Favourite Speeches

[Qfwfq]

I love speeches; I can't get enough of them. When a leader can so eloquently drape a vision into the foreground of our imaginations. A weave of words that will resonate from a single place and time through out history and across oceans. A message that can transcend our human plight, empower the soul, disarm our prejudices, humble our hearts, and revolutionize the mind...

'nuff said, post yours here.

Obama - Notre Dame commencement


more: JFK's message to the american press
JFK - message to the press - 1/2
JFK - message to the press - 2/2

[Randall]

Not sure if this (http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html) is the kind of speech you had in mind but here it is anyway.

[Qfwfq]

Not sure if this (http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html) is the kind of speech you had in mind but here it is anyway.

I really like that one. The more radical and naive the better. I plan to spam just a fury of Obama speeches in this thread.

[Madrigal]

I can't play, my favorite speeches are in Spanish.

I like listening to Che, Fidel, Chavez and other populists like Hebe de Bonafini, leader of "Madres de Plaza de Mayo". I also like De Gaulle, Evita...

But my favorite is Allende's last words: "Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Go forward, knowing that sooner rather than later, those great avenues will open up once again, along which the free man will walk, to build a better society. Long live Chile, long live the people, long live the workers!" Then he died under the bombing of the presidential palace.

It's at the very end of this video (1:27).

.

[Randall]

I can't play, my favorite speeches are in Spanish

There's been a breakthrough advancement recently called subtitles. Have you heard of them?

[Harion]

or, you could just post (or link) a translated version of the speech

[Zelda]

Trudeau's infamous interview regarding the FLQ Crisis comes to mind, and while it's not heart-wrenchingly moving, its moved me to smirk and raise my eyebrows many times. Trudeau may have been a lot of things, but he was neither dull nor a pushover. Nixon called him an asshole. :p

Just watch me

[Qfwfq]

I can't play, my favorite speeches are in Spanish.

I like listening to Che, Fidel, Chavez and other populists like Hebe de Bonafini, leader of "Madres de Plaza de Mayo". I also like De Gaulle, Evita...

But my favorite is Allende's last words: "Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Go forward, knowing that sooner rather than later, those great avenues will open up once again, along which the free man will walk, to build a better society. Long live Chile, long live the people, long live the workers!" Then he died under the bombing of the presidential palace.

It's at the very end of this video (1:27).

.

I welcome your translation of speeches you find particularly inspiring and representative of your values. I'd like to hear from the likes of Castro addressing education too if you know any.


Trudeau's infamous interview regarding the FLQ Crisis comes to mind, and while it's not heart-wrenchingly moving, its moved me to smirk and raise my eyebrows many times. Trudeau may have been a lot of things, but he was neither dull nor a pushover. Nixon called him an asshole. :p

Just watch me

He has such a cool and confident demeanour, it's funny to hear him debate so casually with a reporter. You can tell he's actually considering this reporter's opinions even though he maintains his position. You would never see our politicians do this today. They're complete cowards. It's a shame Cross and Laporte were executed, but is that going too far for national independence? Apparently it is if you don't succeed, and history has a way of teaching us that somewhat backwards logic. I find it so irrational how society allows hindsight to influence their judgment on whether or not they believe something was the right course of action.

[D33P7HR047]

No way to watch it unless in Canada, right? I can't access the video in Zelda's post, even with a different proxy.

[Qfwfq]

No way to watch it unless in Canada, right? I can't access the video in Zelda's post, even with a different proxy.

That's another policy Google is infringing on our rights with. It's absurd to have Youtube discriminate nationally on which videos are accessible. I remember the Canadian documentary "The Corporation" was another one you guys couldn't see even though it was entirely uploaded at the producer's discretion.

Try these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5gC1P-h18g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7_a2wa2dd4

though I suspect that because those user uploaded videos are tagged by CBC you won't be able to view them either.

[Spartan26]

I'd go with William Faulkner's Nobel Prize acceptance speech, for starters...
Faulkner

I had no idea this thing existed in audio until a few years ago. It reads so powerfully (http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/faulkner/faulkner.html). "I decline to accept the end of man."

*EDIT: Didn't realize the YouTube clip was cut off. If you click here (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/williamfaulknernobelprizeaddress.htm) and hit the "Faulkner - Recorded Reading" option. You can hear it completely.

[intpgolfer]

Why did a old Benjamin Franklin support passing the Constitution in 1778 by saying:

"Mr. President - I confess that there are several parts of this constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them: For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others. Most men indeed as well as most sects in Religion, think themselves in possession of all truth, and that wherever others differ from them it is so far error. Steele a Protestant in a Dedication tells the Pope, that the only difference between our Churches in their opinions of the certainty of their doctrines is, the Church of Rome is infallible and the Church of England is never in the wrong. But though many private persons think almost as highly of their own infallibility as of that of their sect, few express it so naturally as a certain french lady, who in a dispute with her sister, said "I don't know how it happens, Sister but I meet with no body but myself, that's always in the right - Il n'y a que moi qui a toujours raison." In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general government necessary for us, and there is no form of government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other. I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better Constitution. For when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded like those of the Builders of Babel; and that our States are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another's throats. Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure, that it is not the best. The opinions I have had of its errors, I sacrifice to the public good. I have never whispered a syllable of them abroad. Within these walls they were born, and here they shall die. If every one of us in returning to our Constituents were to report the objections he has had to it, and endeavor to gain partisans in support of them, we might prevent its being generally received, and thereby lose all the salutary effects & great advantages resulting naturally in our favor among foreign Nations as well as among ourselves, from our real or apparent unanimity. Much of the strength & efficiency of any government in procuring and securing happiness to the people, depends, on opinion, on the general opinion of the goodness of the government, as well as well as of the wisdom and integrity of its Governors. I hope therefore that for our own sakes as a part of the people, and for the sake of posterity, we shall act heartily and unanimously in recommending this Constitution (if approved by Congress & confirmed by the Conventions) wherever our influence may extend, and turn our future thoughts & endeavors to the means of having it well administered."

[Qfwfq]

A fine elaboration on "something is better than nothing". I like his reference to Babylon, I assume he's comparing the death of Alexander to the American Revolution as a catalyst? Today we're witnessing one more Hellenistic period, profaning foreign temples and raising McDonald's gymnasiums in their stead. I wonder if this Alexander will fall too. Perhaps the lands would not be distributed among officials, but instead the colossal corporate entities which now sit in our senates.

[mxmxmx]

Perhaps not quite a speech, but nonetheless exceptionally moving. (At least for me).


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8H7Jibx-c0

[Randall]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12WIT9vR6xg