So, last night I was watching Battlestar Galatica, which is admittedly a rather engrossing show. And anyhow, not to ruin it too much, one of the characters becomes a union leader on a desperate space colony, and he says this speech, almost word for word. The original speech, by Mario Savio was given in Berkley in 1964 as part of a student action to get political activity un-banned on campus. Anyhow, I’ve always liked this speech quite a bit, although I think the fervor and quality of the words are more interesting than Mario or his campaign. I sampled this heavily in the song Upon The Gears by Attack Attack Attack. So I started giggling and had to call my friend. I wonder how many people who saw that episode got the reference?

Embedding is disabled, but here’s a youtube clip of both speeches.