ShmoopTube

00:00

Thank you We sneak in and here's your shmoop douceur

00:05

brought to you by the call to service although these

00:08

days it's usually a text service but all right go

00:13

army Check out this passage Twenty minutes Sovereign states united

00:17

nations member of our power and help on the animation

00:21

work problems and i left a bit ocean gaps on

00:25

balance our operation americans club and we forward against the

00:29

enemy from a long history the world thinking all right

00:33

thank you j f k Well the stance that president

00:36

kennedy takes in the last two paragraphs can best be

00:39

described as what And hear the pencil answer Good already

00:46

Well so here we're looking up pinned down the stance

00:48

kennedy is taking as he wraps up his inaugural address

00:52

and chances are we're not talking about his literal stance

00:54

so no need to get out take measure and see

00:56

how far apart his feet are Although actually his speech

00:59

might have been more powerful if he'd assumed a sumo

01:01

squat before starting Okay back to business This address closes

01:07

with one of the most famous lines in u s

01:10

history And so my fellow americans ask not what your

01:14

country can do for you Ask what you can do

01:18

for your country were not very good at jfk boys

01:21

there and the lesser known i fellow citizens of the

01:24

world asked not what america will do for you but

01:27

what together we can do for the freedom of man

01:31

It must be better no So how would you describe

01:35

the new presence He delivers these closing sentences when you

01:38

call him a an optimist in the face of national

01:42

fear Well he's definitely an optimist sure but this part

01:45

of the passage in particular isn't exactly chock full of

01:48

him spouting flowery phrases that called the mind Unicorns and

01:51

rainbows more of a call the action than a statement

01:54

of his optimism so we can lose option a see

01:58

a defeated leaders edie closure kennedy was anything but defeated

02:03

You don't get your face on the half dollar by

02:05

wintering into a microphone and waving the white flag and

02:08

your first major televise speaking engagement i'll say so long

02:12

option c what about d a critic reprimanding the country's

02:16

enemies That fearmongering didn't really come into vogue until l

02:20

the early two thousand back then people were more interested

02:23

in being lifted up and inspired and kennedy was just

02:27

the guy who could deliver So no he wasn't calling

02:29

out our enemies and sending them to their respective rooms

02:32

to think about what they did well next dia's well

02:35

the answer is beaten Kennedy was a zealous advocate for

02:38

sacrifice and service Yeah so potentially asking someone to lay

02:43

down his or her life for their country is an

02:45

awfully big favor to ask but he was reminding everyone

02:48

how great the greater good really wass number camelot all

02:52

that he also effectively laid a big old guilt trip

02:55

on everyone at the same time many of us are

02:58

naturally takers But his closing remarks made us reexamine our

03:02

priorities If we really wanted to continue to enjoy the

03:05

freedoms to which we've grown accustomed what price Where we

03:08

willing to pay for it Well that line alone was

03:11

probably responsible for getting thousands of butts off couches and

03:15

into military fatigues and the peace corps Bunch of other

03:18

good stuff Although well there might have been a slight

03:21

detour through the kitchen on the way out the door 00:03:24.833 --> [endTime] Don't Oh

Full Transcript