“Ignorance is bliss” is a common statement when applied to knowing about something but not worrying about it. This mentality can sometimes be helpful in stress reduction, but what if it is applied to social injustice? In the short passage titled, White Moderate from the “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King, Jr. blatantly expresses that this kind of mentality hinders the progress of freedom and equality. The white moderate being criticized here is one who acknowledges the victimized and unjust treatment of the African American by society, yet they confide and constrain themselves in their unperturbed world, not wanting to upset the flow of peace that is unfairly attributed to them. Though King’s claims are harsh, they invoke action for they call awareness to the complacent predicament that upsets the progress of equality for all men and women of color. King confesses that the Negro’s greatest setback “is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace, which is the absence of tension, to positive peace of justice." At first glance, one may be appalled that King compares the terrorizing white supremacist KKK to the white moderate who doesn’t want trouble. But at an analytical stance of what King is trying to accomplish (freedom and equality), this statement illustrates that these white moderates are people who have the ability to contribute to this revolution, catapulting the desired result more effectively and in a shorter time. This acts as a sort of tease and mockery to King’s desired progress. In closing, King conspicuously demonstrates his disappointment in the white moderate for their ignorance is bliss stance on a fair and just society when they have the ability to make a positive impact, which King so honestly brings to their attention. So as King elegantly puts it, “Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection” (Abel 488). This depicts his struggle for the white moderate to come to their senses and stand up for what is right and just rather than simply accept and ignore the turmoil around them for the sake of their personal order. So too we can be compared to the white moderate. The change has been initiated and the awareness has come to mind. All we have to do is share the knowledge. Power lies in numbers.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 03:08:25 +0000
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