UM Intro to Political Theory Section Blog: 2, 9, and 13
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Picking the Bullet
After reading Malcom X's speech The Ballot or the Bullet, I tried to think of scenarios in which people have actually chosen the bullet as a form of protest. One relatively recent example I could think of were the Los Angeles race riots. After the acquittal of police officers who beat an African American Rodney King by an all-white jury, all havoc broke out in the streets of Los Angeles. After six days of rioting, 53 people were dead and the streets looked of the city looked like a war zone.
The rioters believed they were fighting against a corrupt white society as described by Sister Souljah:
However, some of her violent statements were simply rebuked by those in power such as Bill Clinton who said her marks were "filled with hatred".
This raises the question whether promoting the bullet ever works in society. Today, we live in a society where everyone has the right to bear arms, yet gun control is a highly debated topic whenever a tragedy occurs. Although Malcolm X did not mean a literal bullet in his speech, is there proof in American society that physically rising up against those in power works? Or does turning a city into a war zone just turn off the general public and make sure nothing gets accomplished?
While I like to think that movements such as those that Dr. King and Malcolm X created are possible today, one can only wonder. Movements such as Occupy Wall Street were generally tossed aside and either called failures or too radical to work. Is the ballot the only way to change society these days?
Very interesting post. I definitely agree with your concern to the validity of the path of the bullet, and see the path of the ballot as the more viable alternative of the two. However, I think that you have gotten a little mixed up with your interpretation of the path of the bullet (at least how I see it). For Malcolm X, the path of the bullet is not intended to create results, but ultimately to lead to a creation of awareness that will in turn lead to results. The ballot is the only legitimate way to change society these days, but the path of the "bullet" is a good path for a movement looking for public awareness.
Max, I think that this blog post was very interesting as well. I appreciate how you were able to tie Malcolm X work to the L.A. race riots because it can be argued that most of the people in those riots were following his belief system. As Sister Souljauh and as Chap describe as well, the race riots were not really caused to be a change in society but rather as a statement to the public saying that they, as black youths, will no longer be silent and chose to unify against what they believed was a corrupt system. I also think it is interesting how you briefly tied in the idea of the Occupying Wallstreet movement to this and I think that it would definitely be a topic worth exploring. While the people protesting on Wallstreet are certainly not as violent or destructive as the race riots, they are protesting to prove a point and make society more aware of their issue. As far as answering the question, is choosing the bullet really worth it? I would say that in extreme cases, yes. If you look at the the very beginnings of our country, we were founded on the idea that when diplomacy just is not enough than we need to take action against corruption. Yes we tried to be civil with them and go through the government but in the end the only way that we got real results was through a revolution. And that was from a war that lasted years between continents, not just a few days in one city. If you at the teachings of John Locke, some of who's biggest fans were the founding fathers, he says that when a government becomes corrupt and does not fulfill the needs of the people than a revolution is not only an option but necessary in order to have a well functioning society. Although I do not advocate a war over every policy that we disagree with here in the U.S., I believe that the bullet is still a necessary option for people to have in extreme cases.
Very interesting post. I definitely agree with your concern to the validity of the path of the bullet, and see the path of the ballot as the more viable alternative of the two. However, I think that you have gotten a little mixed up with your interpretation of the path of the bullet (at least how I see it). For Malcolm X, the path of the bullet is not intended to create results, but ultimately to lead to a creation of awareness that will in turn lead to results. The ballot is the only legitimate way to change society these days, but the path of the "bullet" is a good path for a movement looking for public awareness.
ReplyDeleteMax, I think that this blog post was very interesting as well. I appreciate how you were able to tie Malcolm X work to the L.A. race riots because it can be argued that most of the people in those riots were following his belief system. As Sister Souljauh and as Chap describe as well, the race riots were not really caused to be a change in society but rather as a statement to the public saying that they, as black youths, will no longer be silent and chose to unify against what they believed was a corrupt system. I also think it is interesting how you briefly tied in the idea of the Occupying Wallstreet movement to this and I think that it would definitely be a topic worth exploring. While the people protesting on Wallstreet are certainly not as violent or destructive as the race riots, they are protesting to prove a point and make society more aware of their issue. As far as answering the question, is choosing the bullet really worth it? I would say that in extreme cases, yes. If you look at the the very beginnings of our country, we were founded on the idea that when diplomacy just is not enough than we need to take action against corruption. Yes we tried to be civil with them and go through the government but in the end the only way that we got real results was through a revolution. And that was from a war that lasted years between continents, not just a few days in one city. If you at the teachings of John Locke, some of who's biggest fans were the founding fathers, he says that when a government becomes corrupt and does not fulfill the needs of the people than a revolution is not only an option but necessary in order to have a well functioning society. Although I do not advocate a war over every policy that we disagree with here in the U.S., I believe that the bullet is still a necessary option for people to have in extreme cases.
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