I remember first learning about Martin Luther King Jr. in my kindergarten class around this time of year 15 years ago. I was taught that he was the reason my class consisted of many different races and nationalities. We read the “I Have a Dream” picture book as a class. I immediately revered him along with the rest of my fellow five-year-old classmates — after all, he and I share a birthday, so he must be the greatest man who ever lived.
Growing up, the people we learn about in school all contain a superhuman power we are conditioned to admire—rightfully so—for their profound and impactful accomplishments.
We grow up, we discover the humanity in everyone—our parents are no longer perfect, nor are our favorite actors, and we even find out our favorite president whom we did our second grade poster project about was kind of a jerk.
Upon coming to college the same happened with Martin Luther King Jr. Suddenly I began hearing faults and other less than positive things about a man who, like everyone else, was human. Some of these rumors began by either the FBI or other people and agencies looking to tarnish his reputation as a martyr. There were rumors about sexism within the civil rights movement, and even reports from his children saying that he would not have theoretically supported gay rights.
With any public figure who, like King, has attained a near worshipful idol status, people look for negatives quite ferociously. Plenty is fabricated to create a sensational headline, or to create a resentful attitude toward someone’s success or public image.
It’s like how most of us love slowing down to observe a car wreck. We get pleasure out of things that break up our mundane routines. Have a family member in the hospital? That’s just an excuse to gab on about the drama of the whole situation, maybe even an excuse to get out of work. Some horrific event has taken over the media? That’s just another topic of conversation and reason for your productivity to fall. As long as we are not directly affected, for the most part, bad things bring us some degree of pleasure.
For example, Bill Cosby’s image, which so harshly juxtaposed his plentiful rape allegations, caused sensationalism that many got pleasure out of whether it be a new punch line of a joke or a new exciting train wreck to watch. It makes me take a step back and realize how it is truly appalling that we ache for drama so much that we could derive pleasure from something that caused so much pain.
Sensationalism has become a deciding factor in our moral dilemmas and our personal truths.
Social drama in the media, though important for bringing attention to social issues, would be much more effective if the celebrity factor were removed. People will attach a stigma or crime to a person and either condemn that person or decide that “if they can do it, I can do it, too.”
Let’s focus on the people who make the laws as opposed to the people who break them or commit injustices. Our legal and political system has the ability to be sensational if people would pay it more attention. Maybe an intrusive public eye would encourage decisions in our favor.
No person is perfect; we need to take things we hear about famous people or historical icons with a grain of salt.
Let’s remember King as a man who tried to move mountains, along with many, and died chasing a noble cause. What merit is there in trying to find the worst in a person and fixating on it?
Martin Luther King Jr. should be remembered not as the man who allegedly committed adultery, but as the man who deeply impacted and forwarded civil rights. He was a spark that helped open the door for others suffering from social injustices including women and the LGBT community.
No person in the public eye will ever be perfect, so let’s revise what we decide to fixate on. A mistake or indiscretion that someone makes in his or her life should not overrule a life dedicated to a noble cause.
