let's pretend there's a title here

finally, someone for tumblr

Because someone is on the ball, Turner Classic is playing (among other WWII films) The Great Dictator today.

If you haven't seen it, please do. It was produced by Charlie Chaplin in the late 1930s, when it became clear that the war was going to happen, and came out in 1940 after it had started. Essentially, Chaplin realized that his famous mustache was about to be usurped forever by a fascist, and that fascist was going to kill a lot more people in the future than he had already.

It's a parody, made before the worst horrors of the Nazi regime were known to the general public, so there is discomfort here (if you've seen Disney's Der Fuhrer's Face, you'll get the idea), but the movie ends with Chaplin essentially saying "fuck it, no one else seems to be speaking out about this and I'm going to use my platform to do that."

For context, this character is a Jew who has been mistaken for the dictator (for obvious mustache-related reasons), and has been sent onstage at a rally to give a speech. Instead of trying to impersonate Hitler, he says what he really thinks. And keep in mind, Chaplin was coming out of semi-retirement for this. It was the first time most people had ever heard him speak, and this is what he said:

Transcription: A video of Charlie Chaplin giving a speech in The Great Dictator, as outlined above. This what he says:

"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 men, 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. 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 would be violent, and all would 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 know, my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millionsof 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!"

We are all people who can still hear these words. Do not despair. Keep fighting. There is an "after" and it is important to reach and to create it.

Existential Guy Fieri™️

Please tell me that y'all won't go back to tiktok once Trump gets whatever nefarious concessions he wants from the company and "saves" it. Like, you all NEED to stay gone. Stay on Xiaohongshu or move to other platforms or create a new one or whatever, but don't go back to whatever Trump-appeasement monstrosity TikTok is about to become. Don't do it.

Keeping these

( @hubcaptastrophe )

Ppl love to say “we are living in Orwell’s 1984!!!” about everything but the shift from Trump starting the idea of a tiktok ban to “Trump is saving tiktok!” is theeee most egregious example of doublethink I’ve ever seen in real life like it’s embarrassing lmao

Seeing friends and peers be like “this is the first time I’m rooting for Trump idc I just want tiktok back” makes me feel like this

NOOOOOO YOU FOOLS DON’T YOU KNOW BIG BROTHER WANTS TO MAKE THE BRAIN PERFECT BEFORE THEY BLOW IT OUT. DON’T GIVE IN PLEASE REMEMBER LITERALLY ANYTHING TRUE AND REAL

this whole tiktok thing is just the chocolate rations bit from 1984

Hey what's this I'm hearing bout Trump ordering that your gender is whatever yours were at conception? Are y'all all females now or what

something like that

US-wide forced feminization kink was not on my 2025 bingo card

anyway congrats to Trump for becoming the first lesbian president

"come to europe" is the least helpful or realistic thing i can say to trans people and other people at risk in the US but i honestly don't know what else to say. my god if anything please stay safe, organize, and hopefully we can see this whole mess through together

there's also south America if you know Spanish

this should not have gagged me as hard as it did

whoever made this deserves an award

My humble contribution

“Fyp” we don’t do that here. I mean, Tumblr the app and website tries, but we don't do that here.

“But then how will anyone see it?” peer review.

“How do you get engagement?” by talking and engaging with other people. Or making a devastating typo. Either way.

“But—” Listen, you’re not doing solo stand up anymore. This is a group improv class being held in a SAW dungeon. Good luck.

i am afraid of people who reblog things with no tags. not even any identifiers like the show it’s from or anything. just silence. what are you thinking?? hello??

you know what understandable have a good day

the replies 💀

I have laughed so much at this post, especially the close-up of Beast's bedroom eyes, and the reblogs:

And then this one killed me:

Can't believe no one has posted her reaction

Kaladin and Syl dancing! The amount of Joy I felt while drawing these two is actually indescribable. I love them both so much! ❤️

The old "Thought of you" animation was a huge inspiration.