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Why You’ve Never Read “I Have A Dream”

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Re: Why You’ve Never Read “I Have A Dream”

#111

Post by kamjam »

chimeracoder wrote: post #89
ignostic wrote: post #24

The speech is readily found by those who know how to Google. Perhaps more Americans would have read the speech if not for the crazy copyright laws, but I think most people haven't read it simply because most people aren't interested in reading historical speeches. It's a little off-topic and a little cynical, but I think the larger issue here is that we've watered our teaching of history (and most things) down to sou…

> The speech is readily found by those who know how to Google. Unfortunately, textbook are still a/the standard source of information in most public schools. Yes, this raises separate questions about the way that we structure our education system, but that's not the issue at hand. The speech is readily found by those willing to go out of their way to look for it, but it is not included in most textbooks, because thos…

Also, 15 years ago, most people had no idea who Google were, internet adoption was much lower, there was a vast majority of people who didn't even own a computer.

Your points are still very valid, but something as significant as this should never have been copyright-able from day one.

Only one thing, is impossible for god: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet. ~ Mark Twain

Re: Why You’ve Never Read “I Have A Dream”

#112

Post by 001sky »

chimeracoder wrote: post #71
danielweber wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Schools have successfully used copyrighted books all the time in literature classes without problems. You can't run it off yourself on the mimeograph machine but just go buy 30 copies and leave them in the classroom.

Of course they can. That's not the issue. The issue is that textbook publishers cannot (or will not) include the speech in their books, because then they would have to pay royalties (and indirectly pass along those costs to the schools). Furthermore, use of the video is much more heavily controlled by the King estate.

because then they would have to pay royalties

The issue is the price not the payment per-se.

Re: Why You’ve Never Read “I Have A Dream”

#113

Post by nostromo »

antc wrote: post #101
JPKab wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can someone please explain this? Do his children depend on the royalties for income?

No. Profits made from royalties go primarily into funding The King Center. http://www.thekingcenter.org/

And who works for the King Center? MLK's kids.

So yes, royalties go to the King Center, which at least in part, go to his children, including MLK III.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_III

Re: Why You’ve Never Read “I Have A Dream”

#114

Post by rdl »

iends wrote: post #13
rdl wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, YouTube was my first answer to this. We need more Huey P. Newton and Malcolm X for the issues of today (regulatory capture and the shredded constitution, political campaign finance, income/opportunity inequality being the main meta-issues), I think, rather than more MLK.

You're saying we need more people who physically harm others?

Without the threat of someone more extreme, I don't believe someone like MLK can be terribly effective. I also don't think someone like MLK can work in a repressive regime which isn't generally subject to public will, or when trying to enforce human rights which are constitutionally protected, strongly wanted by a small affected population, but meaningless to the greater population.

I can't see 50-80 year old non-technical voters caring about key escrow or mandatory data retention, even though it's an infringement of 1A/2A/4A/5A/6A/14A/+.

(It's not violence per se, it's extremism. RMS is a copyright extremist, and that makes things easier for people like Lessig I think. Gilmore is a fly-without-papers extremist, etc.)

Re: Why You’ve Never Read “I Have A Dream”

#116

Post by msluyter »

masklinn wrote: post #52
slg wrote: post #23

I have to disagree with part of the premise. While the speech is copyrighted, that might not be the reason most people haven't read or seen the entirety of the speech. If schools really wanted to teach it, it would be well within fair use laws for them to show the whole thing. There are probably a variety of other reasons why you don't see this speech taught in schools. First one that comes to mind is its length. Unl…

> If schools really wanted to teach it, it would be well within fair use laws for them to show the whole thing. No, not a chance. Even a few paragraphs would likely get them smashed, especially if they're the most interesting of the speech. > First one that comes to mind is its length. Have people stopped studying books or something? > Secondly, there is a lot of religious imagery in the speech. I could certainly ima…

Pretty sure we read this in my senior english class in high school. (Under the general topic of persuasion/argument/rhetoric.)

Re: Why You’ve Never Read “I Have A Dream”

#118

Post by cgore »

gnaritas wrote: post #107
danielweber wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Schools have successfully used copyrighted books all the time in literature classes without problems. You can't run it off yourself on the mimeograph machine but just go buy 30 copies and leave them in the classroom.

> mimeograph machine Showing your age? :)

In 2003-ish, while I was getting my BS, the professor passed out some of those funny-smelling purple sheets. I hadn't seen them since probably second grade (mid-1980's). Apparently both the copiers were broken, but there was still an old mimeograph sitting in the corner, she tried it, and it still worked.

Re: Why You’ve Never Read “I Have A Dream”

#119

Post by saraid216 »

ignostic wrote: post #24

The speech is readily found by those who know how to Google. Perhaps more Americans would have read the speech if not for the crazy copyright laws, but I think most people haven't read it simply because most people aren't interested in reading historical speeches. It's a little off-topic and a little cynical, but I think the larger issue here is that we've watered our teaching of history (and most things) down to sou…

> What we learned about Columbus, MLK, and all the founding fathers were stripped of everything controversial to create flawless heroes with views no PTA member would find offensive.

Svante Myrick makes this point pretty succinctly in this video [0]. He points out that all most people know about our history of slavery is "slavery, Abraham Lincoln, freedom". Or "blacks couldn't vote, MLK, blacks could vote". It's a ridiculously shallow comprehension of history.

[0] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ-55mJlisk

Re: Why You’ve Never Read “I Have A Dream”

#120

Post by chimeracoder »

saraid216 wrote: post #119
ignostic wrote: post #24

The speech is readily found by those who know how to Google. Perhaps more Americans would have read the speech if not for the crazy copyright laws, but I think most people haven't read it simply because most people aren't interested in reading historical speeches. It's a little off-topic and a little cynical, but I think the larger issue here is that we've watered our teaching of history (and most things) down to sou…

> What we learned about Columbus, MLK, and all the founding fathers were stripped of everything controversial to create flawless heroes with views no PTA member would find offensive. Svante Myrick makes this point pretty succinctly in this video [0]. He points out that all most people know about our history of slavery is "slavery, Abraham Lincoln, freedom". Or "blacks couldn't vote, MLK, blacks could vote". It's a ri…

Another great book, which expands this thesis in more detail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies_my_teacher_told_me
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