The Fallacies of Zero-Sum, Credible Messengers and the Beloved Community

• In Event: The Critical Theory and Practice of the Credible Messenger Movement: Why Solidarity, Love and Consciousness Matter.

Abstract

Zero-sum was the primary logical fallacy at issue within the discourses that emerged from the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The movement posited universality as its organizing principle and objective. MLK spoke of ‘community’ not only in inclusive terms, but also aspirationally, as something imbued with a sense of purpose that transcends and transvaluates the status quo. The goal, he argued, is not merely the rebuilt community, or the decent or safeguarded community, but the ‘beloved’ community. In this presentation I locate the work of the credible messenger within this imagined possibility of the beloved community in which love becomes the organizing principle in place of the logic of commerce and profit. I argue that such mentoring makes solidarity, compassion and nurturance part of a transformative praxis that makes both a new community and new individual possible.

Author

• Louis Kontos, John Jay College of Criminal Justice