Listen to Martin Luther King, Jr's address in the background while you surf today. You only need to trade one proper noun out, and he's talking to us today.
I noticed one other thing that identifies this speech as a Vietnam War speech opposed to an Iraq War speech -- the mentioning of civil unrest here at home. I point this out not to nit pick, but b/c I think it's a really interesting (and potentially discussion-worthy) dichotomy between now and then. Granted much of the violence was tied to clashes during the Civil Rights movement, but, in the months following this speech, anti-war protests quickly spun out of control. I mean, keep in mind that people were tossing pipe bombs into CIA recruiting offices and at the 1968 DNC in Chicago the police rioted just to name a few highlights off the top of my head. I think the obvious conclusion is that people are too scared to get violent in the context of all this "war on terror" bullshit, but still I'm surprised things haven't popped off a few times by this point.
Oh yeah, interesting fact: Dr. King was assassinated a year to the day after giving this speech.
When I read your first sentence, I was like, yeah!, Madeleine should get more civilly unrested! I want good protest songs and the youth coming together over our anger at the government.
Then I read your concluding point--we'd be terrorists if we did.
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Oh yeah, interesting fact: Dr. King was assassinated a year to the day after giving this speech.
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Then I read your concluding point--we'd be terrorists if we did.
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