Why do you think it's important to look beyond a single "leader" of social change? (ie. martin luther king)

[Quad]

do you think we need to look beyond a single "celebrity" leader of a social movement and give recognition to the many people that work hard to bring about changes but whose names aren't even mentioned? why is it important to do this?

what's your opinion?

 

[lebe0024]

For sure. One of the big problems with King's movement, was that once he died, his movement suffered a HUGE hit. (This isn't to say that racism isn't still being fought today, but that it lost it's tremendous momentum.)

 

[PsychoAndy]

It seems like people need a leader for everything, I guess. Everyone looks up to the leader, noone wants to look up to the many behind the scenes who help. When was the last time you watched a movie and wanted to find the cameraman because he did an excellent job? Besides, not many had the rhetorical strategy that MLK Jr. had, like in Letter from Birmingham Jail.

 

[nihil]

i think often times we do mention other people that are involved. but we just don't give them enough credit as they deserve. the reason it's important to do this is to let it be known that the individual is important in society, no matter how big or how small their contribution is.

 

[c1utch]

nihil hit the nail on the head with this one. The people who do a lot of the work don't get all the credit that they deserve. And also the way that the media makes people look, it just grows on you to look up to one certian person for something. Like if you hear someone talking about racism, then most likely you are going to think of someone like King Jr. There are lots of people who play in the background, but still the lime light isn't directed to them enough.