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 is 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 men - cries out 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 - 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 17th 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 all unite!

-Charlie Chaplin, ‘The Great Dictator’, 1940

I love you guys. I wanted this to be here by the 21st, but it wasn’t. It’s here now, enjoy.

Tracklist:

1. Psalters - Hosanna

2. Young Widows - Swamped & Agitated

3. The Big Sleep - Sleep Forever

4. Damien Jurado - The Killer

5. SWANS - Eden Prison

6. J. Robert Oppenheimer - Now, I Am Become Death

7. Neurosis - Stones From The Sky

8. David Bazan - Breadwinner You

9. A Silver Mount Zion - Thirteen Blues For Thirteen Moons

10. My Morning Jacket - I Will Be There When You Die

11. Brandon Butler - Killer On The Road

12. Neutral Milk Hotel - Ghost

13. Defiance, Ohio - Lullabies

14. Old Canes - Little Bird Courage

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jtjcse0zt669zah/Burn%2C%20Relearn.zip

(This is my first time using Dropbox. Let me know if things work.

cavecitysink:

This past Saturday, I wanted to get away from the house, so I took a drive. The sky was wide and alive with light, the distant hills still green despite the month and the air crisp and cool and wonderful against my skin as I drove with the windows down.

Just up the road from Crow Station, past…

LOVE

I quit writing because of this life.

I quit writing because of lupus.

I quit writing because of massive head trauma.

imaginaryimageblog:

A seal in a tuxedo flopping into your party uninvited and mixing fancy cocktails for all your guests, he’s knocking over like everything.

danieleastman:

“What are you listening to?” the boy asked. He was too young to know better so I tried not to hold it against him.
“It’s Elliott Smith.” I answered.
“Oh.” His cubby jaw slacked under his fat cheeks and empty eyes. “Why does he sound sad?”
“Well, he was a sad man. That’s why.”
“But why was he sad?”…

God bless you, Daniel Eastman!

I drink your milkshake! I DRINK IT UP! (Taken with instagram)

My answer to everything. Ever.