You're telling me a black American minister in the 1960s believed capitalism and white supremacy are deeply linked and both are an active defiance of his God? Shocked, shocked I tell you…
Ok tbh most Americans have no idea that that would be kinda obvious
You should be nice
Mmm actually communists are nice, so you should avoid that
Brother I hate partisanship
Just regarding the post title, John Birch died 14 years before the JBS was founded and had nothing to do with them. They considered him a martyr because he was killed by a Chinese Communist during an assignment so they used him as a symbol of anti-Communism. James Doolittle, a wartime pilot and possibly Birch's friend (maybe they just worked together, not sure exactly and I don't feel like looking into it further), said in his autobiography:
"[Birch] had no way of knowing that the John Birch Society, a highly vocal postwar anti-communist organization, would be named after him because its founders believed him to be the 'first casualty of World War III.' I feel sure he would not have approved."
As usual it's these far right assholes hiding behind something/someone more respectable to launder their bullshit.
Theoretically. Not necessarily in practice, because it's always people implementing it. And people tend to screw everything up. Kind of like Christianity is said to value kindness...
Honestly, MLK Jr seemed a lot less communistic than other civil rights figures of the time. MLK Jr preached about Jesus and once said “Communism and Christianity are fundamentally incompatible”.
King was constantly labelled such because at the time the USSR and the Cold War were still the largest threat to American society and way of life and perhaps even continued life on earth, meaning it was used as a label for your enemies in the sociopolitical sphere. It didn't help that the Russians claimed to promote equality which was a word King used often.
Now Malcom X and the Black Panthers? Those were some commie mfers. Malcom X wrote a letter directly to President Truman claiming to be such, and the BPP hardly tried to hide it either.
The Sword and the Shield by Christopher Andrew and KGB defector Vasili Mitrokhin:
King was probably the only prominent American to be the target of active measures by both the FBI and the KGB. By the mid-1960s the claims by the [Communist Party of the USA] leadership that secret Party members within King’s entourage would be able to “guide” his policies had proved to be hollow. To the Centre’s dismay, King repeatedly linked the aims of the civil rights movement not to the alleged worldwide struggle against American imperialism but to the fulfillment of the American dream and “the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.”
[...]
Having given up hope of influencing King, the Centre aimed instead at replacing him with a more radical and malleable leader. In August 1967 the Centre approved an operational plan by the deputy head of Service A, Yuri Modin, former controller of the Magnificent Five, to discredit King and his chief lieutenants by placing articles in the African press, which could then be reprinted in American newspapers, portraying King as an “Uncle Tom” who was secretly receiving government subsidies to tame the civil rights movement and prevent it threatening the Johnson administration. While leading freedom marches under the admiring glare of worldwide television, King was allegedly in close touch with the President.
Communism and Christianity
Makes total sense for him to say that since at the time all of the communist powers banned religion.
I think King would be down for less authoritarian communism, but being politically active at the time he was I understand why he may not have explored that as an option
at the time all of the communist powers banned religion.
Me, an atheist in the US:
I am an Athiest but I don't want to take away the rights of others to worship. They do need to start paying taxes, though.
They shouldn't necessarily pay taxes, but should no longer have a special tax designation. They should be placed in the same category as other not for profit social clubs. Think groups like Shriners, Mason's, a community operated community center.
I'm not well versed in tax law so maybe that would mean paying some property taxes. But it places them on the same level and removes many of thei special privileges
Agreed, and I also don’t want them forcing their dumb bullshit into our schools or government. My post was a lame attempt at a cheeky joke.
When both the FBI and the KGB are plotting against you, you did something right, wow!
Clearly they didn't notice Elmo's colour.
They think they're being "based" or whatever, but I can't see this doing anything but potentially backfiring.
If you're all in on the brain rot already, then you don't like MLK, and a post like this does nothing to move the needle.
However, if you're like most people and still respect Dr. King, and maybe are too young to be super indoctrinated in the red scare bullshit, this post could really only serve to potentially increase people's opinion of communism. Like "oh, maybe it's not evil if MLK was one, let me read more about it" or whatever.
Did that make sense? It made sense in my head...
"Everyone should read more."
These people don't actually have any kind of coherent plan, they just flap around doing things and being generally crappy to people.
Been obnoxious and irritating is essentially the entire point, there is no greater strategy here.
To be fair, the JBS also thought Eisenhower was a communist, so I’m not sure we need to be listening to them
The John birch society isn't being paid by those people, it's comprised of them. It's an organization initially comprised of wealthy people who think that workers having rights is communists stealing from them
Stop selling me on Dr King.
He was a socialist. Because a capitalist could never be kind.
I am downright shocked at the number of comments in here that apparently don't know what the John Birch Society is. Frankly everyone should know that. If you don't understand them how can you understand what this country, and the world, are going through right now?
I keep up decently with things - not as a lifestyle, but pretty much my only YouTube push notifications are leftist progressive independent news - and if I've heard of the John Birch Society before, I've since forgotten about it.
This is not to say my experience is typical, or that your assertion is wrong. Just providing an additional data point.
Edit: I imagine "progressive" is a better descriptor than "leftist" for the media I consume, as I can't think of any actual socialist voices among what I watch.
Elmo also seems to post comments on a deep fake porn website.
@lemmy.world
A place to share screenshots of Microblog posts, whether from Mastodon, tumblr, Twitter X, KBin, Threads or elsewhere.
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@lemmy.world
A place to share screenshots of Microblog posts, whether from Mastodon, tumblr, Twitter X, KBin, Threads or elsewhere.
Created as an evolution of White People Twitter and other tweet-capture subreddits.
RULES:
RELATED COMMUNITIES:
go to feed...
He was a socialist at least.
And if he was, crazy he would have liked the "sharing is caring" ideology over the "fuck you, got mine" ideology.
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