Wednesday, March 28, 2012

A world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.

At the end of the WWI, Europe was plunged into a wave of pesimism and a faith crisis. By that time, a new cultural and intelectual movement had resurged: the regenerating humanism.
Nowadays, I feel the same. We, almost one century after the WWI, feel the same. We see a world of greed, a world with lack of humanism. And without humanism, mankind will be lost.

The following words came from the film The Great Dictator, from the final speech.
"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 as 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 out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all. [...]

[...] 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 fulfill their promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfill 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."
...A world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness. Nice words. =)

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