Emma Watson-speech about women's rights in front of UN

[eric82oslo]

Nothing more annoying than a politically involved celebrity.

I guess religious leaders are less annoying right?

We actually need liberal celebrities as a counterweight to all of the very conservative religious leaders who have a deep cultural and political influence on people's everyday life and choices, especially in the US where Pew research shows that a majority of adults are actually fearing religion becoming less important in US society and politics (56% of respondents, including loads of Democrats, think politicians should care more about religion). Like US politics weren't already way too in bed with religion as it was... As we all know, it's still a sin to be an atheist in the US, especially so if you're a politician, despite Bill Maher's* continously rising popularity.

*Perhaps the most famous atheist in the US.

[eric82oslo]

Nothing more annoying than a politically involved celebrity.

I guess religious leaders are less annoying right?

We actually need liberal celebrities as a counterweight to all of the very conservative religious leaders who have a deep cultural and political influence on people's everyday life and choices, especially in the US where Pew research shows that a majority of adults are actually fearing religion becoming less important in US society and politics (56% of respondents, including loads of Democrats, think politicians should care more about religion). Like US politics weren't already way too in bed with religion as it was...

I take it you don't mean such liberal celebrities as Clint Eastwood, Ted Nugent, or the late Anita Bryant and Charlton Heston.  I presume you also don't mean such conservative religious leaders as the Dalai Lama, Rowan Williams, or the late Martin Luther King.  The idea that religion must be conservative is a misconception that unfortunately far too many people believe.  Yeshua bin Miriam was certainly not a conservative.

I know that 90% and 100% is not the same, yet 90% is still a pretty strong number. Even 80% or 70% for that matter. And to claim that Martin Luther King was not liberal in his vision of an equal society (even if Southern Democrats were the most conservative in his days) is simply ridiculous. Sure he was a Republican, yet Republican didn't equal conservative in his days like it does today. In fact, Republicans represented the more liberal variety in the South in those days (though it hardly existed there). All the Ku Klux Klan criminals were Democrats as I'm sure you're well aware of. I'm sure he was against abortion and as a minister had conservative views on a long range of moral issues, though it's the 60ies we're talking about, not 2014. The vast majority of southerners, black as white, shared his more conservative leanings on such issues back then (even today), there's nothing even slightly controversial about it. Nothing to make a big issue of for sure. Together with Gandhi and Mandela [possibly throwing in John Lennon as a 4th wheel on the car] he is considered one of the three liberal (and liberating) heroes of the 20th century, whether he was personally opposed to abortion won't change that narrative anytime soon, and frankly, who gives a damn? He didn't fight against abortion, he fought for civil rights for everyone. That's how he wanted to be remembered and that's how he will be remembered. At least by 90% of the population. Even most conservative Republicans will remember him that way, believe it or not.

[eric82oslo]

I rather think you missed his point entirely.

Ernest posts erudite little sarcasms frequently, so he is often misinterpreted by many posters, but in this case I thought his comments were fairly accessible.

He is definitely not saying that King is illiberal. 

Lol, you're right, my mistake. Although it's also been documented that King did have some conservative views as well. Anything else would have been a bit shocking, being a high profile religious leader back in the babyboomer and housewives with cleaning-obsessive syndrome era.