Characterized by academic excellence since its founding in 1948, Brandeis University is one of the youngest private research universities, as well as the only nonsectarian Jewish-sponsored college or university in the country. Named for the late Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis of the U.S. Supreme Court, Brandeis combines the faculty and resources of a world-class research institution with the intimacy and personal attention of a small liberal arts college.
This is a tremendous speech. He quotes so eloquently from past writers and activets, but when he arrives at the latter part of the speech you can see and hear he dislikes what he says regarding our current election. I've seen Burns speak three or four times and (literally) bumped in to him a couple of times in New Hampshire, he is an intelligent, introspective man from what I can tell. He does not say or do things in knee jerk reaction, so this speech must have taken a lot out of him to publicly come out against one candidate. I admire Burns greatly and hope that many others will do the same.
This is a keynote that needs to be listened to more than once. Interesting comment about 'there is no other, no them'. These days it is the people who other themselves who are so deeply dividing us - blacks, gays, trans. Their goal seems to be spreading hate. Yet, they accuse everyone else of being the haters. I won't vote for Trump and I can't vote for Biden because he is destroying our culture.
He looks terrified of Trump and how he and his minions could destroy what we know as America land of the free! I’d vote for Biden’s corpse before I vote for Trump!
This is complete utter nonsense filled with more bullshit that is so deep his eyes are brown… let’s break this down just a bit… He’s speaking at a liberal university in the most liberal state in our country nuff said… JOE BIDEN has completely ruined this country for the past 3+ years, nothing I mean nothing has been great!!! FJB!!! And MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!! I just sent DJT money just to combat this type of clueless nonsense… Joe Biden is unfit for office he’s feeble, can’t remember what he’s saying or where he is half of the time… 🇺🇸🇺🇸TRUMP 2024🇺🇸🇺🇸
He was demented before the election. There are his numerous ifhnaoifghapgoajpgoahp expressions from 2019. Who does this to a country (and the world)? Who places a demented person at the center of power?
I am reposting this comment by @anomalogue that seems to die prematurely: "And if I have learned anything over those years, it's that there's only us. There is no them. And whenever someone suggests to you, whomever it may be in your life that there's a them, run away. Othering is the simplistic binary way to make and identify enemies, but it is also the surest way to your own self imprisonment…” And then he proceeds to do precisely the kind of toxic othering that has wrecked and continues wrecking this country. I’m taking Ken Burns advice and running away from Ken Burns."
"And if I have learned anything over those years, it's that there's only us. There is no them. And whenever someone suggests to you, whomever it may be in your life that there's a them, run away. Othering is the simplistic binary way to make and identify enemies, but it is also the surest way to your own self imprisonment…” And then he proceeds to do precisely the kind of toxic othering that has wrecked and continues wrecking this country. I’m taking Ken Burns's advice and running away from Ken Burns.
Ken Burns is a national treasure. His historical perspective is a gift we all can benefit from, if we will listen to his carefully crafted words and intentions. Well done, sir!
Mr. Burns told you who not to vote for but never gave you an alternative. Research the platforms of all candidates, including independents. Research where they receive campaign contributions. investigate their activism and courage in protecting the environment, securing medical freedom, ensuring diplomacy instead of war. and fighting for the protection of the Constitution. I'm a liberal boomer who has been deeply concerned with the censorship, unconstitutional mandates, shut downs, and instigated wars causing unprecedented inflation in the last 8 years. Journalism is lost with false propaganda. Never vote for a candidate out of fear of the other. Vote for the one who represents your ideals even if it is an independent. We lost many superior candidates because of this mentality. It's time for a change and with alternative media, you can do it. The last two presidents had their chances, and we are no better for it.
Ah, you are missing something. We're at the end of the literally demented Presidency which has caused destabilization of the world, weakened our country, and caused numerous tragedies and yet this apologist (sorry "historian") is pushing for four more years and the "sophisticated' are ecstatic.
@@ijustwannaleaveacommentony6511 Several things. They were removing comments (and some returned) and had no idea what was visible and what is not. And yes, I'm angry. Yes, it's OK to be angry when there are reasons to be angry. This speech is absurd in general but particularly at this place at this time. He is promoting the demented puppet who is the "Leader of the Free world" and of this country, who is practically supporting cartels, domestic terrorists and Hamas and is part of the team that is co-responsible for October 7th. This adoring overfed kitschy crowd is absurd. The reality is ugly, very ugly, etc. I have several reasons to be active in this case - I live in the US (yes, Joe is my President - thank you those who voted for him - yes sarcasm), I am Jewish, close to ultimate tragedies, have a degree in Jewish history (yes focus on antisemitism), have quite a decent mind and a lot of relevant knowledge. Striking nice polite smiling poses would be irresponsible. The fact is that a country between water and water and no war on its territory for over 150 years is in the condition it is now and it isn't the orange man's fault. And yes, again, I despise reducing everything to psychobabbling. Everyone is such a Freud. It's time for Americans to realize that there is reality outside minds. dr anna
Trump's going to enslave us? Why didn't he do it when he was president? Why would I vote for Biden when we have two wars going on, a lousy economy, a war on energy and an open border? Ken Burns is living in a world of "what ifs" instead of seeing what is right in front of him.
When I asked my Political Science teacher about the pattern of history repeating itself over the ages, he referred to that phenomena as the forces of history. I like Mark Twain's interpretation as "history rhymes."
I doubt if Burns would disagree that philosophy must be infused into school curricula at every appropriate level, an excellent primer being Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Too, perhaps he would bemoan the fact that philosophy/critical thinking is not a required part of every program of studies. Given the content of his address, I suspect he would agree that a focus on values is necessary, as well as their internalization (virtues). He might agree with Christopher Lasche's 1979 Culture of Narcissism and the crying need for introspection. As somewhat of an aside, I find it astonishing that among the some thousand or more comments on this video - mainly platitudes - few, if any, talk about the substance of Burn's talk - the need for philosophy and values. Because of these failures, we are at the edge of the Sixth Great Extinction, already having passed numerous tipping points (due to climate inertia). A socio-political tipping point was reached many decades ago for electing a leader demonstrating even a minimal compassion for the people. Frankly, it is hard to identify one not bellicose and beholden to the Military-Industrial Complex, about which Eisenhower warned against in his 1961 Farewell Address. The US empire is dying as Rome did and for many of the same reasons. Sadly, Burns had to make explicit what a person with a basic skill set in critical thinking and ethics would instinctively know about Trump. Yet, neither will voting for Biden (with the same level of venality, narcissism, corruption, and bellicosity) be a solution. Getting back to empires for a moment, recall one of the main reasons for the collapse of the USSR - the lack of fresh ideas. (Yes, I can complain about septuagenarians and octogenarians, because I AM one!). As to Trump, himself, Bandy Lee (The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump) had some sage words. I am following Einstein's description of what to look for after the rapidly approaching war occurs - rocks. Overall, and Burns very well might agree that our survival depends on what we see in the mirror. Further reading: Managing Complexity Through Social Intelligence: - Published March 2023 by Springer Publishing.
Well, I am not a philosopher. I did take the required assorted courses (I studied several disciplines - all with a historical component or pure history). When I came to the US, many things looked absurd to me. Among them was babbling of American professors, such as "We don't give them knowledge, we teach them how to think" and many variations such as "We don't give them knowledge - we inspire them. THEY CAN LOOK UP THE FACTS etc. in encyclopedia," "Who needs dates?" and many other things. Unlike them, I knew that empty thinking heads don't exist. Unlike them, I knew that one shouldn't rely on encyclopedia (check Wiki). Unlike them, I valued knowledge of history and knew that without knowledge of dates there is no knowledge of history and that without knowledge of history, societies collapse. Imagine what I feel when I see (quite often) comments in the style "Napoleon was a Chinese Tsar who fought in the 3rd century Brazil purple coach roaches" (sadly, there is very little exaggeration here). I also despise the fact that psychobabbling replaced everything in this country and is omnipresent. Reality (past and present) have been abandoned. And, sadly, I can feel only desperation when I read the comments here in response to a speech that shouldn't have taken place. I did improve my knowledge of English and now I know that "experts" and "prostitu^es" are interchangeable synonyms in this language. dr anna
@@anna-tn8mg ...and to realize that 50% of adults in the US cannot read past the 8th grade (OCED and US Department of Education sources), 25% believe the Sun orbits the Earth/50% think antibiotics are effective against viruses (NSF data), and most cannot locate the countries US regime is bombing is a testament to the urgency we face today. Prussian diplomat, Klemens Wenzel Furst von Metternich's "When France sneezes, the whole of Europe catches a cold.” translates into the US's decline and aggressive wars threatening homo sapiens sapiens extinction - that being some cold! And, here, the lack of comments about values is astounding. So, in a country touting techne as episteme in its schools populated with kids abusing various substances barely surviving on a junk food diet and attention spans like houseflies, don't expect the building of the firm foundations of "democracy" - a well-educated middle-class. With what you see with social entropy, there is what you get - a babbling senile party hack versus a boisterous predatory felon - the choice between the electric chair or gas chamber for a country fomenting so much misery in the world. Facts? Well, we have "fact-checkers" with no one fact-checking them. Memory of facts? Who can be distracted by them, when we have "social media", "the Internet", and "influencers"? Like empiricism needing analytical frameworks, so do "facts". Ontology and epistemology form philosophy's singularity. If it is true that the average IQ in the United States is about 98 (a delightful situation for liberal democratic demagogues), developmental psychologists will ask how this will act on any "fact"-filtering processes. As Hegel might have it, the process exists because of the object and conversely (as in his Logic - and "the ground"). Every day is Halloween in the US, today, 5 July 2024 being another popcorn event with the US's dear leader once again challenged to utter three coherent sentences in succession, tomorrow, the more astute persons reflecting on an interview "... that shouldn't have taken place." I would have preferred that none of it, from 1776, onward had taken place.
Could be the most eloquent speech I have ever heard. Shakespearean comes to mind. Delivered by a man who has spent his life trying to better understand us. Every word perfectly chosen and beautifully spoken and a message that every US citizen needs to hear now.
Wonderful speech. However the two people on stage to the left of Mr. Burns were total distracting by their apparent indifference to the speaker’s words! Shame on them!
Correction Ken. The three Abrahamic religions are not equal. The prophet Muhammad specifically says that the only way to heaven is through dying in Jihad. The quran exhorts muslims to kill in the name of allah and his prophet. Every thing else is golden wisdom.
Listen. From the sweet-boy whisper-voice to the "Biden good"/"Trump bad" election-pitch, shjt-libs be shit-libbin'. Trump is gawd-awful. Joe Biden is gawd awful. Neither of them is a choice. Vote third party. Neither of these homicidal sociopaths deserves your vote. You're welcome.
Very well said, ...A department head an Engineering dept. at UCI suggested listening to this one commencement speech. I sure hope the students take him up on it. It's Perfect!
A brilliant speech in so many ways but ruined by his appearance of backhanded support of President Biden and his administration that are doing their best to divide our country, turn us against each other as well as fuel intolerance, bigotry and, prejudice: the very things Mr. Burns was opening our eyes to and speaking against. I am no fan of President Trump, in fact I voted for President Biden, but at least President Trump tried to unify us and make our country stronger, the opposite of which has occurred in the past three and a half years.
My financial portfolio suffered under felon convict trump's administration. But, under Biden I'm up $1mil. Of course Joe Biden is gonna get my vote. Money talks, ... Sorry for your losses.
My grandkids will watch this speech like I watched JFK's in the early 90's when I was 11 & it was thanksgiving time. Jfk was long gone by then but not his words.
