The author explains that once Martin Luther King turned against the war, he essentially crossed an unofficial "red line". Our ruling class directors could barely tolerate him as a strictly civil rights leader, even less so as a union supporter; but when he turned against the Vietnam War, he had to be assassinated and the deed framed as the work of a lone, racist gunman. Once again our ruling class directors got away with murder of a very popular figure. So, what to do with his legacy? They merely constructed a new Martin Luther King, aka a "zombie" in this author's analysis.
Having lived through this period as an adult, I don't quite remember it the same way that Dixon does.
In the four decades since, I never saw anything like the instant turnaround the establishment media did on Dr. King. Overnight the chorus of praise and approbation turned into a perfect media storm of abuse and calumny. He was denounced as arrogant and ungrateful, traitorous and deceitful, a hypocritical dupe of the communists, and on and on. By the time of his death a year later Dr. King was one of the most reviled and hated figures in the nation.To be sure he was attacked in mainstream media after his turn against the Vietnam War, but it was mostly rather carefully gauged. There was some of the vitriol as expressed in the above paragraph, but this was mostly from very conservative sources and, of course, reported in mainstream media. Corporate media's editorial position was generally much more circumspect, and they certainly did not diminish ML Kings popularity to any significant extent. However his great popularity posed a real dilemma for the Directorate (shadow government): the threat of his bringing the vast Civil Rights Movement into opposition against the War. Thus, he had to be assassinated. (Read An Act of State by William F. Pepper.)
By this time the Directorate was expert at assassinations having eliminated President Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy, Malcolm X, and a host of anti-war activists. They concocted a story that he was killed by a lone racist, and for the most part the American sheeple once again demonstrated their gullibility.
However, in King's case the Directorate had to deal with his popularity and legacy as a great anti-war, pro-labor, and civil rights leader. To do so they had to construct a new "Martin Luther King" which becomes the "zombie" in this author's analysis.