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"Along with that we've got to continue through legislation and legalism. I know there are those who say that this can't be done through the courts, it can't be done through laws, you can't legislate morals. They would say that integration must come by education not legislation. Well I choose to be dialectical at that point. It's not either legislation or education. It's both legislation and education. We've got to use both. Now it's true that you can't legislate morals in a sense, and that isn't what we try to do through the law. You see, through the law we don't seek to change one's internal feelings, we seek to control the external effects of those internal feelings. That's all we try to do through the law. Now it's true that the law can't make a man love me; that's, religion and education will have to do that. But the law can control his desire to lynch me. See that's what we call on the law for, and we must continue to struggle through legislation and legalism." -- Martin Luther King, Jr. (b. 1929-01-15, d. 1968-04-04), 1957-01-01 [emphasis added by the friend who pointed this out in hir own journal (locked entry)]
[Also: good luck to anyone observing National Coming-Out Day in the fashion suggested by its name -- and more power to you! (I'm not sure I still know any closeted people ... but if I'm wrong, I suppose this would be a suitable day to correct me.)]
National Coming Out Day
(no subject)
Curiously though, this is exactly why (and how) halacha (Jewish law) does work: It modifies your outer behavior, followed eventually by your internal compass. Anyone who believes that your feelings aren't born out of your behavior is fooling themselves: lots of psychological studies show that indeed, we humans are terrible at making decisions. We are creatures of habit, and our inclinations follow our habits, with rationalizing following up, not reason deciding beforehand (oh, yes there may be the occasional exception, but that exception is quite rare).
To be quite frank, our society's laws absolutely sets our moral compass, the weaknesses only being the fact that custom and community often undermine, or strengthen or go around laws, or fill-in where law leaves spaces. Its entirely incorrect that you can't legislate morality - it's a fallacy of self-determination> We'd like to believe you can't but by and large, we do, and if and when we want to make change, it's the best way to do it, because you can legislate behavior, and behavior drives our internal compass. That's why the military's integration was so incredibly important for integration in general.
Legalism is the way to go, not something to have contempt for. Who cares how you feel as long as you do; and indeed thought and speech are ultimately just a specific kind of behavior; more private perhaps, but malleable to the rest of one's habits.
you could have