“They are More Than Just Words” They’re Perspectives. The Speech about the power of words from V from Vendetta.

Aan Moore, the author of the comic book novel V for Vendetta hated the remake of his book into a movie. I think it turned out excellent. A bit like Dune which was considered unfilmable,it can work if you strategically choose what parts of the book to focus on to make dense book work.

In the movie, a future London has become a fascist totlatian regime, with citizen, monitored, media controlled and people who speak out, considered defective or disobey captured, rounded up in blag bags to be never seen again. This is all result of as a terror attacked faked by the now party in power used to scare the public in giving it consolidate power.

The main character in the movie is V, a man whose face is hidden in a Guy Fawkes mask. Taking on a deadly vigilante role, he takes on totatiram government. A campaign that starts by temporarily taking over the government controlled broadcasting network to send a message to the public. A message with some posts that you might find familiar….

Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of
you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the
tranquillity of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of
commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually associated with
someone’s death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I
thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered,
by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are of
course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted
into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the
truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words
offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the
truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there? Cruelty and
injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to
think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing
your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well
certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable,
but again truth be told, if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I
know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn’t be? War, terror, disease. There
were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your
common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high
chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he
demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that
silence. Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to remind this country of what it has forgotten.
More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November
forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom
are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you’ve seen nothing, if the crimes of this
government remain unknown to you then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November
to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I
seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of
Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be
forgot.

V is right. Words to have power. Which is why many often seek to control or suppress them. When we are able to control words, we are able to control ideas. And governments are able to control words they can also control public consensus and will.