Comments on: Martin Luther King Jr. Day

By: Vamsi Poondla

Vamsi Poondla — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 04:27:35 +0000

Archana, Black President is too far away…But this is a closest chance. May be there could be a deal. Obama as Vice, gives him enough experience in Foreign policy which Clinton thinks that he lacks…So better luck next time.

By: Ganesh Vaideeswaran

Ganesh Vaideeswaran — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:45:47 +0000

Thanks Archana and Karthik.

As much as you can practice the art of public speaking and become proficient at it, you need to have a strong conviction about the ideas you are trying to convey. Without this, one will be exposed as a sham.

You need to have a message to convey, conviction in that message and then a strong way of expressing that message. And never underestimate the intelligence of the audience. Do not speak down at them.

Archana – in MLK Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech, I believe he reaches a crescendo during his quote – “I have a dream that my 4 little children will not be judged for the color of their skin but by the content of their character”. The quivering in his voice during that part of the speech is what gives me the goose bumps every time. It almost sounds like he is beseeching the audience and the world to pay attention to racial injustice and join in on his vision for the future.

Ganesh

By: Sukumar

Sukumar — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:57:48 +0000

Good point Karthik, no amount of practice may give you MLK’s charisma or Steve Jobs reality distortion field as they call it. But practice can get you pretty close to natural flair.

Archana, i wish the modern day right wing ideologues who preach violence to counter violence learn about MLK and Gandhi all over again.

By: archana raghuram

archana raghuram — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:34:00 +0000

Great post Ganesh. I have been researching on MLK recently. I watched his speech on Youtube, although I had read the text of the speech, listening to him really brought tears to my eyes. The words that keep ringing in my ears are “I have a dream that my 4 little children will not be judged for the color of their skin but by the content of their character”
If you notice, he advocates non-violence even that speech. He says we should combat force with the stregth of our souls not by violent means.
In less than 50 years from that speech, look how US has changed. We are at the brink of having a black American president.

By: pk.karthik

pk.karthik — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:56:29 +0000

Great Post Ganesh…

Thanks for bringing some interesting facts about Dr King to light ….i mean the speech is mindblowing…..

Sukumar..i feel of all great speeches even one practices the speech the Charisma defintly comes impromptu..Dr King may have had prepared a speech simiar to these but final emotion and message that is conveyed can never be practiced and it comes from the bottom of the heart( unless he is great actor…but here we are talking about one greater human beings of 21 the century ..so he cannot be actor ..so i still feel the final speech was improptu)….