The FBI reports concerning Charlie Chaplin were recently released.
What are your thoughts about the United States exiling Charlie?
If you don't mind, please include your country of residence.
I think this fact critical to understanding democracy and preservation of democracy in America. If we don't understand history and see our flaws, how can we avoid the same mistakes in the future.
Charlie was a wonderful artist. He made us smile and he was the author of one of my favorite songs "Smile". Our founding fathers, I feel, would have looked to his life as a reason for their being and would have highlighted his life and his exile.
I love freedom and love history. Combining these two items I feel is fundamental to being a citizen of the United States and of the world. I hope the world over sees his life as a testament not just to his craft but also to a free world.
Democracy is a precious gift that cannot be taken for granted.
Interesting. But I have to say I've never really researched Charlie Chaplin or his life nor this issue.
But up front I do have a question and a response to your statement about being a citizen of the United States and of the world. And I take exception to the latter part. We may all be residents of the world, but our citizenship should be in one Nation. Unless there's reason for dual citizenship for work-related travel or other necessary reasons.
Which, of course, leads me to wonder if Chaplin's exile was because he wasn't willing to make that patriotic claim to U.S. citizenship.
And....your hub references the McCarthy hearings. Personally, and as a citizen of the United States, I think the U.S.A. should've listened to McCarthy. If it had, maybe we wouldn't have a red carpet opening up now to Communists who would like nothing better than to BECOME our leaders. ...and actually, some of them HAVE succeeded in infiltrating.
I'll have to research more before I can contribute more.
Yeh, do some research ... and while you are at it try to find out why there is no real representation of working people, social democrats, socialists, marxists and communists in the US? An why your tax dollars go to support a zionist Israel which uses that same money to pay for the jewish lobby ... research it well and do a hub on the topic ...
Agreed, Charlie Chaplin was a wonderfull artist and a fascinating man also, the fact that he was discriminated against based on his beliefs is distastefull in the extreme.
Brenda went on about Patriotism for a while then proceeded to demonstrate that she is the opposite of everything America stands for, apparently she is patriotic but quite happy to wipe herself with the constitution of the United States if it means denying some commies their right to freedom of speech and freedom of thought, ignorance and hypocrisy like that led to the discrimination we are talking about.
Oh and I live in the US
This is really interesting because today in the UK there was a news report about Chaplin. Apparently, because of the accusations that he was a communist sympathiser, M15 were forced to investigate. Apparently, they could find no such evidence that he was linked to the communist party (McCarthy, eh?) and, according to M15's historical evidence, he may not have been born in London. However, they are unsure because at that time in working class England it was not uncommon for people not to register a birth, because they poor were trying to evade the bayliffs. it appears that nothing much changes for the working classes.
I'm form the UK.
McCarthy was quite capable of finding "proof" your dog was a soviet spy if we wanted to the man was a power hungry autocrat who made himself famous by opressing the greatest minds of his time, "Good night and good luck" is a great true story film on the period I recommend it to those interested.
I'm interested. From what I've read about McCarthy, admittedly I'm no expert, he was insane. Everyone's a commie if they disagree with the government. Oh, wait, that pretty much sounds like America, today.
HAHA you might be right Hollie, but yes he was mad.
As mad as any government who is insecure enough to stalk those who oppose them. Jeez, our world is so sad, so frightening.
You're not wrong, especially given most of these people didn't even oppose them they were barely even suspected of it.
Just oppressed. I remember Tony Benn, a great British politician, and for whom I have a great deal of respect, talking about a young men who he met. The young man told him that he had no interest in politics, that he just wanted things to be a bit fairer. Tony Benn replied. "you may not be interested in politics, but you should be, or politics will take an interest in you."
How apt?
I like that actually I'm adding it to my list of favorite qoutes (yup its an actual list)
I was paraphrasing, I will however, find you the original quote. I will also dig up a lot more information about Tony Benn, Maybe you are already familiar with him. If not, I feel that you and he will get along just fine.
As promised.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MUI2A3AFIc
Hey, you asked for opinions.
Then when you get opinions, you proceed to insult the poster whose opinion is opposite of yours. Actually, not even necessarily opposite. I simply made informed statements about the view of being a "world citizen" and what it means to be a U.S. citizen, not any direct opposition to Charlie Chaplin himself, since I haven't researched him personally.
So much for free speech without personal attacks, something that I have the right to. And yeah you're darn skippy right if you think I was trying to "deny some Commies". That's what America should do, in America. If they wanna be "commies" in their own Country, then let 'em have at it.
And if you want to pay homage (and maybe even taxes; LOL) to "the world", including the Communist world, go ahead. I'm happy and responsible only for the United States citizenship to which I adhere.
I didn't talk about world citizenship at all what I said is you are not a patriot in any way since you feel it appropriate to violate the most sacrosant tenets of the American way of life and of Americas constitution just because you dont agree with someone, so free speech as long as you agree with them huh? What a joke.
Well, sure you DID talk about "world citizenship". Didn't you even read your own post?
Good grief. What do you do, follow those other people who try to be dual citizens so they can pit other Nations against America or what? You make no sense; you say one thing and then say you didn't even say it.
By the way, I have better things to do with the Constitution than to "wipe" myself with it, and I take huge exception to your posting that nastiness in such a manner. So please refrain from insulting me again.
Please copy paste for me the section where I mention world citizenship?! Its not there. What I did say is you are no kind of patriot and obviously think nothing of the constitution since you are happy to see the first ammendment violated (as well as a few others).
Good grief, read your own original post!
And stop saying I'm not a patriot, but yet upholding the "rights" of someone who wasn't even an American citizen! Sheesh! Your accusations sound worse than the people who persecuted Charlie Chaplin!
READ your own post and stop asking me to copy/paste the stuff.
Maybe if you'd like to retract your statement about how it's so laudable to be a "citizen...of the WORLD", we won't continue to argue about it, and you can go blithely about your business of claiming American citizenship!
*tears out hair* its not there... its just not, this is mad, and yes Brenda everyone even non citizens (he was a legal resident) are protected under the constitution.
I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt, my posts are the ones with the name Josak on them, none of them mention international citizenship except to say that I havn't commented on it.
But he wasn't a commie, Brenda. That's what M15 uncovered, just from a poor family that was perhaps evading bayliffs.
From what I gather, neither did he bother to become a U.S. citizen, even though he lived here for a long time. Is that not correct? Maybe googling doesn't bring up the facts, or what?
I obtained the information we're discussing from the BBC, the TV. Ok, I accept they're not the most reliable source, but who is? It was shown today on the BBC news, from papers taken from the archives of M15. They couldn't find evidence that he had any commie associations, but they did uncover that his place of birth was in dispute. Also, however, that was not uncommon for the era due to debts and baylifs.
Thats an interesting one, I have read a few papers by him in which he does seem to lean left quite heavily, as for having communist party associations I wouldn't be at all surprised if he didn't.
Often those who oppose "authority" are wrongly labelled, or not, as the case may be.
Although the birth of Democracy was in Grace but the United States was one of the pioneer in the implementation of Democracy in the United States, a country of equality and fraternity. Charlie was a wonderful artist. He is undoubtedly a citizen of the World. If his desire is to be a citizen of United States, the American democratic people can not outright reject his desire and go against the preambles of American Constitution, or against fraternity.
As a citizen of the world, I am against any infringement on our liberties. To think that we are living in a democracy and this same democracy spies on us like any dictatorship, shall we call it a dictatorship?
Exiling people is generally a surefire way to recognize tyranny.
@ John Holden. Tony Benn and John Smith, we were cheated.
Thank you all for your input. Your opinion counts especially because I believe the option of free speech is fundamental to democracy.
I, perhaps should be clear, I love the United States because it offers freedom. My allegiance is to the United States. I must question when we squelch free speech. Was Chaplin's error in highlighting society's ills? Should free speech allow him to question and make fun at our ills?
I see Chaplin not in the light of "a communist" but as a fighter for diversity of opinion.
I feel our soldiers are fighting for our freedom and we, too, should be supporting all freedoms - even diversity of opinion - actually especially diversity of opinion. If Chaplin was exiled for "an opinion", are we as Americans limiting our viewpoints? If Chaplin was exiled for his opinion, are we turning to tyranny? Isn't tyranny and lack of freedom of opinion and diversity what our forefathers actually fought for?
In short, I feel we need to stand up for free speech and fight for what we think we right - diversity of opinions. Limiting the scope of movies, limiting books, limiting opinions will lead to shackles for our voice of opinion.
I cherish each opinion - even those I don't agree with. I have a grandson in the Navy, my late husband served in the Navy, my Father in the Navy, I can most certainly fight for freedom with my opinion that "diversity of opinion" must be allowed in the United States. Chaplin's exile was a disgrace to the freedoms our forefathers fought for. Chaplin must be remember for his innovative talents and for his diversity of opinion - whatever, you think of that opinion, the opinion should be heard - the people have have a right to hear and a right to vote. How can we note intelligently, if we can hear all the opinions?
Your opinion counts, please share...
by Ken Kline 13 years ago
Celine OUTDID every other version of Charlie Chaplin's song Smile at the Oscars - wasn't that stunning? Can I download this version?
by ga anderson 9 years ago
The controversy over birthright citizenship, (aka `Anchor babies`), seems to one of interpretation.Specifically, the 2nd hurdle to citizenship the 14th Amendment included; that the mother must be; "...subject to the jurisdiction of the United States." It appears that there are two...
by Scott Belford 11 years ago
Do Conservatives believe in a United States or a united States of America?The Declaration of Independance refers to the united States while the Constitution uses the phrase United States, with a capital 'U'. The Ariticles of Confederation and the Continental Congress epitomize a united States...
by Prophecy Teacher 16 years ago
An alarming and nagging question has been dogging the Obama campaign for months. That is whether or not he was actually born a "natural born " American citizen as the Constitution requires.Section 1 of Article II of the Constitution contains the clause:“ No Person except a natural born...
by Hokey 10 years ago
One of the many attacks on our country from the Religious Right is the claim that our country is a Christian Nation...not just that the majority of people are Christians, but that the country itself was founded by Christians, for Christians. However, a little research into American history will...
by leeberttea 14 years ago
Executive order 12425 was signed by Obama back in December. It essentially gives Interpol freedom to act as they deem necessary in the USA without regard to restraints of the constitution or US law. Unfortunately this is being used to attack and harass dissidents from Iran living in the USA.Why...
Copyright © 2024 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2024 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |