I missed the weekly service/event that's held to remember Dr. King. The guy essentially gets one weekend a year to be remembered and I'm sorry if you think that one weekend is such an imposition on YOUR lord and savior.

I hope that it's more than an act of political correctness to acknowledge a man who actually had to teach America through non-violent methods that minorities should have the same rights and legal protections as non-minorities. And I'm certain that today's civil rights leaders (whoever they are) wouldn't give a damn about Walmart having a sale in MLK's name. It's more likely that they (and MLK) would shout "cleverly rhymed race-baiting slogans" at Walmart because they refuse to pay their employees a fair wage, or let them organize, or illegally force them to work overtime – but not because all mittens are 10% off on King Day.

I think the thing we need to remember here is that everyone has different beliefs about religion. Personally, I hope that people find a way to have spirituality in their lives, but I don't care if your top dawg is Muhammad, Buddha, Halle Berry or Hey-Zeus Christ. So I get annoyed when people get all consumed by their religion and forget that America is the land of the free to worship any way we want to as long as it's not forced upon us by the government.

I'm not calling Spinney a religious fanatic, but his anti-gay marriage article also leaves me cold because I believe any love is good love (yes Mr. Jackson – among consenting adults). I thought by now we'd all seen the 200 episodes of the uptight character on the Real World who doesn't like gay people, but after they get to know "the content of their character", the gay person becomes the uptight one's best friend by the end of the show. If in your heart you feel that homosexuality is "bad," then have faith in your God to deal with the person as he/she/it feels on "Judgment Day." I see no reason why people who like to have sex in a different manner than I do should not be able to celebrate their love in a marriage ceremony and be entitled to equal protection under the law that all Americans (and humans) are entitled to.

I think Spinney's passion for God clouds his thinking. And while I have much respect for him to live his life according to his religious beliefs, my beliefs are very different from his and neither one of ours should trump the others.

(Mike Webb is a volunteer staff writer for 2 Walls Webzine)