Full Speech: Ursula K. Le Guin’s Passionate Defense of Art over Profits

[@dillybar1992]

This her words on the seemingly inescapable nature of capitalism should be playing on repeat on every medium available. A reminder to people that WE are the instruments of change. She was such a phenomenal author, human, and true patron of the arts.

[@lexismore]

Champion of the arts

[@barsabe]

We are not instruments, we are actors.

[@dillybar1992]

@@barsabe not if our intentions are genuine. That’s not an act. That’s intent.

[@barsabe]

@@dillybar1992 that's same as calling literature a lie. actors don't lie. someone can put up an act, but that's not the same. it's all semantics essentially, but literature is all about words, so here we are.

[@dillybar1992]

@@barsabe I never said actors were liars. In fact, actors and instruments are quite similar. They play parts in larger groups but can also convey ideas on their own.

[@pamelanred5053]

Such a wise and insightful person. We need more artists like Ursula K Le Guin.

[@Sol-0T-hn5ro]

This woman is a universal treasure, uncompromising and a pure gem.

[@randellcrouch]

God, she is just the best. Hero.

[@kimhorton6109]

WI started reading with comics like GI Joe and Superman. I began reading books at eleven with Edgar Rice Burroughs. Science fiction was a big deal with Burroughs so space fiction, Heineken, Asimov were not far behind. Mrs Le Guinn was like a light going on. I try to read one of her books every year. Words comfort and inform. She was so above more than so many SF authors it raised me up when the church failed. Being a wordsmith is so important to all of us. Grace and knowledge are essential.

[@Bargen]

Wonderful speech by this generous genius, wonderfully introduced by Mr. Gaiman. Thanks Ursula for giving us all those incredible worlds.

[@gabrielapereira5311]

10:25 any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often, in our art, the art of words

[@MS-qc3rh]

‘Need writers that know the difference between producing a commodity and practicing an art.’ This can be said for every erstwhile profession that has been assimilated into the corrupt financial machine. Its power seems inescapable…

[@SH-th4wy]

""We will need writers who can remember freedom." This is as frightening as it is true.

[@nataliewilliams9741]

She was a legend in her own time and she still is.

[@8bitmel0dee]

I keep coming back to this... things are being revealed... people are starting to really hear her now.

[@TatianaBoshenka]

She kicks so much ass!

[@jochanaan58]

A flawless speech! Every word hits us right in our dark hearts where we dream of better worlds. I pray her prophecy comes true!

[@drcwright]

Legend.

[@TheTrueReiniat]

she was right, and her worst dreams became true.

[@sleepingdogpro]

She’s also right about the resistance. Never forget that.

[@VioCHEVALIER]

the GOAT

[@conradmaclean4073]

Her name is actually french for "Ursula K. The Guin"

[@clairedohhe1789]

This comment made me wheeze 😂

[@CastleHassall]

this is happening with songwriters too.. we get told to write "happy" songs to "appeal to" people.. and we get told we "need" to do "better" videos and to make our introductions to songs EXTREMELY short and get straight to the hook.. to try to deal with the fact most viewers of videos have extremely short attention spans and want the whole emotion of the song to be put across in less than 5 seconds i think if Pink Floyd had released "Wish You Were Here" in this day and age they might have struggled to get any views.. the opening synth pad builds up for a FEW MINUTES before the guitar even starts playing.. most people would not have listened past the first few seconds due to lack of attention span also the apps like KZbin and Spotify take a HUGE proportion of the income from the advertising revenue they get FROM views of the videos WE create then we get told we should be grateful for the chance to sell our deepest feelings and creations for nothing.. in the hope that one day we might get a "like" or a "subscriber" to cheer up our day it used to be that in advertising we could charge 30 dollars for every 1000 people an advert would reach.. but now the apps are taking ALL the reward and IF we are lucky they throw us crumbs (KZbin don't even have the decency to show the channel ALL view counts of a video, they only tell the creator how many registered users of KZbin the video was viewed by so we could be getting hundreds of thousands of views (that KZbin get advertising revenue from) then the channel gets told they got 60 views and SO MANY people tell creators that we "should" not want money for our creations.. but for many of us it IS OUR JOB.. and people consume our work and OTHERS take the reward from the advertising revenue gained from OUR videos we create i write songs with REAL heart to them ("Blaze") but it's so hard to keep my spirits up on many days.. when i play live in real life tough guys have cried, but on KZbin i can't find my tribe (or they can't find me) and most days i wonder why i even keep trying to post things when i see "zero" views as i can't hook up with people who might like what I'm doing.. but i want my songs about life to be remembered when I'm gone so that people know that FEELING EMOTION AND HAVING HEART is a thing, when the AI, and the lust for views, dictates life (and most creative acts) in the near future i see a scantily clad woman get a hundred thousand views for her first video.. then i post videos OF SONGS WITH REAL HEART TO THEM and i get 6 views on some of them it's so hard.. i thought that speaking truth from my heart about the angst of life meant something.. but it's so hard to find ways to connect with people who love songs with heart and truth about the life condition it is getting REALLY difficult for ugly old life beaten dudes like me who write with REAL HEART to be found by our tribe.. and to find people who actually love and want FEELINGS and EMOTION and TRUTH to be important in what we do.. but i keep on posting, so there's a record in this universe that there was a human here once called Rolland who felt and cared and wished things could be good thanks so much for your speech

[@BeingHealing]

There are some Amazon execs in this audience with steam coming out of their ears...

[@tessierashpoolmg7776]

Great zinger for J.K. Rowling...😉🤣🤣🤣

[@lolonoir3554]

I ooped at that

[@TexanWineAunt]

Fucking legend, omg.

[@FrancescoCecchetti]

Capitalism in this speech reminds me of the mafia in a sentence by magistrate Giovanni Falcone: "Mafia is a human phenomenon and like all human phenomena it has a beginning, its evolution and will therefore also have an end".

[@rebeccallaroche9731]

Why aren't there any Closed Captions for this video?

[@myceliumman7554]

Remember freedom. Against all the forces arrayed against it, including the virtual mobs.

[@skipdee]

It's hard to watch Neil Gaiman put on his act in front of her; sickening, really. Still, his words are solid, as they usually were.

[@whisperspinner7445]

Why is it when I want to hear Ursula speak I keep finding videos where everyone talks instead of her. Fast forward to six minutes in if you want to hear her actually speak.

[@BMB57]

Neil Gaiman gave her an incredible intro here. Not worth skipping

[@whisperspinner7445]

Some viewers like me are already familiar with Ursula's amazing body of work and we don't need six minutes of an eleven minute video as intro.

[@ramonanaya6236]

Is that Neil Gaiman???? ❤

[@Bargen]

Yes

[@tessierashpoolmg7776]

I hope he didn't book that godawful band!...🤮

[@esa9848]

goat

[@DanielLopez-zt4ig]

Her son should watch this video.

[@gh0stb1rd]

what’s up with her son?

[@awolpeace1781]

Realists are officially a dead in the water

[@sethlogee]

Strange PBS posts this since PBS chooses capitalism over art 🤷🏻

[@JocinaKujna]

Thanks 🌴🍉 jocina Kujna 🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉

[@god0]

What dreadful music between Neil Gaiman and Ursula K Gun. It rather spoiled the moment.

[@Frisbieinstein]

Bambi vs. Godzilla

[@SD-de4do]

Disheartening awareness, comments, views.

[@davidpo5517]

That made no sense to anyone whose not an idealist.

[@NunTheWiser]

it makes complete sense, you simply need to tear down the curtain of neo-liberalism that is clouding your view of everything

[@pillmuncher67]

You're absolutely right! It really makes no sense to think another system could be possible, I mean, humanity has been around for what? Three hundred thousand years? That's practically nothing compared to the three hundred or so years that capitalism has existed.

[@BladedEdge]

I think op should try reading some more books, their imagination is pretty deficient.

[@ravenhill_the_crusader_1968]

Le Guin's writings are drenched in magic and paganism. To say that she was a witch and opposed to Christian Truth would be factual.

[@BladedEdge]

lol where do you psychos even come from

[@gcloudsky3978]

And this is why half of europe died in the black plague. Idiots, the lot of them. To be called a witch by a fanatic is a compliment of the highest calibre. Any revolutionary thinkers, scientists, dreamers, artists and writers will be deemed a witch, a pagan, demonic. Which says quite a bit about religion as a whole but that's another can of worms. The christian truth is just that, a christian truth. It is not a universal one, however much some christians would like it to be. And it could very well be true that her books stand in opposition to your truth but not mine, nor many others.

[@bagpiper117]

hell yeah

[@grahamykins]

thank god for women like her!

[@xgx899]

Her books are more expensive than other work of SF. What a hypocrite: uses capitalism and then puts it down. But her writing is excellent.

[@pillmuncher67]

It's not the authors who set the price, it's the publishers. And even if she did - she lived capitalism and was forced to play the capitalist game, as we all do. The alternative is starving t death.

[@BladedEdge]

Where do idiots like you even come from?

[@gcloudsky3978]

There's piracy. There are libraries. There's the internet. I'm a huge fan of her books and I read all of them for free.

[@allisonmelton1921]

As another commenter said, her publishers price her books. Could she have used the influence she had towards the end of her career to pressure the prices down? I don't know nearly enough about the publishing industry to answer to say for sure, but I doubt it. Even if she could have, she'd been dead for ~6 six years when you made your comment. The prices you see now have nothing to do with her. Some of her books are even being sold now as new editions that came out after her death. I agree her writing is excellent!

[@grahamykins]

what a bad take