Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government’s policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one’s own bosom and in the surrounding world.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Beyond Vietnam,” April 4, 1967
Abstract
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s anti-war speech, “Beyond Vietnam,” is a noteworthy example of deliberation by dissent from the margins. Attention is given to the formation of his moral argument from similitude, its foundation in metaphor and archetypal imagery, and how it shifted perspective to enable the introduction of alternative lines of argument. King’s argumentation, as it worked rhetorically toward making the war debatable, exhibited key features of deliberative dissent, including catachresis, contingency, perspective, and incommensurability.
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Notes
All excerpts from King’s speech, “Beyond Vietnam,” are drawn from King (1967).
Recounting his decision to speak out, King (1998, pp. 334–335) wrote that he hesitated at first because President Johnson declared his willingness “to negotiate, to talk peace, and thus end the death and destruction”. Eventually, after measuring “promising words of peace against the baneful, escalating deeds of war,” King discerned that his country “was only talking peace but was bent on military victory”.
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Ivie, R.L. Argument from Similitude in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Deliberative Dissent from War. Argumentation 34, 311–323 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10503-019-09502-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10503-019-09502-1