Harold Pinter's Nobel Prize Speech

[Squirrel]

...woah.

[vordabois]

Given on December 7th, you mean?

This one?

Political language, as used by politicians, does not venture into any of this territory since the majority of politicians, on the evidence available to us, are interested not in truth but in power and in the maintenance of that power. To maintain that power it is essential that people remain in ignorance, that they live in ignorance of the truth, even the truth of their own lives. What surrounds us therefore is a vast tapestry of lies, upon which we feed.

As every single person here knows, the justification for the invasion of Iraq was that Saddam Hussein possessed a highly dangerous body of weapons of mass destruction, some of which could be fired in 45 minutes, bringing about appalling devastation. We were assured that was true. It was not true. We were told that Iraq had a relationship with Al Quaeda and shared responsibility for the atrocity in New York of September 11th 2001. We were assured that this was true. It was not true. We were told that Iraq threatened the security of the world. We were assured it was true. It was not true.

The truth is something entirely different. The truth is to do with how the United States understands its role in the world and how it chooses to embody it.


EDIT: Yeah, that's the one you mean. And in reading the entire thing... It's amazing. Here's a link to the whole thing:

http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/2005/pinter-lecture-e.html

Haha... I wonder how loud intellectuals have gotta be in order for people to actually listen. If he'd given the speech at a NASCAR event, he'd be booed off the stage. (Of course, he'd probably continue nonetheless.)

The most amusing part was where he volunteered to be Bush's speechwriter. After giving a well-rounded denounciation of how the United States conducts foreign policy (which was brilliant, but too long to copy and paste without hitting the 5,000-character restriction, and much too eloquent to abridge for posting purposes), he fits in:

I know that President Bush has many extremely competent speech writers but I would like to volunteer for the job myself. I propose the following short address which he can make on television to the nation. I see him grave, hair carefully combed, serious, winning, sincere, often beguiling, sometimes employing a wry smile, curiously attractive, a man's man.

"God is good. God is great. God is good. My God is good. Bin Laden's God is bad. His is a bad God. Saddam's God was bad, except he didn't have one. He was a barbarian. We are not barbarians. We don't chop people's heads off. We believe in freedom. So does God. I am not a barbarian. I am the democratically elected leader of a freedom-loving democracy. We are a compassionate society. We give compassionate electrocution and compassionate lethal injection. We are a great nation. I am not a dictator. He is. I am not a barbarian. He is. And he is. They all are. I possess moral authority. You see this fist? This is my moral authority. And don't you forget it."

:yes:

[Jackal]

That's astonishing. Yet everyone knows how messed up things are without reading that. What to do about it, is the question I can't answer. Voting is useless because it's choosing which powerful, rich, lying candidate to put into power. Unless the media gets them into a frenzy, people won't act. I barely hear of any protest and if I do, I think they are wasting their time.

Like the mom that stood outside Bush's ranch. Her son died, so she stood outside with a sign while the President rode past in an amored car and went on vacation anyway. Other's joined her, she got arrested a few times, but nothing changed.

My point is that it will take thousands or millions to rise at once to make a difference here. And who wants change that bad anyway. The poor here know they are tons better off than the poor in other nations. The poor here CAN get help, CAN find a way.

No one wants to vote for a poor, caring, intelligent, guy that wants to bring peace to the universe. A guy that wants to level the playing field for all mankind. Why vote for a man that's not power hungry or ready to kill so the USA stays miles above everyone else. In their secret little cold hearts, Americans like having a gov. with all that power.
----------
I know his speech makes me feel like I'm a awful human living in a horrible nation. It makes me feel like I should care about all the people of the world. But in truth, those people hate me because I live here and just live my life with my eyes shut. They should hate me. If I was them, I would hate me.

But, if the tables were turned, and they had been born here and me there. Then what. They would be just like me. They would feel lucky and thank God that they live in the USA too. They would shut out the world news and watch reruns of Jerry Seinfeld and laugh and have a beer. And me over on the other side of the world would be starving, angry and scared and hating.

Luck. It's just luck where your soul decided to pop out into the world.

If the other nations had all the money and power they would devour us like we do them.

[Squirrel]

If you get a chance, watch the actual video. The guy is basically dying and was too sick to give the speech in person so it's taped, with just him talking straight to the camera. It's about an hour long and it's slow at first, but it's seriously one of the most powerful things I've seen in a long time. It's on BitTorrent, I think.

[Jackal]

It was a very great speech.

[Blue River]

Originally posted by Squirrel
If you get a chance, watch the actual video. The guy is basically dying and was too sick to give the speech in person so it's taped, with just him talking straight to the camera. It's about an hour long and it's slow at first, but it's seriously one of the most powerful things I've seen in a long time. It's on BitTorrent, I think.

Do you have a link to the video. I couldn't find one.

I did read the speech however and agree it is amazing. Though I wouldn't expect anything less after reading his plays.

[Mark E. De Sade]

Originally posted by Blue River
Though I wouldn't expect anything less after reading his plays. Agreed. I love the Caretaker.

[Kinbote]

Me, I find the notion of giving the Nobel to a dramatist appalling (sneer). Though hardly as appalling as giving one to Toni Morrison. Oh, well. Fucking Scandinavians.

[Blue River]

Originally posted by Kinbote
Me, I find the notion of giving the Nobel to a dramatist appalling (sneer). Though hardly as appalling as giving one to Toni Morrison. Oh, well. Fucking Scandinavians.

What's wrong with Harold Pinter being a dramatist? If you've read any of his plays, you'll see he has a wonderful way with words. Besides drama is a valid form of literature.

[Squirrel]

Originally posted by Blue River
Do you have a link to the video. I couldn't find one.

I did read the speech however and agree it is amazing. Though I wouldn't expect anything less after reading his plays.

They've put up a Realplayer version of it here:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20051213&articleId=1482

Or there's a higher quality one on torrentspy.com, if you know how to use Bittorrent and stuff.

[Kinbote]

Originally posted by Blue River
Besides drama is a valid form of literature.

Hardly.

[Blue River]

Originally posted by Kinbote
Hardly.

So you don't consider Shakespeare literature?

[Kinbote]

It's one of the universe's great jokes that Shakespeare was, of all things, a dramatist. He's the exception, as he is in pretty much any literary-type discussion where his name might come up.

Anyway - plays are middlebrow cartoons. That's all I'm saying.

[Squirrel]

Did I read somewhere that no-one ever found anything that Shakespeare actually wrote, like it was all transcriptions and stuff?

[Blue River]

Originally posted by Kinbote
It's one of the universe's great jokes that Shakespeare was, of all things, a dramatist. He's the exception, as he is in pretty much any literary-type discussion where his name might come up.

Anyway - plays are middlebrow cartoons. That's all I'm saying.

But Shakepeare's not the only great playwrite. Though that said, his plays were not written for the middleclass, but ordinary working people. Which is probably why they've survived so long and done so well - they relate to modern themes.

I see plays more as live films rather than "middlebrow cartoons". There's something fun about the idea that something could go wrong and seeing the way the actors deal with it. Maybe I'm just cruel though.

[Kinbote]

Thanks for the regurgitation of fourth-form English class platitudes.

There are no great playwrights (note the 'w'). Shakespeare is great in spite of his plays. That his gorgeous language is contained within plays is coincidence, irrelevant, and rather a laugh.

[Nak Nak]

Originally posted by Blue River
What's wrong with Harold Pinter being a dramatist? If you've read any of his plays, you'll see he has a wonderful way with words. Besides drama is a valid form of literature.

Pinter's plays and poetry are awful. This essay is far and away the best thing he's ever written.

[vordabois]

Originally posted by Nak Nak
Pinter's plays and poetry are awful. This essay is far and away the best thing he's ever written.

Yeah, I don't know what in the hell he's written so far, but honestly, I don't give a rat's ass. That has nothing to do with the work in question.

What matters is that essay, and it is certainly incredibly well done.