Propaganda Films and Hate Speech

[Rev. Rye]

You know, this reminds me of Chaplin's speech from the Great Dictator. He only makes reference to the bible once, and the quote adds ab-so-fucking-lutely NOTHING to the rest of it, in fact it stops things dead but he luckily doesn't dwell on that. Such a wonderful, passionate and spot-on speech where the only blemish, the only thing that causes a hard shift and calls into question the motivation, is when religion is inserted.

Religion. Poisons. Everything.

Personally, I considered it Chaplin's attempt at giving audiences who might have been skeptical about his fiery left-wing views some sort of common ground to think: "See? This isn't just some sort of Godless Communism. It's compatible with Chrisitianity!"

The one flaw for me with the speech is his assumption that fascism is fueled by people who think too much and feel too little. Especially strange in 2017 because we've seen a Fascist demagogue in all but name rise to power in America, and his supporters sure as shit weren't thinking, and so much of his appeal relied on his emotions. They just weren't the ones Chaplin would consider good to cultivate.

[Astonished]

He's probably just equating that with his machinery analogy, like thinking too much (becoming educated) reduces one's emotional range and empathy, and that's kind of stupid but considering the times when so many advancements were coming out (and the majority of what you'd see at the time was designed for killing), it makes sense he'd want to shit on how messed up it is, and he was right; the Cold War was all because of the advent of the nuke, the pinnacle of our destructive capability. I'll admit I do think there's some of that emotional detachment by becoming more educated and informed because it creates a mind that is able to contemplate a broader spectrum of possibilities and outcomes than a more ignorant mind which would be more prone to snap decisions, but it's not the thing that opens the door to becoming a machine person with a machine heart. That's simple moral failing, to avoid which requires one to be educated since basing morality off of mere feelings is more the kind that would lead to appeals to authority.