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About the Blog

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Welcome. The term "beyond the pale" most often refers to speech or actions that are "outside the bounds of acceptable behavior," [1], that which is socially unacceptable, outrageous, rude, or offensive.     Historically, "the pale" refers most often to an area on the east coast of Ireland that was entirely controlled by English settlers and the English government, which occupied Ireland for about 800 years, from 1169 to 1937.  "To travel outside of that boundary, beyond the pale, was to leave behind all the rules and institutions of English society, which the English modestly considered synonymous with civilization itself." [2 ]  "The pale"  may also refer to the Pale of Calais, a historic region of France that was controlled by England from 1346 to 1558, and to the "Pale of Settlement"in Western Russia where Jewish people were confined to live from 1791 to 1917. This blog explores what it can mean to think, feel, and l
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Friendly Reminder: Martin Luther King, Jr. Was a Radical

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Since his death, Martin Luther King's public persona has been coopted and transformed by mainstream American culture into one of a benign, avuncular, pacifier of racial and economic frustration and discontent. For example, holiday festivities around Martin Luther King's legacy don't often include a celebration of his radical commitment to breaking down social and political barriers to economic justice, and Here are a few quotations in which King points to the inextricable links between racism and economic exploitation.  "Many white Americans of good will have never connected bigotry with economic exploitation. They have deplored prejudice but tolerated or ignored economic injustice." [1]  “God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty.” Dr. King, “Strength to Love”, 1963 [1] "We have deluded ourselves into believing the myth that capitalism grew and prospered out of
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