Three quotes

Tuesday night, Saori and I went to go hear Geographer live at the Firebird. It was kind of funny because everyone dressed very similar to how architecture students dress- kind of upscale, kind of hipster. Beards, beanies, and PBRs. Cheap tickets ($12) and a pretty good show. Geographer is pretty good- I bet the next time they tour St. Louis, they'll need a bigger venue. The lead singer is pretty phenomenal. Really has a hypnotic, stretchy voice.

For Martin Luther King jr. Day, I re-read "Letter from Birmingham Jail" which is just an amazing document. Although he edited later when he was released from the jail, the power and urgency and moral ground he lays out is clear and bold as fire:

I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom 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; [....] Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

and

Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. 

and

So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? [....] Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

This MLK jr interlude actually interrupts a book I was reading of a collection of writings by Robert Ingersoll. Ingersoll and MLK make interesting bedfellows- both I believe were fundamentally humanists- they both fought for the dignity of life and equality and justice, but they were diametrically opposed as far as religion goes. Ingersoll was a civil war veteran, political figure, and orator, and extremely vocal atheist. His speeches are filled with fire and rage towards to the church as the great blocker and oppressor of human dignity and progress. There is humor too, but it is the deadpan humor of the man who is trying to comprehend why the rest of the world remains with its head in the sand:

Is it possible that an infinite God created this world simply to be the dwelling-place of slaves and serfs? Simply for the purpose of raising orthodox Christians; that he did a few miracles to astonish them; that all the evils of life are simply his punishments, and that he is finally going to turn heaven into a kind of religious museum, filled with Baptist barnacles, petrified Presbyterians, and Methodist mummies? I want no heaven for which I must give my reason; no happiness in exchange for my liberty, and no immortality that demands the surrender of my individuality.

 and

Now and then somebody examines, and in spite of all keeps his manhood, and has the courage to follow where his reason leads. Then the pious get together and repeat wise saws, and exchange knowing nods and most prophetic winks. The stupidly wise sit owl-like on the dead limbs of the tree of knowledge, and solemnly hoot. Wealth sneers, and fashion laughs, and respectability passes by on the other side, and scorn points with all her skinny fingers, and all the snakes of superstition writhe and hiss, and slander lends her tongue, and infamy her brand, and perjury her oath, and the law its power, and bigotry tortures, and the church kills.

but it's not all invective to religion-

Fear paralyzes the brain. Progress is born of courage. Fear believes- courage doubts. Fear falls upon the earth and prays- courage stand erect and thinks. Fear retreats- courage advances. Fear is barbarism- courage is civilization.

Forget the pale banalities of the presidential debates- I want to see Robert Ingersoll up against C.S. Lewis.