Speeches don't matter anymore

[acrosstheuniverse]

If Martin Luther King delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech today the corporate ratings driven cynical media would have ripped it apart and mocked snippets of it calling it fluff and holding little substance. "Dream On, Rev. Martin!" After all it was only a speech.

The media has made everyone numb and unable to truly believe in anybody or anything anymore.

[Swamp Rat]

1. Obama's speech will be the topic of tens of thousands of sermons next Sunday.

I bet you. :D

[rainy]

2. I'm getting sadder by the second, you are so right! nt

[rucky]

3. eh, whatever.

OMG...You're RIGHT!

[saracat]

4. Speeches have never mattered.It is the action behind them that counts.

MLK woundn't be sitting on his butt just flapping his gums.He took "Action" to get things done.

[walldude]

6. Really? What's the name of that speech MLK gave?

Oh yeah the "I have a dream speech". And the one Lincoln gave? Oh yeah the Gettysburg Address. Well on second thought, you must be right, no one remembers those speeches or what was said in them, they weren't important at all.. :eyes:

[walldude]

5. I don't think so...

the fact that you are talking about it kind of negates your post... Don't let the media and Hillary's "she's leading in the polls" people get to you. Obama has the mojo, he's got the young people, he's got the momentum and he's scaring the shit out of the established status quo, that's why they are trying to tear him apart, they're afraid. The best part is, all they are doing is pushing people into his camp.

[acrosstheuniverse]

7. You underestimate the power of the media...

I even remember the final two months of the 04 election. They showed Bush campaigning twice as much as John Kerry. Especially in the final week.

[jobycom]

8. Context.

MLK's speech, like all great speeches, came in the context of the times. And not just the context of events around it, but in the context of questions being asked. MLK's speech was ripped and shredded by segregationists, it was ridiculed and mocked by bigots throughout the country, north and south. But more people understood it, and were moved by it, and time proved that the speech was more than just words, and was instead the symbolic verbal culmination of a lifetime of work from King, and all of the blood and grief and sorrow of our nation's racial history, from all the Civil Rights heroes from Reconstruction to the present. The context was universal, or at least covered all of American history. That speech could not be delivered today, because the lead-in would not be the same.

Same with all great speeches--The Gettysburg Address, "Give me liberty or give me death," etc. They still resonate, we still understand them. There is a timelessness to them that reflects the human spirit. But taken out of the context of the events, they are just beautiful words. The blood soaking the battlefields of Gettysburg and the hallowed ground of churches in Alabama annointed those speeches, made them holy and sacred.

Obama's speech was powerful, beautiful, painful, and it, too, reflected much about our society, and parts of it will live on for a long time. Like Jesse Jackson's 88 Democratic Convention speech, or Gore's 92 convention speech. But it was also a campaign speech, meant to save his butt, and manipulated to make him the hero, rather than lionizing the sacrifices of others. It was not quite as pure because his intentions were not quite as pure. It was close, but not quite. So pundits tear it apart.

Who knows how it will be remembered? If he wins, this could be the turning point to the next era of history. If he manages to not fail as a president he will go down as a landmark president, not because of his accomplishments, but because of what he had to overcome to win, and what that win said about our changing society. If he loses, it will be just another great campaign speech, forgotten by history. Context will decide the issue.

[CreekDog]

9. Speeches only matter if your pastor makes one

:eyes: