I listened to an interesting podcast (Sway) whereby a rap star named Killer Mike was interviewed. I’m not much of a rap fan, but this is an interesting guy. He was angry after George Floyd was murdered by that police officer. Many people were angry and had a right to be of course; it was an abuse of power of the most egregious sort, and has inspired protests all over the world. Some have become violent while some (most?) are peaceful. The violent protests permit people like Donald Trump to trumpet that this is the problem with the world, ie “democrat-run” cities permit violent protests.
It turns out Killer Mike is a big fan of the X-men movies (i have to agree with him there). He finds them not only entertaining but instructive and with moral lessons for us all. He said something like “Magneto has a point.” What he meant is that Magneto’s past was troubled; he was tortured and experimented on by the Nazis and so he has every right to be angry and to want to burn down the house. Professor X, however, wants to be helpful, and find solutions to the world’s problems, rather than violence. He wants to repair the house, not burn it down.
Killer Mike was furious just after George Floyd was murdered and wanted to burn down the house. It is understandable that he felt like Magneto. Yet he took a deep breath and remembered that the better answer is to become like Professor X. Mike began productive charitable works instead of violent protests.
Good lesson, i thought. We deserve to be angry…let’s work on solutions instead of burning down the house, as enticing as that sounds at times. Thanks Mike.
mikesteinharter.com 