Tim Snider performs an original song inspired by Charlie Chaplin, followed by a spoken monologue that echoes Chaplin's famous speech. It critiques how technology and speed have eroded empathy, calling for compassion and humanity to guide progress.
Chapters
I was just thinking as we were doing this, like, the whole thing— get off the stage, play more. But I'd love to play more for you guys if you guys want to hear another. Sorry, sometimes I overshare. I just say whatever the hell is in my head. I know, it's okay. Just play. Just play. All right. The song is called Down the Rabbit Hole, and, um, it was inspired by Mr. Charlie Chaplin.
We all want to help one another. A human being is our life maker. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate or despise one another. In this world there's room for everyone. The good earth is rich. But we have lost the way. We as the birds in the has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves out. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. The airplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness of man. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world. Millions of despairing men, women, and children. Victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. 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.
