For a Day, We're All Equal!

I originally was going to take a vacation from posting today, but decided that spewing my nonsense serves to both elevate my spirits as well as darken yours.  I'm also experimenting with a new ad "feature" (notice the quotation marks, indicating that I am implying sarcasm in my commentary.)  I added Amazon Associates, which may or may not be overly intrusive.  I am also not certain if I'm even allowed to comment on the addition or if that violates some policy somewhere.  I felt I should, though, as a bit of a heads up to y'all so you understand what some of the links you see are.

I plan on being judicious with this new power and not using it to the point of absurdity.  I also plan to use it chiefly for products I actually endorse and not just random shit.  Still, let me know if you find the whole thing obnoxious and I will cease.  As I noted before, I am sensitive to the balancing act of my own profitability against your enjoyment, limited and transitional as it may be.  Real post after the jump.

As you are undoubtedly aware, Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. day.  I, unlike many others, did not post anything about it.  Not because I am insensitive, which I am, or racist, which I am, or because I hate peace and harmony, which I do.  But because I find the mere concept of Martin Luther King Jr. day offensive.

BURN HIM!

Now, before you start looking for my white hood, let me make this clear.  I love MLK.  I think he was a great man and I appreciate all that he stood for.  The problem I have with MLK day is the same problem I have with EVERY commemorative holiday.  It's not what those holidays represent but what they don't.  By making a single day to celebrate civil rights and racial equality, you give people an excuse to be fucktard scumbags the other 364 days of the year.

365 on a leap year, bitches!

Real respect for racial equality and civil rights is an arduous process that requires a lot of labor and effort to realize.  But days like MLK day serve as a cathartic way to release all of our feelings of guilt and responsibility in one fell swoop.  Sure, I treat our hispanic cleaning lady like garbage, am afraid of every black kid I see on the street with baggy jeans, and told a joke about how terrible of drivers Asians are on Friday, but it's all good because I put up a picture of MLK day in my office and went to a rally at lunch!

Watch out, I bet he's got a knife... they all carry them...

Ah yes, thank you MLK day, for giving me the chance to absolve all my racial sins.  But it doesn't stop there, because not only does MLK day serve to negate the desire for real civil rights advancement, but it also has the added bonus of trumping those who did so much for civil rights.  By glorifying Doctor King, it tends to have the effect of ignoring and minimizing all that so many others did.  Now, a lot of rallies or commemorations try to give lip service to other key figures, but, by and large, it's hard to give them their due when the holiday itself is named after one man.  Anyway you cut it, their achievements and character are minimized.

Prude

Communist

Geek

Fruitcake

Whitey

Hence why I'm writing this post belatedly.  I've got an idea.  Why don't we all actually TRY to endorse civil rights now that it's no longer MLK day.  Just, maybe try caring for TWO days this week.  And we'll go from there.  I know, I know, it's hard.  But with baby steps, eventually, maybe we won't need an MLK day at all.  Maybe, just maybe, the idea of NOT having universal civil rights will seem so absurd we'll take it for granted.  After all, we don't have "Indoor Plumbing Day" or "Jonas Salk Day."  I know, I'm a delusional dreamer but let's give it a shot.  For the Gipper.