Words that Changed the World

[Evangelicalhumanist]

I don't do this often, but I couldn't help myself. This is, in my opinion, quite a wonderful YouTube video -- some of the greatest speeches of all time, read by good actors -- and with some very competent analysis by important speech writers from both the US and Britain.

I am aware most members won't bother, but for those who do...I promise, this is a really good video.

 

[SomeRandom]

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but could this also apply to the speeches of someone awful who categorically changed the world?
I’m thinking like Hitler.
Words are powerful, they can harm or help. Soothe or inflame.

I didn’t watch the video, I fear I’m a bit too hungover right now. So I apologise if the video addressed that.

 

[TransmutingSoul]

Mostly, people are not aware of the words that change the world.

The world moves in a direction, that words have created, yet the minds remain unaware of.

This is a quote from Baha'u'llah as to how words change the world.

"Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God is endowed with such potency as can instill new life into every human frame, if ye be of them that comprehend this truth. All the wondrous works ye behold in this world have been manifested through the operation of His supreme and most exalted Will, His wondrous and inflexible Purpose. Through the mere revelation of the word “Fashioner,” issuing forth from His lips and proclaiming His attribute to mankind, such power is released as can generate, through successive ages, all the manifold arts which the hands of man can produce. This, verily, is a certain truth. No sooner is this resplendent word uttered, than its animating energies, stirring within all created things, give birth to the means and instruments whereby such arts can be produced and perfected."

- Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 142

Regards Tony

 

[Tambourine]

I actually find it interesting how the influence of speeches (as opposed to writings) seems to wax and wane throughout history. In many ways, the very oral cultures of the Greeks and Romans probably were the golden era of political speeches, as afterwards political writings seem to have become much more impactful, especiallywhen the printing press started to allow them to be copied and distributed at a lightning pace.

The success of radio and television seem to have brought back the power of political speech, however, as they allowed speeches to potentially reach audiences of millions in no time. Though television also added the element of political visuals and aesthetics that was absent previously. For example, I don't think Kennedy's speeches would have had the impact they had, if not for his looks and visual aesthetics, and Obama in particular seems to be a very skilled visual performer - in the speeches of him I've watched, his gestures and especially his facial expressions always seem on point with the emotion he is trying to convey.