23 ms·
The Final Speech from The Great Dictator (1940)
- okasaki 3y agoWe fought for liberty and freedom but unfortunately instructions unclear and we ended up dropping 500000 tons of bombs on Cambodia.
- questinthrow 3y agoI'd wager it's more like we don't think at all and feel only anger. At least online that is.
- dimitrios1 3y agoThis is more indicative of where one chooses to spend most of their time online.
- MichaelZuo 3y agoIt applies to HN too, the vast majority of comments probably don't have more than, at most, a few minutes of serious, focused, thinking behind them. And with how good LLMs nowadays, probably a numerical majority don't even contain anything worth noting.
- squigz 3y agoDo you have any sort of data to support this, particularly the second claim? It seems particularly absurd to me.
- MichaelZuo 3y agoThe comments are the data? I'm not really sure what your asking for.
- squigz 3y agoWell I suppose you're making your own point.
- MichaelZuo 3y agoYou are helping me prove the point with conveniently placed examples, so thanks. But why embarrass yourself?
- unethical_ban 3y agoI think it's insulting to say that human opinion or observation is worthless because a small program with a neat dataset can answer a lot of questions. It's like saying that talking with friends about history and engineering is boring because wikipedia has the answers.
- MichaelZuo 3y agoWhy did your mind immediately jump to 'worthless'? Plenty of things in this world have some small value but are not noteworthy. In fact most conversations in daily life fall into that category.
- GoToRO 3y agoLet's not forget about the feed algoritms that will prioritize anger and only anger because this is what drives impressions.
- Kamq 3y agoThat's still indicative of choosing to spend your time in an environment where content is algorithmically controlled. Which is most of the mainstream ones, but following along with the mainstream is a choice.
- ncallaway 3y agoI mean, as an individual it is a choice. But as a society it’s not a choice (or, maybe, a better way to phrase it is the “mainstream” is a reflection of the choice society has already made)
- Kamq 3y agoI feel like we're getting into "the raindrop doesn't feel responsible for the flood" territory here, and I like your second interpretation better. It's absolutely the choice society has made, but society is the individuals that make it up. The idea of the group is a semi-useful abstraction we use because our brains have trouble conceptualizing numbers over ~17. The style of algorithmic feed was created and popularized by individuals about a decade or two ago. A lot of the users of this site (including me) were pioneers in that area, either creating these things, or being the first users to turn our lives over to the feed. But, if you want to create long-lasting societal change (either good or bad), that's how you have to do it. One individual, or a group of individuals start something. A few individuals (usually weirdos) join up. And at a certain point, the increasing number of people give other more mainstream people some sort of social permission to make the same choice. At some point, it becomes socially acceptable enough to become the default and people who don't have the time or energy to put a lot of thought/research into things start doing it without really thinking (this is generally where I consider the bounds of true mainstream).
- moffkalast 3y ago
- VinLucero 3y agoI feel in my heart a deep sense of empathy after watching that. Like the quote from National Treasure, “People don’t talk like that anymore.” But the response from Nicolas Cage is, “But they feel it”. As I understand it, Hitler used an economic narrative to build his team of supporters and eventually, desperate times cause people to vote with their wallets. Does anyone else feel like the advent of modern online interactions is different from the early web? And maybe, just maybe… the economic incentives of the web shifting are what caused us to begin feeling angry and desperate? Why not rebuild a better web, based on old principles of feeling? Web3 is really just about trust and decentralization of it, so why not rebuild the entire economic stack? AI is great at many things, but great at feeling it is not.
- mozman 3y agoThe only way the internet has a chance at recovery is to eliminate all financial incentives. No monetization, share information because you want to
- hooho 3y ago[dead]
- Geisterde 3y agoYoull find a lot of like minded people on nostr. While they have an issue with momentum, thus far they at least have a plausible strategy for decentralizing the web.
- JKCalhoun 3y agoI'm not convinced the Web has gotten worse (or Web interactions worst necessarily). Maybe. I kind of think it's the web itself that has trapped people indoors and into un-social lives when, in the past, boredom would have sent them out into the world to find some kind of entertainment or actual companionship. (And I speak as someone who thinks I also needs to get out more.)
- layer8 3y agoWhat was great about the early web was largely the parts that weren’t economically driven. It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to build a better web with economics as the primary concern. It’s the drive for profits that fostered the bad aspects of the modern web in the first place.
- javajosh 3y agoIt just occurred to me that anger is favored online because of a UX quirk. To build is complex; to destroy requires only a single bit! So the objects of our ire, those people, things and ideas we want gone from the world, those things that require only that we express our hatred and ill-will toward them, naturally become the most popular and shared content. As a corollary the people who are clearest and most concrete in their list of hates, the ones who constantly edit that list in real time according to audience response, they become the most appealing. Isn't it then not very surprising that those who build prefer to do so in silence.
- basicallybones 3y ago"To build is complex; to destroy requires only a single bit!" Love this.
- layer8 3y agoEntropy. There are many more ways to destroy something than to create it.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- goles 3y agoGiven the amount of bad encounters I've had driving post-2020, and interacting with strangers, I think it's seeping into the real world as well. The way people act and speak in public feels noticeably different than even a few years ago, let alone 10-20. People are very short with each other now. Even more disturbing, I think I can feel the change in myself too at times.
- kdmccormick 3y agoDriving brings out the worst in people. You're all trying to get somewhere, you're all a danger to one another, and, critically, you can't see faces well. So, you end up receiving offenses against you as if they're personal (because you're you!) but commit offenses as if they're impersonal (because others look like cars, not human beings). Would you rudely shove youself in front of someone at the market to get the next spot at the cash register? Probably not. But, would you block oncoming traffic by tailgaiting the person who took a left in front of you, instead of just waiting one more light cycle? Absolutely.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- spacebacon 3y agoYes and the others specifically look like large and aggressively styled combatants. The aesthetic of the automobile and the embodiment of that automobiles essence clearly has an influence within the sensitive and suggestible human experience. Design drives behavior.
- DonHopkins 3y agoTrump Fans Harass Biden Bus in Texas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWjK_Eu8uME https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWjK_Eu8uME The FBI is investigating an incident of alleged harassment by Trump supporters of a Biden campaign bus in Texas, the Texas Tribune reported, citing a local law enforcement official. The campaign bus was en route from San Antonio to Austin on Interstate 35 on Friday when a caravan of vehicles with Trump signs and flags veered close to the bus and yelled profanities. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, were not on the bus and no one was hurt, although local law enforcement was called to help the bus get to its destination. The campaign scrapped an event scheduled in Austin for Friday after the incident. President Donald Trump tweeted a video of the incident on Saturday night with the comment, “I LOVE TEXAS,” and briefly mentioned it during a campaign rally in Michigan on Sunday. Tariq Thowfeek, Texas communications director for the Biden campaign, said the Trump fans “decided to put our staff, surrogates, supporters, and others in harm’s way” rather to engage in a conversation about the candidates’ different visions. Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, said Sunday she hadn’t seen the whole video and couldn’t comment on the part where one of the cars appears to almost crash into the bus. “Certainly we don’t want harm and we shouldn’t be hurting other people. The president would not endorse that,” McDaniel said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” The White House and Trump campaign didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Donald Trump Jr, the president’s son, appeared in a video on Twitter last week encouraging supporters of the president to show up for one of Harris’s events in Texas. “It’d be great if you guys would all get together, head down to McAllen and give Kamala Harris a nice Trump Train welcome,” Trump Jr said.
- throwawaaarrgh 3y agoQuit social & news media and the world seems at peace (it's not, but it will seem that way)
- tatzeentch 3y agoI think the other factor is there are 'types' of people that will comment online, and also only conditions in which some people will comment online, so we get a weird filter. It's easy to think that you'll get a general cross-section of the population posting, and that they're relatively stable when commenting. But we can't see when people are drunk or under the influence of things, who the bots/psyops bad actors are, or the ages etc. Makes for a frothy mix. But I agree, much healthier to just avoid it and just interact in the real world where possible.
- stagas 3y agoColored with better audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCXdxFPCqfk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCXdxFPCqfk
- superfunny 3y agoPerhaps a better way to phrase this is "We think too much and care too little" - feelings, by themselves, are not some fountain of wisdom and insight. You can have feelings of revulsion or repulsion, feelings of disgust and anger. Feelings are ephemeral and easily manipulated.
- sericmotomoto 3y agoBut the same applies to caring, don't you think? You and all the others (not me tho ;]) can - and indeed do - care about anything. Caring, I believe, is just as ephemeral and easily manipulated and to some degree the result of emotions and input. Emotions on drugs are always a wonderful example, and people who keep going back to that guy who always has cocaine, which is of course, meant literally and figuratively. Chaplin always reminds me of myself and those days when I wonder how it is, that people prefer the comfort of some culture or crowd vs. becoming an individual and unique being. I used to grind my teeth into this until hierarchies and pointers started to make sense to me. "We think too much and feel too little" isn't one of those quotes and bits of wisdom that is meant for everyone. I believe what Chaplin hoped to achieve was to give some outliers a way to integrate themselves into the crowd, to carve out a little space that would be as protected as all the spaces where obedience and conformity reign. "We think too much and feel too little" is an inspiration to the people who have ideas and the ability to make us feel, to become aware of our emotions whenever we seek out exactly that. It's a stimulation for people of all kinds, especially the stranger kind, to go out there and do magic and art right there on the street, in the circus, on stage, on TV and of course this wonderful little prism we call the internet and any other expansion of the spaces that become accessible with time and effort of those who like to think a lot and get enough opportunities to calm their minds to avoid inflammation. Holy shit, for a minute my writing felt like that of Maria Popova.
- csdvrx 3y ago> Chaplin always reminds me of myself and those days when I wonder how it is, that people prefer the comfort of some culture or crowd vs. becoming an individual and unique being. I used to grind my teeth into this until hierarchies and pointers started to make sense to me. Can you explain how they started to make sense to you, and what sense they make?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- saiya-jin 3y ago[flagged]
- przem8k 3y agoThe title doesn't say be naive. Emotions can be an important tool in curing division and hate, as much as they can be misused to create it.
- Aeolun 3y ago> Ie us-vs-them mentality is very popular in radicalizing say well-meaning patriots If you can only feel your own feelings you are definitely not feeling enough. Try to understand those you hate? That said, I realize that is probably hopeless, but so is getting the same people to think.
- poorlyknit 3y ago> us-vs-them mentality is very popular in radicalizing say well-meaning patriots or heavily left-leaning folks into properly stupid irrational positions, siloing them into self-feeding echo chambers > part of population with lower than average IQ (which by definition is half of mankind) Sounds like us-vs-them mentality to me honestly.
- graposaymaname 3y agoGot the opportunity to watch this film on a big screen at a local film festival last week. I think he wrote the whole film around this speech. Also there's this wonderful scene where he(Hynkel) dances with a globe in it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jj-PaqFrBc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jj-PaqFrBc
- przem8k 3y ago"Don't let your mind speak louder than your heart". In tech we value data and being right so much, we may be too often missing the important part of being a decent human being.
- fumar 3y agoThis could help balance Amazon’s leadership principles.
- aprdm 3y agoYet Jeff Bezos in his podcast appearance yesterday which was a 2h talk said that when data and anecdote disagree to trust the anecdote and gut feeling
- bear141 3y agoIt’s easy to focus on philanthropy and feelings after your monolithic megacorp has ground your competition into dust.
- aprdm 3y agoIsn’t that a definition of success in our current society ?
- carlosjobim 3y agoAs a thought experiment, is there anything Bezos could do or say that wouldn't merit a hostile and snide comment in response? Is he unforgivable?
- bear141 3y agoHim acting altruistically now with his vast resources is the best we can hope for I suppose.
- oddevan 3y agoIf he actually changed Amazon's behavior so that it wasn't a horrible place to work for? If he donated an actual, significant portion of his wealth that required real sacrifice on his part? Basically, if he did something that had a positive effect on the world that also had real consequences for him. Something that actually shows he _means_ it, actually _wants_ the world to be better even if it hurts himself. If Bezos or Musk or Zuckerberg or Gates(1) did any of that, I'd be thinking differently. (1) The Gates foundation has done a LOT. Bill Gates is still worth ~$135,000,000,000. A quick search says ending homelessness in the USA would take less than a quarter of that.
- sbdaman 3y agoSurprisingly nice website.
- flashback2199 3y agoI find it ironic that "We think too much and feel to little" appears to contradict the conclusion at the end "Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness."
- fjallstrom 3y agoParadoxes are beautiful!
- TuringTest 3y agoIt's only a paradox under the widespread myth that reason and feelings are opposites. People who know their science understand that all rational thought is grounded on emotion and deep-rooted feelings.
- Der_Einzige 3y agoReminds me of Zizek's video "Don't act, just think"[1] And yes, Zizek is a charlatan[2]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgR6uaVqWsQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgR6uaVqWsQ [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5yoqjABeBM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5yoqjABeBM
- oeta 3y agoIt's interesting how statements can sometimes seem contradictory on their own. The first statement may highlight the importance of emotions, while the concluding one emphasizes reason and progress. Together they might suggest a balance between thoughtful reflection and the hope of a rational and progressive world.
- dddrh 3y agoThis reminds me of “The Wise Mind” from DBT sessions. To find the balance between emotion and reason for wisdom. https://www.therapistaid.com/therapy-worksheet/wise-mind https://www.therapistaid.com/therapy-worksheet/wise-mind
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Zetobal 3y agoIf you watch the news it should be clear that we feel too much and think too little. Everything is a rage fueled garbage contest.
- aprdm 3y agoYeah this is so unfortunate, we need to reverse this trend as a civilization
- rayiner 3y agoYes, true. And I say this as someone on the right—we complain about “feelers” but that’s Trump’s whole MO.
- WarOnPrivacy 3y agoBut those awful feelings follow negative thoughts and ideas. The alternative would be awful feelings appearing out of nowhere.
- layer8 3y agoThey follow negative experiences. The thoughts and ideas mostly just serve to justify the feelings that are already there.
- virtue3 3y agoI know a lot of people here are missing the mark - the issue here is EMPATHY not -feelings-. "We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness - not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. " "We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness." Please take in the WHOLE message before dissecting a single sentence.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Zetobal 3y agoEmpathy is not the problem everyone has empathy for their own social groups. The problem is the division between these social groups. There is no grey anymore just black and white. You either hate me or love me.
- KittenInABox 3y agoI agree but I also think its more complicated than either hatred or love. Conversion therapy is, I think many people would agree, a form of hatred on gay people. But a parent trying to force their child to be straight would argue they love them dearly and that, if the parent was gay, they would happily undergo therapy to become straight and normal, so they are also empathetic. It's hard to argue about empathy and hatred and care when logic is twisted like this.
- WarOnPrivacy 3y ago> Empathy is not the problem everyone has empathy for their own social groups. The problem is the division between these social groups. From this I'd say limiting empathy to our social group leaves a hole where the empathy for everyone else should be - and that divisions grow in that hole.
- dudul 3y agoMaybe if so many people are "missing the mark" it is because of poorly chosen words? It is important when writing such a long speech to keep in mind that at best 1 or 2 sentences, slogans, et will be remembered or used as extra short summary of the essence of the speech. If the idea was empathy and not feeling then that's the word that should have been used.
- psadri 3y agoA great song that features this passage: Iron Sky by Paolo Nutini
- mempko 3y agoObligatory link to Melody Sheep's version of the speech. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouzKl0oD6sU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouzKl0oD6sU Arguably the best version.
- 7373737373 3y agoI prefer the Inception - Time version: https://youtu.be/dX25PDBb708 https://youtu.be/dX25PDBb708
- Slackwise 3y agoI prefer this turtabalist trip-hop version that samples it: https://youtu.be/LOypHvuSDIo https://youtu.be/LOypHvuSDIo It's just chill and sets the mood.
- gumby 3y agoThis film is currently streaming on the “max” platform. I watched it a few days ago. It was quite controversial at the time it came out. Obviously you should not torrent a copy of this 85 year old film as that would further diminish any incentive Chaplin might have to make any more films.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- qingcharles 3y agoI always liked this version with music added: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WibmcsEGLKo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WibmcsEGLKo I remember sharing a jail cell with a 19-year-old Mexican kid once and we were talking about the guards being assholes and he said "they're like machine men"; and I said "with machine minds and machine hearts?" and he was like "YES! You know it?!" -- it was a good moment, we spent the next few days trying to remember the whole speech.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- hannofcart 3y agoWhile this was a pithy comment, I'd totally upvote and read an article on how someone who frequents HN found themselves in the scenario you mentioned.
- qingcharles 3y agoThere's a long story which I hope soon to be able to document. One thing I learned was never, ever, ever to judge people on first impressions. I think I thought "Oh no" when they put that kid in my cell, but he was an utterly fantastic cellmate. His case was fascinating; he had stolen approximately $60,000 over several months as a night cashier at Target by managing to pick the lock on the safes next to the register using a pen during hours of boredom. He burned through every penny flying around the country staying at nice hotels every weekend to fuel his burgeoning MMA career. He was finally called to the office by a manager at Target and two detectives were there. He didn't get a chance to deny anything as a roll of $3,000 cash fell out of his pants leg as he was stood right in front of them.
- yawpitch 3y ago[flagged]
- causality0 3y agoHN has more variety when it comes to posters than you think. There's one guy here who spent time in prison for eco-terrorism.
- undebuggable 3y agoHelplessly naive but that's the best the cinematography can do about anything - a happy end.
- terse-broccoli 3y ago[dead]
- pxc 3y agoFor making this speech, and the anti-fascist film in which it takes place, Charlie Chaplain was surveilled and persecuted by the US government (FBI, CIA, HUAC, and more). He was effectively exiled out of the country that had been his home for decades by the time this film came out in 1940. In this speech he mentions 'a system' that generates war. That was enough for him to be branded a communist, hounded, smeared, and exiled.
- robomartin 3y agoThis speech is, in a nutshell, a call for humanity, peace and tolerance. It pains me to see a world where our centers of education have become almost precisely the opposite. They have distorted the minds of our young to the point that they are full of hatred, intolerance, bigotry and, yes, racism. All underscored by a solid foundation of utter ignorance. There's a video somewhere of an interviewer asking university students to list the Great Books they have read. The vast majority of them had no clue what the interviewer was talking about at all. Not a clue. Because our centers of education are indoctrinating, not educating. Those engaged in indoctrination don't want young minds to be exposed to the vast world of thought and reason represented by these works. Note that this comment isn't about the US. I think I can say this wave of ignorance and hatred has travelled the planet, taking many forms. A friend often says that humanity is one good power outage away from reverting to cavemen behavior. Frankly, it is hard to disagree with his view. We have seen this time and time again, no power outage required. This reality makes me wonder what Chaplin's speech might be if he had to write it in today's context.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- yks 3y ago> And so long as men die, liberty will never perish > Over the past ten years, the [longevity research] industry has grown in financing from $500 million in 2013 to a peak of $6.2 billion in 2021.
- carlosjobim 3y agoDeath is God's greatest safe guard to counter human evil. Nobody escapes it.
- quantum_state 3y agoIt is also for keeping man from misery ..
- hooho 3y ago[dead]
- zirror 3y agoEverytime I read about longevity research and how many people are in favor of it I can't stop thinking about this speech. And one of the endings of Cyberpunk 2077.
- Lorkki 3y agoAltered Carbon also.
- roughly 3y agoI think people generally, and the Silicon Valley set in particular, have a hard time abstracting from “would I like” to “would the world be a better place if”. Would I like to live a thousand years? Yes, with the obvious caveats. Would the world be a better place if the technology for living a thousand years existed? Absolutely not, at least not at first, and certainly not today. There’s a great many people around right now who’s primary redeeming quality is their impending mortality - it’s not just science that advances one funeral at a time.
- vpribish 3y ago"Don't let your mind speak louder than your heart" - I think many have this so very wrong. Is support for fascism is a sensible, logical, well-thought-out policy? No, it's a heart-felt, emotional appeal to scared, proud, paranoid, crude, brutal people (who seem to be about half of our neighbors). surely the mindful decision is empathetic, constructive, and wise - not just base.
- lewhoo 3y agoI don't think it's so simple. Support for fascism can seem sensible and logical if you let yourself think that between you and greatness stands a minority whose sole purpose is to prevent you from becoming great. You could argue it's not emotion but a calculation coming from struggle and an easy explanation for that struggle. Not every wrong assumption comes from emotion and we have the whole history of science to prove that.
- KittenInABox 3y agoI think the initial assumption comes from emotion. Humans are not dual creatures with frontend and backends that must communicate through an API between their emotions and thoughts. Emotions and thoughts are actually phenomenon in simultaneous occurrence-- your thoughts can trigger emotions (planning what to do after being laid off can trigger anxiety) and your emotions can trigger thoughts (you're anxious, so you consider putting planning off and binge a show/movie). Fear of the "other" is clearly an emotion, but all the justifications, reasons, and overall narratives about the "other" are thoughts.
- Noughmad 3y ago"X can seem sensible and logical if you ignore sense and logic and believe your emotions instead". Yes, that's true for everything, and it is exactly what believing your emotions over facts means.
- lewhoo 3y agoBut that's just ad absurdum considering we don't have straight answers when it comes to socio-political issues.
- action-k 3y ago[dead]
- hooho 3y ago[dead]
- archagon 3y agoMeanwhile: > Trump tells rally immigrants are ‘poisoning the blood of our country’
- chrisco255 3y agoGiven that he's married to an immigrant, I highly doubt he said that.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- rsynnott 3y agoI mean, you can just look this stuff up; it’s not like what ol’ Mini-Hands says at campaign rallies is secret or anything: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-says-immigrants-are-poisoning-blood-country-biden-campaign-liken-rcna130141 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-says-im... What you have to remember is that he’s not, you know, a smart guy. And the base he’s appealing to with this stuff are also generally, well, probably not in the running for any Nobel prizes.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- WrongAssumption 3y agohttps://www.c-span.org/amp/video/?c5098439 https://www.c-span.org/amp/video/?c5098439 He was talking about illegal immigrants. You can disagree with that of course, but why leave that out?
- archagon 3y agoAt some point, the dogwhistles become so loud that the only ones claiming not to hear them are either intentionally plugging their ears or simply concealing their delight.
- WarOnPrivacy 3y agoThis thread has some debate about whether thinking or feelings lead to the bad mindsets that nurture bad behavior. For me, bad mindsets typically arise after some thinking. Often effortlessly. Conversely, my best mindsets happen after being engaged in a positive effort and/or being in a safe, enriching environment. In these conditions, my better self just forms, seemingly without me exercising any will.
- BMc2020 3y agoOur scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- TeMPOraL 3y agoThen again, the whole point of "scientific power" is to compensate for our innate weaknesses. Guided missiles may be new and perhaps not the best of inventions, but people are just as misguided by nature as they were at the dawn of history.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- _8j50 3y agoI hate being such a fault finder but his sentiment about people and resources is just wrong. The WW2 generation became so peace loving after the war not before. Prior to then, war-lust was a popular sentiment, some viewed war as an adventure or a rite of passage even, especially before the first war. We humans in general don't want peace, we find it boring I guess. He talks about people being treated equally and living on peace and how the greedy few are causing war and conflict, that sounds nice in a movie but in reality regular everyday people are hateful. In the west, we're living in a time of excess and luxury and have weaned off all that tribal hatred to the most part now, but what scares and frustrates me is that most people don't realize the rest of the world isn't so nice. They look at people burning american flags for example and think that's the minority lol, they think if we were nicer to them they wouldn't hate us so much. How naive! What he said about the good earth being abundant is false too, technically correct but abundance exists for some and not others. Like in america just about every resource is abundant but in sub-saharan africa not so much. Not that the Nazis were using lack of resources in their propaganda. The fear of our own destruction and misery is the only practically effective means to achieve peace. That's why nukes have been so effective so far, else we would have had more world wars. So long as we crave violence in our every day lives there will be war lust and so long as that is true militaries must exist and continue to pursue various means of killing people. The problem is in the human soul and how it is raised and our attachments to culture, tradition and history. Action movies aren't popular with men because we're so peaceful. We crave the violence, we just want the situation to be framed so that we are the good guys and our violence is justified.
- Deprogrammer9 3y agoThis part is very interesting. "Even now my voice is reaching millions" Chaplin knew this message was for future generations. When he says "even now" it means, hey im long dead but this message is finally being herd around the world. Chaplin & Nikola Tesla were friends. Tesla told Chaplin what was to come down the line like the internet, what he called "the transmission of intelligence" I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Tesla himself didn't write this speech. "The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is like that of the planter — for the future. His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way." - Nikola Tesla
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- TeMPOraL 3y agoThe bits about "doing away with greed" and science and progress leading to rich life and happiness for all, they kind of read like he's predicting the United Federation of Planets. Alas, we've still got ways to go, we got stuck at the part where we double-down on greed to use it as the engine that makes the world go.
- Deprogrammer9 3y agoChaplin was an anarchist he was against capitalism & it will fully fail soon probably due to AI ect.
- motohagiography 3y agoWas that speech not made to show the audience how susceptible they also were?
- reikan 3y agoIt goes well with this (truncated) version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PNV6Lg_ajA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PNV6Lg_ajA
- mukara 3y agoIt is said that Franklin D. Roosevelt encouraged Chaplin to make the The Great Dictator. Indeed, around the time the film was made, the two men shared political views on a lot of things. When Churchill and FDR saw a pre-release private screening of the film, they liked it. (Incidentally, Chamberlain had vowed to ban it in England for fear of angering the actual dictator.) FDR even invited Chaplin to read this very speech on his inauguration in 1941. Ironically, this is the film that made Americans turn against him. Later that year, he was subpoenaed by a congressional committee investigating pro-war propaganda (this was a few months before the US entered the war.) In the following years, Chaplin was extremely vilified by the Americans mainly for his pro-Soviet and communist views (or rather, for his refusal to be anti-Communist). This led to politically-motivated prosecutions, and culminated in him being exiled from the US when the president Harry Truman(!) canceled his re-entry permit while away on family vacation. (Chaplin was never an American citizen, despite living in the country for over 40 years.) There’s a recent good book review summarizing this: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/20/charlie-chaplin-vs-america-scott-eyman-book-review https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/20/charlie-chapli...
- gwern 3y ago> There’s a recent good book review summarizing this: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/20/charlie-chapli https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/20/charlie-chapli... It's also a good example of how not to defend someone like Charlie Chaplin. I knew next to nothing about Chaplin other than I had greatly enjoyed some of his movies and he was the Little Tramp, but I come out the other end of this attempted defense convinced he was a fellow-traveler Communist and probably not a very good person aside from the communism part; and I wish I had never read that review, because there was no need for me to know any of that.
- MichaelMoser123 3y ago>Indeed, around the time the film was made, the two men shared political views on a lot of things Roosevelt did object to Jewish emigration in the nineteen thirties. He also had some rather racist opinions. https://www.timesofisrael.com/historian-new-evidence-shows-fdrs-bigotry-derailed-many-holocaust-rescue-plans/ https://www.timesofisrael.com/historian-new-evidence-shows-f... However Chaplin had different opinions on the matter. He donated part of the profits from his movie to facilitate emigration. https://www.jta.org/archive/charlie-chaplin-reported-giving-dictator-profits-to-aid-emigration https://www.jta.org/archive/charlie-chaplin-reported-giving-...
- hermitcrab 3y ago"Greed has poisoned men's souls" Greed used to considered a sin. Now it seems to be seen as a virtue by some. It's not enough to have a Ferrari - you need to have a whole garage full. It's not enough to have a yacht - it's got to be a super yacht.
- chopete3 3y agoI think he is not referring to an individuals greed, for example an actor buying a few Ferrari's to satisfy their desires or a business person buying a yatch. He is referring to political/country leaders greed. Only their greed can cause violence and bloodshed at the level he is talking about. Ambition and greed both refer to the intense desire to achieve success. Sucess includes money, power, or status. The difference is a major one. Greed is to achieve those for themselves at the cost of depriving others. Ambition is to do for greater good of others. I think all the leaders(democratic,communist,fascist) understand this, and they are all likely ambitious. The path to achieve success forces them to define boundaries. They seem to define others as their country people - during the war times. In peace times, it is their party supporters.
- AlexandrB 3y agoI'm not sure there's a distinction here. Especially when personal greed often informs how one votes and what political causes one supports financially.
- jvm___ 3y agoConvince someone buying a new iPhone to buy last years model or half the GB of what they can afford. That's the greed that's ingrained in all humans. "Humans take the perceived path of the most pleasure." is true in every human interaction I've witnessed or can think of. We're all greedy by default. I think Agent Smith was right when he was talking to Morpheus, humanity is a virus that consumes all the resources in the local environment until they're depleted without thought for the greater good.
- nicoburns 3y ago
- supernova87a 3y ago> " The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish ..." If there was a good argument against the arrogance of billionaires who think they should have technology that lets them live forever, here it is.
- meehow 3y agohttps://hntelegraph.com/post/the-final-speech-from-the-great-dictator/ https://hntelegraph.com/post/the-final-speech-from-the-great...
- rainworld 3y agoIt would be really cool if people stopped being gullible marks for psychopathic pedophiles. ‘Perverted, degenerate and indecent acts’ http://archive.today/2020.07.25-172048/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/perverted-degenerate-indecent-acts-charlie-chaplin-original/ http://archive.today/2020.07.25-172048/https://www.telegraph...
- willsoon 3y agoPls add Shakespeare. Add Carrol. Add Faulkner. Add Poe. Commit -m "people I despise for some strange reason, not for their work"
- yaomtc 3y agoHating someone for manipulating minors into sex isn't a strange reason, weirdo
- InCityDreams 3y agoThat's a hard read. A lot of new info for myself. Separating the art from the human is difficult. Would that I be so innocent* as to be able to cast dispersions on another. *regarding other things, not chaplin in nature.
- MerManMaid 3y agoBlahhh, this is difficult. On the one hand, it's absolutely important to have an understanding of your sources but on the other... it doesn't discount the value of the statement itself. (Rather it provides context) I'm honestly not defending Charlie Chaplin, he was in my opinion a irredeemably awful person. At the same time, it would be both academically and emotionally lazy not to give him credit where it is due. He did in fact use his considerable influence and privilege to highlight the plight of the jews during a time where they were radically persecuted (literally being slaughtered on the street and sent to extermination camps) and no meaning benefit to himself is something I'd deem worthy of my respect. History and people are both complex and it's entirely possible to celebrate a bad person's good deed without being considered a "mark"
- jdshaffer 3y agoInterestingly enough, this speech ends up in Japanese High School English textbooks quite often. Like, for the last 10+ years at least.
- justanotherjoe 3y agoI always find japanese curriculum very interesting with how much you are talking of western literature where other asian nations don't even know or care.
- 8bitsrule 3y agoDickens' "Ghost of Christmas Present" to Scrooge, visiting the Cratchit home: “Man,” said the Ghost, “if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. Oh God! to hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust!” https://www.owleyes.org/text/christmas-carol/read/stave-three-Second-three-spirits https://www.owleyes.org/text/christmas-carol/read/stave-thre...
- MichaelMoser123 3y agoCharlie Chaplin did not say that 'it depends on the context'. i think that the fact these five words were said is a sign. It shows that the collective memory of these events is waning.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- rottc0dd 3y agoA great discussion on the same, emphasizing on silent film history and what this movie means in Chaplin's legacy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo4nSHRaxB0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo4nSHRaxB0
- classified 3y ago> Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. Just look around to see how true these words still are.
- foreverobama 3y ago[dead]
- euroderf 3y agoJust a reminder that the Three Stooges did the mocking-Hitler thing months before Chaplin.
- neogimp 3y agohttps://youtu.be/J7GY1Xg6X20?t=97 https://youtu.be/J7GY1Xg6X20?t=97 the line "The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish…" gave me a chill. i believe in science, progress, and long for a day where everyone is treated with equality and empathy. but- once billionaires start living longer with longevity regimes / giant piles of money, how long until we are subjected to the whims of a maniac who will not die like musk, bezos, or gates?