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The Final Speech from The Great Dictator (1940)

charliechaplin.com

321–330 of 412 posts

Re: The Final Speech from The Great Dictator (1940)

#321
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He is a machine, everything with him happens. He cannot stop the flow of his thoughts, he cannot control his imagination, his emotions, his attention. He lives in a subjective world of 'I love,' 'I do not love,' 'I like,' 'I do not like,' 'I want,' 'I do not want,' that is, of what he thinks he likes, of what he thinks he does not like, of what he thinks he wants, of what he thinks he does not want. He does not see t…

Wow, I immediately recognized the text. I am very positively surprised in seeing Gurdjieff referenced here.

The name sounded familiar so I looked in my spotify playlists and sure enough: https://open.spotify.com/album/2j51awurPD6ZDE0JdRliUc?si=J-r....

Re: The Final Speech from The Great Dictator (1940)

#323

"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.

> surely the mindful decision is empathetic, constructive, and wise - not just base.

As your heart is, if you listen to it.

Listening to your heart is different to compulsive thoughts or reactions; getting swept up in a mass hysteria of the times; or a spasm that can tear through a crowd.

These types of revolutions, or crowd motions, are more often based on intense intellectual ideas and expressions of subconscious motivations rather than the present intelligence of your actual heart.

So I think the original comment has it very right: if people actually tuned into their heart and listened to that they’d find their way much more surely in the world. I encourage you to try it!! :)

The untrained mind in its raw state, for most people is not the cool, rational, dispassionate instrument of your imagining, (though you may have been blessed with such a faculty, most are not! Including I). Most peoples minds are chaotic places and can usually be swept up in these movements. But even if yours is the cool instrument you speak of, I encourage you to develop your heart sense and listen to its intelligence—it’s vital and a different perspective.

I think most peoples’ hearts are innately sensible, than their minds are in fact. The heart also seems to require less training to make it so—you simply need to listen to it well.

Re: The Final Speech from The Great Dictator (1940)

#324
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I 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 ri…

How many times has your life or someone close to you in your life not died from something they would have died of 100yrs ago? If you're happy medical tech saved their lives then you're arguably for life extension because all it really means is saving more lives from more things that kill them.

Not everything that’s good remains good when you take it to an extreme.

Re: The Final Speech from The Great Dictator (1940)

#326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While 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.

HN has more variety when it comes to posters than you think. There's one guy here who spent time in prison for eco-terrorism.

I spent 3 months in prison for getting drunk, stealing a row boat, and escaping from the police on said boat. My cellmates called me a low budget pirate.

That was 10 years ago now. I've met tons of people like me who are otherwise in fields you'd associate with intellect. Some of us just have a knack for testing the limits of society.

Re: The Final Speech from The Great Dictator (1940)

#327
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Showing unselfish concern for the welfare of others. Will that do as a definition? Be altruistic.

I would add: self accountability and willingness to work hard for self improvement. Some stereotypical American who is nice to others, visits church, serves Thanks Giving food to homeless can be considered as decent human being by local community. But at the same time, material damage on others lives from say driving V8 truck and blindly voting for local politician can be significant, but he is not interested in lear…

So voting for the 'correct' local politician and driving an eco-friendly car are more important than being nice and helping others less fortunate? How very blue.

Re: The Final Speech from The Great Dictator (1940)

#328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN has more variety when it comes to posters than you think. There's one guy here who spent time in prison for eco-terrorism.

I spent 3 months in prison for getting drunk, stealing a row boat, and escaping from the police on said boat. My cellmates called me a low budget pirate. That was 10 years ago now. I've met tons of people like me who are otherwise in fields you'd associate with intellect. Some of us just have a knack for testing the limits of society.

Why is your username for everything not "low_budget_pirate"?

Great story :)

Re: The Final Speech from The Great Dictator (1940)

#329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While 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.

HN has more variety when it comes to posters than you think. There's one guy here who spent time in prison for eco-terrorism.

Ughhh.. I hate that word, especially when it refers to the protest acts like spaghetti on art, or slow march on a road delaying traffic etc... I think partly because it smells like a society that has started worshipping "traffic" or "business as usual" instead of doing that by deliberate choice.

Re: The Final Speech from The Great Dictator (1940)

#330
post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would add: self accountability and willingness to work hard for self improvement. Some stereotypical American who is nice to others, visits church, serves Thanks Giving food to homeless can be considered as decent human being by local community. But at the same time, material damage on others lives from say driving V8 truck and blindly voting for local politician can be significant, but he is not interested in lear…

So voting for the 'correct' local politician and driving an eco-friendly car are more important than being nice and helping others less fortunate? How very blue.

> So voting for the 'correct' local politician and driving an eco-friendly car are more important than being nice and helping others less fortunate?

if you do some calculations before jumping to your prejudgment, you may find that it is more important, and people are less fortunate because someone burns too much gasoline and votes for 'wrong' politicians.

But it was simplified example, privileged people utilize more complicated schemes.

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