"The Fraud Police" - AFP's Commencement Speech to NEIA's Class of 2011 

I graduated college about 8 years ago when I heard this. These words stuck with me so much I had to come back and revisit. "I can't believe they're letting me do this" has become my mantra. haha

I have a tendency to revisit this video every time I get stuck in my head. It's encouraging.

Amanda Palmer, you are a wonderful, wonderful person.

Thank God everybody brought their babies to see the graduation. I am sure they will be inspired by this moment for the rest of their lives.

Approaching 40, wasted the last 10 years being crippled with anxiety, and even without that incapacitating me that feeling of inadequacy was preventing me from diving into graphic design. Amanda's words are some powerful stuff. Everyone should hear them as they start out. Imagine all the opportunties lost to that fear. In that room alone, a couple of suicides may have just been prevented, and the resolve steeled to create so much more than they otherwise would in them. Amazing.

She is absolutely brilliant. What fantastic delivery. You can see that she's reading, but what she has written is done so with such a natural rhythm and flow. Just absolutely wonderfully written, constructed, and delivered.

I watched this when it first came out, when I was a teenage singer-songwriter terrified that I was awful at this ridiculous thing that I was trying really hard to do with my life. 12 years later and plans change, but apparently I’m starting a PhD in Cambridge with a full scholarship in September and I’m feeling the Fraud Police at the door with a fucking battering ram. Any minute now I’m expecting some old English dude with a monocle to burst in and tell me that I’m actually the dumbest person ever to study mysticism and secularism in modernist literature, and that they’re giving my place to one of the 10,000 people who deserve it more. These days I’m no longer convinced I’m a bad songwriter, but I’m very glad I remembered this video tonight.

Thank you for uploading this. I needed it.

After reading Amanda's book, I was so moved by what she called the fraud police, that I told her that I related to it at her book signing and she wrote Fuck the Fraud Police in my book! She's amazing!

I was at this... one of the graduates. I will never forget about the Fraud Police! Thanks for giving all of us inspiring words to make the real world seem less scary!

I wish RU-vid had a "heart" or a "love" button. "Like" just doesn't cut it when it comes to Amanda Fucking Palmer.

I loved her speech. Absolutely loved it. It was funny and true. We're all just kids pretending to be adults, and adults are a make-believe game we made up... but it's a sweet truth. It's better to be kids deep down.

Loooooove! Thank you, Amanda Palmer.

thanks! This was something I needed to hear.

I'm currently in College and am the most confused I have ever been in my entire life. I don't Amanda Palmer can grasp how important her words are to me right now. I don't know why, but I feel that if I don't accomplish my entire life's goals right now, they'll just pass me by. But I'm just starting out and I realize now that I have so much time left to fuck up and be successful. Thank you, Amanda Palmer, Thank you.

I just graduated from high school and was dreading turning up to film school without having seen all the classics, all the indie arthouse shit you've never heard of, all the new equipment available.... Thank you, amanda.

Awesomeness!

Thank you, Amanda.

Everything is Amanda Palmer and Nothing Hurts.

I graduate at the end of next month. This is completely relevant to me, especially going into the "real world" for the first time with a BS in Film. Thank you, Amanda, for being a good role model and a beautiful person. AFP FOR PRESIDENT!

Such a wise lady. After the day I had today -complete with a visit from the Fraud Police -did I EVER need to hear this!

This, this is gold

wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful and pretty good too

This is the best advice ever for anyone anywhere. EVER.

Does anyone have a soul as beautiful as hers?

best damn speech ive heard since gaga spoke @ d.c pride. AFP is a brave fucking woman with a heart of gold and the mad genius that has somehow caused the art she's made to fall out of her head. im in a very difficult period of my life. im in a city i did not choose to live in, lost my job and have been broke for the past 3 months and i always tell my friends and family my "plans" to move forward but then the fucking fraud police comes knocking. so thank u amanda. this helped me feel less alone.

Awesome speech! I'd totally remember that, even if I wasn't a massive AFP fan.

I want her to speak at Tufts' graduation, when I graduate. My hero and inspiration

she is so human, it is beautiful.

I love you Amanda! I am an industrial engineer and data analyst. Much of what I do is very objective but when I first started I was terrified they'd figure out that I'm useless and don't know what I'm doing. I'm almost a year and a half into my job. I am getting more comfortable but that feeling never went away.

Awesome speech, Amanda. You are such an amazing woman. Hope you come back to Denver sometime. I'd love to meet you again.

That was really cool

everything she says resonates with me in the most intimate of ways.

i love her so much, i hope i can meet her someday :)

Thank you Amanda, that is a remarkable speech. And yes, I'm haunted by the fraud police almost on a daily basis :)

I just graduated college, and was hyper-aware of how the graduation ceremony was more for the college than it was for me. It was a creation of academia meant not to give us a message for the future or to celebrate our achievements over the past four years, but to celebrate the college and its age and its name and its reputation. And our graduation speaker reflected that, dropping catch phrases, facts and names that had nothing to do with us. This was not that speech. And I thank you for that.

I am a project manager for the development of digital education products. My brother is a musician. A few years ago we discovered that we are both afraid of the Fraud Police. Totally different professions...same fears of inadequacy.

Damn girl, that was fucking great. I agree and i applaud you.

Yeah... except when I realize no one in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, have any idea what they're doing it's kinda comforting in a way, makes them more accessible. When I realize no one in science or engineering has any idea what they're doing (including myself. 20000 volts? Yeah, turns out it's a bad idea to touch that...) it makes me nervous on bridges, in elevators, etc. I guess the important part is not to know what you're doing but to learn what went wrong when you "fail".

I'm a computer programmer, and I just got my first actual computer programming job, and the fraud police are banging at my door hardcore...

I am a 57 year old artist and teacher and I still think the Fraud police will find me. Amanda is right though, if you do it right and you have work hard..you can tell them where to go..

I wish RU-vid had a "heart" button. "Like" just isn't good enough.

3:55 Uh, can I please have my tuition back?

I think it's a tradition or an old charter or something...

I don't get it D: But I still laughed anyway. xD Because Amanda's laugh makes me laugh.

Holy damn i wonder if i could pretend to be as good in making speeches :OO

1 demon watched this and got scared.

Ugh, those babies. Jesus Christ.

Reddit brought me here. Thank you internet.

Why is there always a baby crying in videos of graduation speeches. In Neil's vid too.