I’ve adapted this speech from a play (The Nameless) I wrote for a Creative Writing course last year following a modified version of the ‘concise writing’ challenge from a while back. Each group of words is exactly half the preceeding group.
We stand now against our own idolatrous brothers, armed for a conflict we can never comprehend. What is war but the exercise of claimed ‘superior ideals’? Are there truly adversaries of flesh? Is the enemy the man who, like I do now before you, laments the wrongdoings of an ancient regime, crafting words like swords to smite a resistance we have not known before? I may now preach what I condemn, but I implore you to heed my pleas as though they are your own voices. We stand now on the verge of a war deep enough to disassemble the integrity of free will. Presently shall I suffer and die alone in this street, yet if no group emotion commemorates me, I will not have perished in vain.
The great and thoughtless enemies of the platformed are the causeless rebels and the didactic multitudes – not any uncompromising physical injustice. Order borne from chaos: thus is the power of practical reason! No nationalism or love of a greater being is fair to control your fate, my fellows. Do not rely on history to condemn you to this common fault of our naïve society. Revolution is that one beautiful aspect of nature that only the human species possesses. We may be animal in our desires, but it is our combined ability to think, to defect and to retaliate that gives us the righteous strength to change the world. Indeed, the power belongs only to the enlightened to let the world abandon promises, only to take up sincere actions.
People, divided by colors and blindfolded by banners – with hatred towards pacifists and supposedly nobler cause, are the true enemies, the opponents of reason. They wear no uniform, but patchworks of hypocrisy! As a free man, you must carry whichever ensign you create higher than anything else, higher than the desires of others, so it may not distort your vision, or the visions of others. This is not the creed of a new patriot or of the reformed patriot, but the opposite – an anti-patriot! I am no commander of fate. I merely relinquish the curtains of the worldly stage; I do not force the interpretations. I am no hero – I fight for neither good nor bad, but for will. I may be remembered and disremembered, but will have been. (384)
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We stand now against our own idolatrous brothers, armed for a conflict we can never comprehend. What is war but the exercise of claimed ‘superior ideals’? Are there truly adversaries of flesh? Is the enemy the man who, like I do now before you, laments the wrongdoings of an ancient regime, crafting words like swords to smite a resistance we have not known before? Thegreat and thoughtless enemies of the platformed are the causeless rebels and the didactic multitudes – not an uncompromising physical injustice. Order borne from chaos: thus is the power of practical reason! No nationalism or love of a greater being is fair to control your fate, my fellows. Do not rely on history to condemn you to this common fault of our naïve society. People, divided by colors and blindfolded by banners – with hatred towards pacifists and supposedly nobler cause, are the true enemies, the opponents of reason. They wear no uniform, but patchworks of hypocrisy! As a free man, you must carry whichever ensign you create higher than anything else, higher than the desires of others, so it may not distort your vision, or the visions of others. (192)
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We stand now against our own idolatrous brothers, armed for a conflict we can never comprehend. What is war but the exercise of claimed ‘superior ideals’? Are there truly adversaries of flesh? The great and thoughtless enemies of the platformed are the causeless rebels and the didactic multitudes – not an uncompromising physical injustice. Order borne from chaos: thus is the power of practical reason! People, divided by colors and blindfolded by banners – with hatred towards pacifists and supposedly nobler cause, are the true enemies, the opponents of reason. They wear no uniform, but patchworks of hypocrisy! (96)
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We stand now against our own idolatrous brothers armed for a conflict we can never comprehend. The great and thoughtless enemies of the platformed are the causeless rebels and the didactic multitudes – People, divided by colors and blindfolded by banners – with hatred towards pacifists and supposedly nobler cause. (48)
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We stand now against our own idolatrous brothers, the great and thoughtless enemies of the platformed People, divided by colors and blindfolded by banners. (24)
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We stand now against the great and thoughtless People divided by colors. (12)
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We stand,the great People, divided. (6)
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We The People (3)
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