rightwinger
Award Winning USMB Paid Messageboard Poster
- Aug 4, 2009
- 286,715
- 163,777
Millions of blacks were forced into segregation on a daily basisRosa Parks was not an innocent tired old lady who just got off work taking care of a white family's kids. She was a political hack who was part of an engineered act to bring attention to an injustice. This was not of her doing., anymore than it was Neil Armstrong's doing to set foot on the moon.Why give our highest civilian honor for just breathing air? The reason for awarding the civilian equivalent to the Medal of Honor should at least Involve selfless, heroic civic effort. This would eliminate these ceremonies involving dozens of recepients that only cheapens the award.Bill Gates got one too and that's ok. He's a tech businessman. But why give one to silly entertainers or athletes who have careers of ZERO social value.
Obama awards Medal of Freedom to a star-studded list of 21 recipients
nov 22 2016 The 21 men and women who stood awaiting the nation’s highest civilian honor Tuesday in the White House East Room represented Barack Obama’s particular vision of the United States: one where pioneering scientists, groundbreaking performers, crusading activists and unconventional artists chart America’s destiny.
President Obama has not stinted on handing out the Presidential Medal of Freedom during his time in office: He has bestowed it on at least 114 individuals, more than any of his predecessors. Nearly half of the latest honorees were artists, actors or musicians, including singer Bruce Springsteen, actor Robert Redford and “Saturday Night Live” producer Lorne Michaels.
But there were also computer engineers and famous architects, as well as what the president called “rabble rousers” and philanthropists.
Qualified for the award
- Martin Luther King for his work
- Bob Hope for entertaing the troops every year in war zones
- Inventing a polio vaccine
Unqualified for the award:
- Calling sport games
- A Lesbian coming out of the closet
- Rosa Parks
- Developing software for an O/S and becoming a billionaire over it
- Philanthropy if you retain the majority of your wealth
- Writing poetry that only an egghead would pretend to understand
- Standing in front of a mirror and asking "are you talking to me?"
You were kind of on track until you brought up Rosa Parks and Bill Gates
I don't hate the woman, but she is no Amercan Hero. The women in the crowd who marched from Selma to face police dogs and clubs were more heroic. Who remembers them?
You're trying to compare actions with symbolism here. The meaning of Rosa Parks is less for what she did than what she symbolized. So the term "Rosa Parks" refers at least as much to a spirit as a person, but that person provided the inspiration.
Rosa Parks was not the first to oppose segregation. Those before her were subjected to imprisonment, beatings and denial of future employment.
Many of those who became symbols of civil rights (Medgar Evers, Mississippi Burning) were murdered
Rosa Parks was a brave woman in an era when it was easier to just go along. She had no assurance she would become an American hero by standing up for her rights