Charlie Chaplin's words of hope, 80 years old and it fits today

[Melodybe]

This is from the Great Dictator and it fits today to a tee, he was right about Hitler, his time ended and America and the world started to become better. Well, 80 years later we are fighting the same folks. You could argue that we never stopped fighting, but his words fill me with hope, nonetheless, and I wanted to share.

The Great Dictator, the Jewish Barber's monologue:


"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's 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 man - cries 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 and 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 seventeenth 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 unite!

Hannah, can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up Hannah. The clouds are lifting! The sun is breaking through! We are coming out of the darkness into the light. We are coming into a new world - a kindlier world, where men will rise above their hate, their greed and their brutality. Look up, Hannah! The soul of man has been given wings and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow - into the light of hope, into the future, the glorious future that belongs to you, to me, and to all of us. Look up, Hannah... look up!"

[Bark Bark Bark]

1. Thank You.

I'm going to watch it right now. There was a time when I thought that speech was a little over the top. Now, I--like, I imagine, audiences back then--desperately need to hear those words again...and believe in them.

[NuttyFluffers]

2. beautiful. united we stand, divided we fall...

and cooperation is as powerful, if not more powerful, a force as competition.

wisdom to try to be better than where we are now. thanks charlie.

[emanymton]

3. Beware. Chaplin Was Banned In USA. Freedom Is Fragile, Fleeting

[Melodybe]

6. But he got to come back, it's all a cycle.

And slowly ever so slowly, we are moving forward.

[oasis]

4. Great stuff. thanks.

[Cooley Hurd]

5. This deserves a kick...

Another great Chaplin soliloquy was at the end of Monsieur Verdoux in which he says, “Wars, conflict, it’s all business. One murder makes a villain. Millions a hero. Numbers sanctify.”

Talk about hitting the nail on the head...:(

[Melodybe]

7. I just love this monologue and if it makes anyone feel hopeful than

I will kick it.

[Cooley Hurd]

10. Kick - Charles Chaplin was ahead of his time...

[BuelahWitch]

8. Kick from another Chaplin fan n/t

[Sequoia]

9. This is very good. My husband watched the video and wrote

down the words some time ago, he was so moved by it. Still have it, and thank you. Charlie Chaplin was a great person.

[Melodybe]

11. Kick for those who didn't get to read it.