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Waking Life · 2001 — Capítulo 6 de 13 · 2'05" · C1

Man Rants About Control, Explained: two sides of the same coin

A speech starts with the things you cannot beat and swells into a full attack on control: "We should not submit to dehumanization." The surface is politics; underneath is a demand to stop letting systems make people feel small.

Qué pasa

A speaker delivers a rapid-fire manifesto, moving from city hall, death and taxes to political parties, mass conditioning, and corporate power. The speech calls on listeners to reject dehumanization, resist control, and treat the next move as theirs.

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Atento a

fight city hallrat mazeI don't know about you, buttwo sides of the same coin

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Expresión de la escena

two sides of the same coin

two things that are different but connected

Right after dismissing both rival camps, the speaker uses the coin image to say they belong to one system.

The two rival apps are two sides of the same coin: both sell the same data.

También en esta escena

  • fight city hall

    try to beat bureaucracy

  • rat maze

    a trap built like a maze for rats

  • I don't know about you, but

    speaking for myself and inviting you to agree

  • take a bite out of it

    take a bite from something

  • Slavery, Incorporated

    Slavery, Inc.; slavery imagined as a corporation

Todo lo marcado en esta escena

31 notas en 35 frases

Expresión · B2death and taxes

death and taxes; unavoidable facts Literally death and taxes, used here as unavoidable facts.

You can't fight city hall, death and taxes.
Sonidocan't fight

Let the t in can't fade into fight rather than hitting both words hard.

You can't fight city hall, death and taxes.
Expresión · B1talk about politics or religion

discuss politics or religion

Don't talk about politics or religion.
Expresión · B2the equivalent of something

the same as; effectively

This is all the equivalent of enemy propaganda rolling across the picket line.
Expresión · B2enemy propaganda

wartime propaganda from the enemy

This is all the equivalent of enemy propaganda rolling across the picket line.
Expresión · B2picket line

a protest line outside a workplace Here propaganda is pictured as pushing across a protest line.

This is all the equivalent of enemy propaganda rolling across the picket line.
Expresión · B1it's time to stand up

time to take a public stand

And now in the 21st Century, it's time to stand up and realize...
Expresión · C1allow oneself to be crammed into something

let oneself be packed into

that we should not allow ourselves to be crammed into this rat maze.
Gramática · B2to be crammed into

passive infinitive: The passive infinitive makes we the ones who get crammed, not the ones doing the cramming.

that we should not allow ourselves to be crammed into this rat maze.
Expresión · C1submit to something

give in to being treated as less than human

We should not submit to dehumanization.
Expresión · B2be concerned with something

care about; be troubled by

I don't know about you, but I'm concerned with what's happening in this world.
Expresión · B2systems of control

systems that keep people controlled

I'm concerned with the systems of control,
Expresión · B2seek to do something

try to control

those that control my life and those that seek to control it even more!
Gramática · B2those that control my life

relative clause: Those points back to systems, and the that-clause tells you which systems are meant.

those that control my life and those that seek to control it even more!
Expresión · B1each and every one of us

every single one of us

It's up to each and every one of us to turn loose and just shovel the greed, the hatred, the envy and, yes, the insecurities...
Sonidoeach and every one

Keep and very light and run each and every together.

It's up to each and every one of us to turn loose and just shovel the greed, the hatred, the envy and, yes, the insecurities...
Gramática · B2make us feel pathetic

causative make: Make plus object plus adjective shows control acting on people's sense of self.

because that is the central mode of control-- make us feel pathetic, small...
Expresión · C1give up sovereignty

surrender self-rule

so we'll willingly give up our sovereignty, our liberty, our destiny.
Expresión · B2on a mass scale

on a very large scale

We have got to realize that we're being conditioned on a mass scale.
Expresión · C1corporate slave state

a state run like a corporation that enslaves people A coined image for state power run like a corporation.

Start challenging this corporate slave state!
Expresión · B1the rest of something

all the remaining

and classism and statism and all the rest of the modes of control!
Jerga · B1gonna

going to — Common in speech; use going to in formal writing.

It's gonna be the age of humankind...
Expresión · B1stand up for something

defend or support something

standing up for something pure and something right!
Jerga · B2bunch of garbage

a load of nonsense — Dismissive and informal; not for formal settings.

What a bunch of garbage-- liberal Democrat, conservative Republican.
Expresión · B2bid for something

competing to win control

Two management teams bidding for control!
Expresión · B2a buffet of something

a wide spread of lies Literally a buffet, used here for a spread of lies.

The truth is out there in front of you, but they lay out this buffet of lies!
Jerga · B1sick of it

fed up with it — Casual complaint; avoid in formal settings.

I'm sick of it, and I'm not gonna take a bite out of it! Do you got me?
Jerga · B1Do you got me?

do you understand me? — Colloquial and nonstandard; keep it out of formal writing.

I'm sick of it, and I'm not gonna take a bite out of it! Do you got me?
Sonidogonna get fired

Run gonna quickly into get fired and stress fired.

We're gonna get fired up about the real things, the things that matter: creativity and the dynamic human spirit that refuses to submit!
Jerga · B2fired up

energized and excited — Good for pep talks; use motivated in formal reports.

We're gonna get fired up about the real things, the things that matter: creativity and the dynamic human spirit that refuses to submit!
Expresión · B2the ball is in someone's court

it is your turn to act

At the very end, the speaker stops and hands the next move back to the crowd.

Well, that's it! That's all I got to say! It's in your court.

Man Rants About Control, explicado

What's really going on

The speech keeps insisting that the real conflict is not between left and right but between people and systems that want to manage them. "Two sides of the same coin" turns electoral rivalry into two management teams bidding for the same control, while "We should not submit to dehumanization" raises the stakes from policy to personhood. The language is deliberately total: every institution becomes a mode of control, and every listener is told that resistance is not futile. What makes it persuasive is the escalation—small phrases about city hall open into a vision of mass conditioning—and what makes it uneasy is that it leaves almost no room for doubt.

Theme

PowerThe speech frames politics as a contest between human freedom and systems that condition people on a mass scale.

Escucha con atención

  • can't fight — Let the t in can't fade into fight rather than hitting both words hard.
  • each and every one — Keep and very light and run each and every together.
  • gonna get fired — Run gonna quickly into get fired and stress fired.
You can't fight city hall, death and taxes.

It names three things people say you cannot beat: city government, death, and taxes, setting up the speech's refusal to accept limits.

We should not submit to dehumanization.

The speech treats being made to feel small and manageable as a condition people must refuse.

I'm sick of it, and I'm not gonna take a bite out of it! Do you got me?

The speaker rejects the offered lies outright and demands that the audience hear the refusal.

It's all there to control you. Two sides of the same coin.

Electoral rivals are presented as one mechanism: different faces, the same purpose of control.

Resistance is not futile. We're gonna win this thing.

A direct reversal of hopelessness: the speech claims that opposition can succeed.

Preguntas sobre esta escena

Why does the speech call Democrats and Republicans "two sides of the same coin"?

It says both exist "to control you" and calls them "two management teams bidding for control!" — the prize being "the C.E.O. job of Slavery, Incorporated."

What does the speech say is the "central mode of control"?

It says control works by making people feel "pathetic, small" so they will "willingly give up" their sovereignty, liberty, and destiny.

What does the speech want the listener to do after it ends?

It ends with "It's in your court," handing the next move to the listener; earlier it tells them to "Start challenging this corporate slave state!" and "stand up for something pure and something right!".

Is the speech saying resistance is hopeless?

No. It says "Resistance is not futile" and promises "We're gonna win this thing," even after describing systems of control.

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