Langston Hughes' "Let America Be America Again"

[kearlstig1961]

From a new subscriber to your channel, Langston Hughes is my favorite artist as well. Thanks for sharing his work. Peace.

[gyneve]

That was beatiful man. Not just the poem, but the way you read it.

[DanaGarrett]

Poignantly read.  Thank you. You mentioned that your father liked the poem. Would your father's first name happen to be Hayden?

[erkd1]

Wow, powerful! I remember reading a Langston Hughes poem "Or does it explode" in a Howard Zinn novel and forgot to check him out, now its pretty obvious I am indeed missing out. I'll feature this vid, very well read Ben. 

[DivergentMind]

Are you sure you're not an anarchist?

I kid, I kid .... mostly...=)

[TheCarruths]

@DivergentMind heheh. Even if I don't agree, I'll happily accept the compliment, given the source.

[yankeewh1te]

The poem needs more focus on the rich. Last time I checked they "payed" most the taxes by a long shot, and live under greater oppression — a greater percentage of each unit of toil expropriated.

Equality for all indeed.. that America with a pure, unregulated, laissez faire capitalist free market, with a complete separation of state and economy — that land before the income tax, the land of Edison, the country founded on individual rights — staying true to it to reverse the cancer of slavery.

[gratex]

@yankeewh1te oh dear

[yankeewh1te]

@gratex "oh dear", intimidation is not an argument.

[gratex]

@yankeewh1te if "oh dear" is intimidation then I can only imagine you live a sheltered life.

[yankeewh1te]

@gratex It's an "argument from intimidation" (< Google that, Rand coined the rhetorical fallacy). Also, consider all the malevolent BS you used to pull on qtronman. It's all too consistent.

[gratex]

@yankeewh1te

i used to pul on qtronman?  I asked him a simple question and he threatened to kill me. mind you, it's unlike a cultist to have selective memories!

[yankeewh1te]

@gratex Oh, you seem so certain of all this, yeah? Yet you hold that there is no such thing as absolute truth, and certainty.

You used to make bare assertions about qtronman's character and strawman every one of his positions, calling him a Randroid, a fascist (Rand advocates freedom), and spreading shit like he believes in killing those who don't agree with him. You were nihilistic to him. You still have some undeleted, rancid videos up tagged Ryan D Jamieson/qtronman. Evasion is sick.

[gratex]

@yankeewh1te evasion is sick, projection is worse!

watch?v=IlVr-fUW5v4

[erkd1]

@yankeewh1te wow, that video inspired this reaction??? Holy shit, this is a great poem! LOL

To Ben: bullseye, thanks for posting.

[TheCarruths]

@erkd1 I'm reminded, erkd, that one of the reasons so many gather around Rand is that she is the ONLY voice in support of that narrative. Every other artistic comment on the human condition has "obvious liberal bias". Why weren't there rallying songs in support of the plutocrat? Injustice, I say! lol

[erkd1]

@TheCarruths I agree! Why don't the super rich go on strike right now and make their own Galt's Gultch? Oh wait...because they are profiting from the system we have in place now. Doh! Ben, help out these oppressed oligarchs and make a story of the hero Sheriff of Nottingham defeating the vile redistribution of wealth socialist Robin Hood pay for his immorality. "Rob from the rich and give to the poor!" No wonder that story never gained any traction ;)

[yankeewh1te]

@erkd1 Rob from the rich and redistribute obviously did get a lot of traction. Seeing Ben Bernanke, who you alluded to, debases the currency in which the savings of the productive are kept, and then sends a check to the Treasury to plug the budget hole from the welfare programs that spend more than they already steal from predominantly the wealthy — and all this spurs price inflation off of monetary inflation — and hurts the poor the most.

[erkd1]

@yankeewh1te Bernanke is a full blown laissez-faire supply sider. Alan Greenspan was personally converted to Objectivism by Ayn Rand herself and part of her "Collective". What you want to abolish the Federal Reserve Act? Great, so do I. But that would mean the duty falls back on the Treasury Department like it says in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution and we agree, the government can do somethings better then the private sector.

[yankeewh1te]

@TheCarruths Rand is the only consistent advocate of freedom, individual rights, self-interest, and reason. That is why the more rational and competent among us are quickly attracted to her.

[TheCarruths]

@yankeewh1te "the more rational and competent".... with no professional or academic accreditation, accolade, or experience in applicable fields. I'm honestly curious: does it get boring being a depressingly predictable person?

[yankeewh1te]

@TheCarruths I'm not answering that question, because the premise is false, presumptuous, and seething with hatred of the good for being the good.

[TheCarruths]

@yankeewh1te The premise of the question was that you are predictable. Given that I mentioned Rand before you did, and suggested the mode in which you'd mention it before you did so, the premise has been found 1:1 for given sampling. Presumptions no longer, once they've been demonstrated. Seething? Again, as gratex above, I wonder about where you set the bar for such extremis. If you're an example of "the good", we must ask exactly what it is that you are good at, apart from obliviousness. Ciao.

[yankeewh1te]

@TheCarruths The premise was "with no professional or academic accreditation, accolade, or experience in applicable fields." which is false, presumptuous, and seething with hatred of the good for being the good.

“Given that I mentioned Rand before you did”

That was mere philosophic detection.

“Again, as gratex above, I wonder about where you set the bar for such extremism.”

Gratex said something invalid. I responded to Gratex, clarifying that he made an argument from intimidation.

[TheCarruths]

@yankeewh1te Awwwww...... someone doesn't know how to separate nonconditional clauses. Bye bye!

[jacobromu]

@yankeewh1te This is the most contradictory comment I've ever read on youtube ever.

[yankeewh1te]

@jacobromu If 2+2 is a contradiction, you need help.

[yankeewh1te]

@yankeewh1te *2+2 = 4~ lol

[msa1985]

@yankeewh1te but their living conditions don't tug at the heart strings like those of the jealous, lazy and complacent.

[yankeewh1te]

@msa1985 Need isn't a first mortgage on someone's elses life. It is the poor man who ought to be concerned more than anyone else for the inviolability of property of the rich man, for without which risk takers wouldn't be rewarded under stagnation, and there wouldn't be one article of clothing to his back, let alone a yacht, to which all men should have the opportunity to attain, that is — be left completely free.

[Barklord]

this poem should be placed in every place of employment and quoted randomly with enthusiasm

[abbynormal0ne]

Thank you for sharing this poem. I don't know many poets, but I love to learn of them.