The Two Kinds of Moderate
The famous MLK speech on moderates: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.africa.upenn.edu&#x2F;Articles_Gen&#x2F;Letter_Birmingham.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.africa.upenn.edu&#x2F;Articles_Gen&#x2F;Letter_Birmingham.h...</a><p>&gt; First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro&#x27;s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen&#x27;s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to &quot;order&quot; than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: &quot;I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action&quot;; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man&#x27;s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a &quot;more convenient season.&quot; 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.<p>This is the problem with the &quot;intentional&quot; moderates: their position isn&#x27;t a coherent one, it&#x27;s instead pure unwillingness to engage. I understand people being conflict-averse, but it can lead to being backed into a corner by the people who are not afraid of conflict.