President Bill Clinton has mentioned many times that he drew inspiration from the speeches of America’s civil rights leadership. He was the first Boomer president and had observed the world as a kid in segregated Arkansas. He has quoted no leader more than Martin Luther King Jr., and no speech more than the “I Have A Dream” address delivered in Washington in August of 1963. From the early Clinton White House website:
That same year, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his historic “I Have a Dream” speech at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Bill Clinton watched the speech on television and was so deeply moved by Dr. King’s words that he memorized them.
The speech itself was delivered on August 28, 1963, at about 3 PM Eastern Time. King was speaking as part of the long-brewing March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom — an event long planned but many times delayed. Finally, the march was on, and King rose to the occasion. His “dream” references were not in his draft notes, and so at least some portion of the speech was improvised. Many have taken credit for inspiring that moment.
The speech was filmed with full audio, and it has endured as a call for civil rights — an inspirational beacon for the hopes and aspirations of Americans. Though its details are often glossed over, the central idea of the speech was that Americans could achieve something no nation had ever accomplished: a polyglot society of different ethnicities living in an environment of perfect legal equality.
With the massive statue of Abraham Lincoln behind him, King opened with:
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice.
His dominant theme of the day was that Lincoln’s work was incomplete and insufficient. He continued:
One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
His emphasis was on action:
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.
And then he came to the critical text that resonated deeply with an America still mostly Christian:
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
And so, there it is — a speech made by a Baptist preacher on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial about how he dreamed that one day the United States would surpass Rome and every other polyglot civilization to live free of the tribal identification that has marked the human species from the beginning. Only a religious figure would dare to dream such a thing, given how contrary to human nature such an outcome truly is. The speech was revered because the ideas were reverent. The speech has had cultural power and set a societal goal embraced by a large cross section of the electorate. This dream is closely related to the larger “American Dream” which is that the country offers rich opportunity and the chance to rise for those that are willing to do the work.
Here it is on the best link I could find of the whole speech:
Nothing is less reverential than comedy, and mocking authority is the surest way to drain away power from that authority. This phenomenon is as old as humanity itself, and we can see it clearly even as King’s Baptist faith tradition was being formed. During the Reformation — a social movement pioneered by many but none more prominent than King’s namesake, Martin Luther — woodcut cartoons began to circulate in the towns of Germany and France. Many of these comic woodcuts showed men exposing their backsides to the Pope, already a powerful insult, and some even depicted them flatulating in his direction.
Here is one of the earliest such mocking images — so simple that no one could mistake its meaning:
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke with a unique cadence, and given his place in American culture — along with how easily his vocal patterns can be imitated — it has only been reverence that has kept him from far more comedic mockery.
But that period of deference toward King and his most potent speech has ended. Sora, along with other AI programs, has come for the “I Have A Dream” speech and mocked its authority so well — so hilariously — that it has lost much of its cultural power after more than 60 years.
Here are a few examples:
There are thousands of these — all funny, all clever in their own way, and all deadly to the seriousness with which the original speech was delivered. This speech will no longer be memorized, and this once-common piece of American history and lore will fade into the background. The loss of this speech as a pillar of shared American rhetoric might not be catastrophic on its own, but collectively, Sora and other AI tools have put the power of top-tier mockery in the hands of virtually everyone. They allow serious authorities to have their power attacked instantly — the moment it appears.
This is not without consequence. AI is an incredibly powerful intellectual tool that will be wielded by millions for both high and low purposes. The authorities can be mocked, but those same authorities have the same tools which can be used to, for example, manufacture evidence of criminality by the mocker. The pope, after all, is not without his legions.
The internet and the personal computer has been a feature of American, and world life, for well over 30 years now, and these two technologies have remade every corner of life, from warfare to personal relationships. The first wave gave us online shopping and online news. The second wave gave us social media and the iPhone. AI and cryptographic assets are turning the wheel again, but harder and faster.
Offline habits and values have never been more necessary.
This was originally published to my Substack and can be found here.
TomRoushOnline 