“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.”
Those are the opening lines to Charlie Chaplin’s final speech in his 1940 film ‘The Great Dictator’. This is the film in which he parodies Adolf Hitler and satirises the political climate of Europe at the time. This speech has not only come full circle to once again becoming relevant and contemporary satire but it also shows the current difference between the ruling politicians within this country in comparison to the masses. We are no longer a united country that strives to “help one another” but instead are individuals who would much rather leave behind certain parts of society in preference for personal gain.
“Only the unloved hate – the unloved and the unnatural.”
Between 2013 and 2018 the rate of homophobic and transphobic hate crimes rose by 144% with hate crimes in general rising 123% in the same time frame. So what has happened? Why has hatred towards minorities appeared to have doubled? A hatred that is directed at human traits like being of a different colour, creed, religion or sexual orientation. A hatred that we, as a world vowed to disperse, stop and destroy during the 1940s. Why is it that now I feel that a speech written to parody a tyrant in the 1940s, a tyrant who killed at least 6 million people of one particular religion because of his own personal prejudices, why is it relevant today?
“Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate […] By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise”
The people who are claiming to be taking this country forward have exploited, harassed and taken a large percentage of the electorate hostage. They have done this through playing on the innate selfishness of people. Spinning lies, they create a loud and easily moulded following, slowly adding more and more outdated and dangerous vocabulary to the political conversation, until it gets to a point that we become numb, become used to the awful things and the dreadful lies that we as a country are being fed as truth. These “facts” that the likes of Farage, Gove and Johnson spin us on a daily basis are most prominent on the topic of Brexit, on British autonomy and all round Britain being British. Facts such as that the “£350 million” we give to the EU can go straight to the NHS instead, such as the fact that Britain gets bullied in the European Parliament and that we have no control over our own laws because of this, and the fact that “the day after we vote to leave, we hold all the cards and we can choose the path we want” – Gove. It is clear that the formulaic Oxbridgites that rule British politics don’t know how to convincingly lie as they do not understand that there is empirical evidence stating that what they are saying is the antithesis of truth.
“For Hitler must be laughed at”
Whilst this is not a quote taken from Chaplin’s speech in his first film with dialogue it is an important comment from him on the topic of the film. As a comic and a man with his abilities and resources he believed that it was his responsibility to make Hitler look ridiculous as there is nothing more powerful in this world to use against someone than mocking laughter. It is why the use of the name ‘Daesh’ has been increasingly popularised since the Paris terror attacks of 2017 when referring to ISIS. This is due to the fact that ISIS do not like the term and there’s nothing funnier than the concept of terrorist organisation having their feelings hurt by a word is there? It is why shows such as The Last Leg, Have I Got News For You, and Mock The Week exist, in order to satirise the news and politics as a whole. We are a country in transition, a country that is no longer the great kingdom it once was, we have been assigned a role on the world stage that we are not used to. This is not the same stage that we played on when we owned the theatre itself. We are now in a play in which everyone has an equal part, where we have to help one another learn their lines and bring other players up to speed. We must help one another, not take the spotlight for ourselves and our good friends. Sadly, there is still a large part of this nation who believe that we should be starring in our own eponymous play.
“The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed – the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress.”
Rhys Ash Powell 