Do you honestly think derision and ridicule will result in positive change?

Or, as was demonstrated so clearly in 2016, does it serve to produce a result we say we deeply wish to avoid. Getting exactly the result we didn’t want makes me wonder who the real morons are? We should be smarter than that.

Derision and ridicule are simply hatred lurking behind a veil of ignorance.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s principles of non-violent protest as a path to change are useful to reflect on. There's little question that in the long run, his approach was crucial in changing hearts and minds.

His second principle was that nonviolence seeks to win the “friendship and understanding” of the opponent, not to humiliate him (King, Stride Toward Freedom, 84). His fifth, nonviolent resistance avoids “external physical violence” and “internal violence of spirit” as well: “The nonviolent resister not only refuses to shoot his opponent but he also refuses to hate him” (King, Stride, 85)

Dr King took the high road at the cost of his own life and the pain and suffering of many of his followers. But in the end, he was able to change enough hearts and minds to stimulate real social progress. The alternative is an all-out war. We’ve done that before in the United States and we seem to be hurtling toward another one. Who do you think will win this time?

We desperately need a leader like King now. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen one yet.