My guess is because it's interesting. I know most other articles are just "eher ma gerd FB is so evil!!", but sometimes other topics like this fall through the cracks.
HN is explicit in its policies of allowing anything its readers find interesting. The GP is a seasoned HNer so must know this by now, I’m curious what their beef is with the link.
The National Park Service is probably the best agency in the entire American federal government. I have been to about 45 different states, and NPS-administered properties represent the most consistently positive contact I've ever had with the government.
Additionally, the properties that NPS administers are the most majestic places I have found in America. They are critical protectors of America's natural and historical heritage. It's great and fitting that they are taking over MLK's home. He is one of the most consequential leaders America has ever had. Had he not been assassinated, he probably would have become President.
On a related note: I spend a lot of time thinking and reading about and using infrastructure. I have a fantasy project wherein the USA draws down some percentage of its bloated rank-and-file military and instead establishes funding for an NPS park ranger to work at every school in America.
> Had he not been assassinated, he probably would have become President.
That is a stretch, I think. As bold and inspiring a legacy that MLK left after his death, just think about what he faced while he was still alive. His turn in his last years from fighting solely against racial injustice towards also advocating for victims of capitalism of whatever race proved to be polarizing for the American public and it may have threatened his chances for elected office. Plus, his sexual life, as we now know, was eavesdropped on by the FBI and it is not hard to imagine that being used in a smear campaign if he ran for office.
Charisma and a vision of a better future within reach is a great tool for rallying the masses, even if you have skeletons in your closet. MLK was hated by most Americans when he was alive, but looking at past presidents, its totally possible his high turnout minority could have overwhelmed what turned out of the rest of the electorate at the polls.
The place where George Washington was buried was in state of despair for several years and government refused to take over his estate and turn it in to national monument. If it wouldn't have been due to local ladies association who ran the campaign to save and preserve it through donations, place would have been even overrun by new developments. Same thing happened to John Adams's estate. It is interesting to see this in US because if you go to Russia or China or South Korea, governments have gone to extra-ordinary length to produce monumental structures to preserve their "father" of the nation.
Good. We shouldn't have personality cults in the US. The founders saw the Constitution as the one holy and freedom giving thing, not fallible human individuals. Remember: rule of law, not of men.
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[ 5.8 ms ] story [ 55.7 ms ] threadAdditionally, the properties that NPS administers are the most majestic places I have found in America. They are critical protectors of America's natural and historical heritage. It's great and fitting that they are taking over MLK's home. He is one of the most consequential leaders America has ever had. Had he not been assassinated, he probably would have become President.
On a related note: I spend a lot of time thinking and reading about and using infrastructure. I have a fantasy project wherein the USA draws down some percentage of its bloated rank-and-file military and instead establishes funding for an NPS park ranger to work at every school in America.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Park_Service
That is a stretch, I think. As bold and inspiring a legacy that MLK left after his death, just think about what he faced while he was still alive. His turn in his last years from fighting solely against racial injustice towards also advocating for victims of capitalism of whatever race proved to be polarizing for the American public and it may have threatened his chances for elected office. Plus, his sexual life, as we now know, was eavesdropped on by the FBI and it is not hard to imagine that being used in a smear campaign if he ran for office.