Charlie Chaplin's final speach from the great dictator. still prescient.

[Javaman]

[Sherman A1]

1. K&R

[NurseJackie]

6. "I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business."

https://www.charliechaplin.com/en/articles/29-the-final-speech-from-the-great-dictator-

I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone - if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white. 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. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. 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. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost….

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men - cries out for universal brotherhood - for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world - millions of despairing men, women, and little children - victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.

To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. 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. …..

Soldiers! don’t give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!

In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: “the Kingdom of God is within man” - not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power - the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.

Then - in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise. They never will!

Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers! in the name of democracy, let us all unite!

[OhZone]

2. I always thought this was kinda dumb

Dictatorial Sociopaths are not usually capable of this kind of awakening.

Like my Uncle's conservative friend, they are only good to their small tribe and are horrible sociopaths to everyone else. My Uncle's friend is a good, moral man - to like three people. He's an evil sh*thead to everyone else.

I mean Chaplin's right, but this kind of talk does not effect the closed minded, tribal, racist, homophbic, sexist sociopaths.

Oh well.

[el_bryanto]

4. I like the Great Dictator quite a bit but i do agree with Eberts commentary on it

"What he says is true enough, but it deflates the comedy and ends the picture as a lecture, followed by a shot of Goddard outlined against the sky, joyously facing the Hynkel-free future, as the music swells. It didn't work then, and it doesn't work now. It is fatal when Chaplin drops his comic persona, abruptly changes the tone of the film, and leaves us wondering how long he is going to talk (a question that should never arise during a comedy). The movie plays like a comedy followed by an editorial."

Roger Ebert

Bryant

[abqtommy]

3. I totally agree. The Great Dictator is one of my favorite movies but then I'm an empathetic and

sensitive guy who appreciates the dual identity of dictator/anti-dictator in the movie. No, hard-core
cultists won't be moved by this type of thing but enough of us will be to make sure that the cultists are
definitely a minority.

[lostnfound]

5. He was nearly a target at the assassination of Japanese prime minister in 1932.

Chaplin was staying at his house but had gone out to watch sumo wrestling with the son of the prime minister.

Chaplin was otherwise a target.

PM Inukai was a moderate opposed to military takeover of government.
He was killed by young military officers.