County in Washington State ascends new heights of liberalism

The signature experience of our age, which is the age of advanced liberalism, is, “Shocking, but not surprising.” Shocking—because what liberalism does is objectively violative of the good and of human sense. Not surprising—because these things, wrong and shocking though they be, are all logical and inevitable outcomes of the prevailing belief system of the age. But once in a while liberalism offers up something that, at least to me, is surprising as well as shocking.

A reader writes:

I live in King County, Washington. It used to be Seattle County, but was renamed in honor of MLK in 1986. Now they’ve changed the county symbol to include his image.

Here are excerpts from the article that the reader sent:

King County’s new face
By Judy Chia Hui Hsu

His steady gaze emerges from the black-and-white relief. The portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—part of a proposed new King County logo—will soon be found on county stationery, vehicles and buildings throughout the area….

King County Executive Ron Sims and former King County Councilman Bruce Laing, who were instrumental in the county’s ceremonially renaming itself after King in 1986, also took the podium. It took nearly two decades for the state to make the change official.

The Rev. Samuel McKinney, King’s college classmate and colleague, gave the invocation, praying that those who have problems with the new logo will “get over it.”…

The Metropolitan King County Council is expected to approve the proposed logo today, replacing the current gold-crown logo. The change will cost about $600,000 and be phased in over five years.

The new logo will first appear on new county park signs and corrections-department uniforms, according to Carolyn Duncan, a spokeswoman for the county. The King logo will replace the gold-crown logo on stationery as it runs out and on Metro buses when they are replaced.

Martin Luther King’s image pasted everywhere in the county—even on county stationery and uniforms and buses? This—in America? It’s unreal. What we’re seeing taking shape in King County here is not a free society with a republican form of government, but an ideological state centered on a leftist personality cult.

An underlying flaw with all tributes to King, which even critics have failed to point out in the debates leading up to the various honors accorded him, is, which King is being honored? The race-blind King? Or the affirmative action King? The individual-rights King? Or the socialist King? The patriotic King? Or the leftist anti-American King? King the moral leader? Or King the out-of-control adulterer? The King who penned the “Letter from the Birmingham Jail”? Or the King who plagiarized, word for word, entire sections of his Ph.D. thesis? Apart from the question of whether King was important enough in American history to deserve his own holiday and the other honors given him, it is wrong to make a national icon of someone whose legacy is so ambiguous and questionable.

Rich P. writes:

I think the renaming to King County goes far beyond even your characterization. It’s not only that he had a questionable legacy, there isn’t any obvious tie between Seattle and MLK. In fact, he only visited Seattle once for a brief three days! If the renaming had occurred in Georgia or Alabama then at least there would be a historical justification. This is a prime example of the progressive mindset at work. They renamed a geographic region in a display of ideology, for a person with no ties to the region.

LA replies:

Yes, quite right. But of course as the renamers see it, it’s no more a display of an ideology than a county that had no historical connection with Washington, Jefferson, or Lincoln being named after them. But there’s the issue. We see it as the display of an at-best ambiguous ideology; they see it as an expression of Americanism no different from naming a county after Washington.

But … but…. my generous characterization of them (the liberals) breaks down when we remember those images of King plastered on everything in sight. This is not the normal honoring of a historical figure. This is the imposition of a quasi-totalitarian ideology and personality cult.

Miss Jessel writes:

It is really only a matter of time before there are calls to rename Washington state itself. After all Washington was a slave owner. Then will come calls to change the name of Washington, D.C., and rename the Washington monument. Our capital will be renamed some “Indigenous” name. Same with Jefferson and anything named after him—already a school in Berkely, California that was named after Jefferson changed its name because Jefferson owned slaves. They will be taken off our money too. Next will come the end of Thanksgiving. It has already been rechristened “Indigenous Peoples” Day” in some parts of the U.S. People will be made to feel ashamed for celebrating it, and eventually, it will disappear. The few people who celebrate it will be called “racists” and “extremists.” (Note: Monuments to “heroes” from other cultures, like Pancho Villa—who massacred 300 Chinese immigrants—or to Aztec chiefs who also owned slaves and murdered many tens of thousands of people in human sacrifices as well—will not be touched.)

LA replies:

We joked several years ago that Washington, D.C. would one day be renamed Barryville.

Nate M. writes:

Not only does MLK have little connection to Seattle, one of the least black metropolitan areas in the country, but note which liberal pet minority lost out in the renaming of Seattle County—the American Indians! Chief Seattle’s legacy is far more deserving of both the city and county name than an outsider from Georgia. Liberal cannibalism at work!

Posted by Lawrence Auster at March 13, 2007 03:10 PM | Send