afternoon so having done most of my
academic studies on languages
become interested in a new topic the
first thing I do is to look into the
meaning or the Col word that is related
to that subject and the subject today is
impossibilities
what does impossible mean and before
delving into what it personally means to
me what does it literally mean the word
impossible comes from the Latin word
passe meaning to be able to do something
and it’s also related to the word potent
meaning powerful incidentally also
meaning able to reach an orgasm but
sadly this is not what we’re going to
talk about today moving on from the
literal meaning of the word and because
of the words relation to power when we
say that something is impossible we
imply that one likes to power to achieve
it or realize it yet words only have
meaning can only be and can only be
valuable as far as the value that we
choose to confer unto them the same goes
for the word impossible the ultimate
point is not about the about the literal
realizability of an action we only
perceive acts situations or events as
either unrealizable and therefore
impossible yet it only takes one to show
the world that they’re not history for
examples filled with amazing examples of
people who have done the impossible can
you imagine the fear that the tank man
felt when he stood up in front of the
People’s Liberation Army tanks at
Tiananmen Square in 1989 this ordinary
figure shopping bags in his hands became
a symbol of peaceful resistance all over
the world it is the example that you can
achieve what so many people think is
impossible to this day we have no idea
what happened to he might have been let
off by the soldiers in an act of mercy
or he might have been executed then and
there but somehow this is not even
important because this is the image of a
man who was fed up with the mindless
persecution and violence that was going
on and decided to stand up and stand up
literally in front of Tanks but also
against the morally bankrupt idea he
showed what can be done just by a single
seam
unimportant individual he did the
impossible one could also cite the
example of Harriet Tubman who lived at a
time when people could own other people
in the United States Harriet Tubman was
a slave but not only that she was a she
was a female slave at a time when even
white American women did not enjoy the
same rights as their male counterparts
and to say the least were second-class
citizens Harriet Tubman amazingly
managed to escape from her enslavers
which was a massive achievement on its
own but she did not just stop there she
went back into the slave states 13 times
overall and rescued 70 slave families
later on in her life she also became an
active supporter of women’s suffrage
movement the single woman did so much
for the civil rights movement that was
to come years later she said I can’t die
but once and thought that she had to do
something that she had to resist I would
also like to talk about V told P let’s
key in honor of us doing this TEDx talk
here in Warsaw Poland he was prisoner
for eight five nine in the a schvitz
concentration camp but he hadn’t gone
there by force he volunteered to go
there he was one of the founders of the
secret polish army when Nazi Germany
invaded Poland in November 1939 and when
the secret army first became aware of
the Auschwitz concentration camp he
decided that if you could get himself
arrested then it’d probably be sent to
Auschwitz and once there he could gather
intelligence for the Allies as well as
organize and inmate resistance which is
exactly what he did
despite stomach problems typhus
extremely heavy labor and cruelty at the
hands of the Nazi guards he managed to
organize an inmate resistance and
compiled the first comprehensive report
on the Holocaust for the Allies
furthermore after he escaped from
Auschwitz he participated in the 1944
rising after that after the communist
takeover of the country of Poland
he remains loyal to the Polish
government-in-exile and gathered
intelligence for them in Poland against
the oppressive communist rule
unfortunately he was arrested and after
torture and a show trial he was executed
in 1948 after the announcement of his
death sentence he said I’ve been trying
to live my life so that in the hour of
my death I would rather feel joy than
fear now he was simply one of the most
important heroes of the Second World War
volunteering to go to the art whit’s
concentration camp was a deed so
honorable so respectable so heroic that
would have been enough for him for a
lifetime he would still be remembered
and through at the end of the human
history just for doing that but he did
so much more and I think this says so
much about our perception of what
possible is and what impossible is these
amazing people I have cited and their
stories show us what can be done by
perseverance and they make us think
about how we should lead our own lives
and to take away from all this is that
impossible is in fact only a perception
if you’re frustrated disappointed
abandoned if you’re left your own
devices if you’re persecuted for your
briefs or ideals if your life is under
threat by thugs who have lost their
moral compass
if bigots or whatever nature are
preventing you from living the life that
you like to live then you feel things
are impossible yet I’ll say it again it
only takes one to show the world that
impossible can’t be made possible now
turning away from history and at the
risk of sounding pompous or in implying
that I could be considered in the same
category as these people I’d like to
talk about myself
I was born in 1988 started at age 1 and
never shut up after that as against even
in this photo I’m talking and I also
sort of tried to squeeze the photos to
make myself look thinner but sadly that
doesn’t seem to work
I lied about myself because people my
friends
my friends here at the College of Europe
in Netherlands seem to think that I am
also impossible let me tell you why
first of all I consider myself to be a
democratic socialists although I agree
that the term needs a bit of clarifying
now there are a lot of Democratic
socialists in the world or people who in
some way or another vibrate socialism so
there’s no biggie
I’m also gay I don’t want to put two
naked guys walking on a beach with their
dog or something like that or two naked
guys kissing so this is a generic gain
of image that I found from Google now
being gay puts me in anywhere from five
to ten percent of the world population
that is certainly a minority
I’m also an atheist which means that I
share this attribute with anywhere from
3 to 13 percent of our fellow primates
so that there’s definitely a minority as
well now the combination of the three
outfits or personal traits or qualities
certainly does not make me an oddity or
impossibility in itself but the reason
why people seem to think I am an
impossible combination of things is
because I also come from Turkey and
having all these traits and being all
these things I’m inherently happy about
it at the moment turkeys run by a very
conservative government a country in
which the majority of the population is
traditionally homophobic a country that
has a very strong overwhelmingly Muslim
population let’s peep why people always
ask me the questions for example isn’t
it difficult to be gay in Turkey can you
talk freely about atheism in Turkey well
turkeys certainly not the dream country
for a gay Democratic Socialist atheists
it’s not it’s not the paradise obviously
but let me tell you this I am happy I
choose to be so I’m not only happy
because I now away from my country
because I’m never really away from it
anyway in my mind I constantly followed
the news I constantly talk to my friends
about what is going on in the country I
am happy because I love my country and I
believe that there are good people in my
country who have big hearts and big
minds whatever the current conditions
may be I know that there are people in
my country who
exercise bigotry against any kind of
minority and would stand up with them to
defend their rights whatever those
rights may be whatever those rights may
be I know there are people in my country
who supported the right to university
education of veiled women they even some
some of them atheists like me they
supported the right to university
education of veiled women to the point
that they were shunned paid by their own
peers I know that there are people in my
country who stood up with me against the
imminent threats of being beaten up by
police officers during the gezi protests
because they believed in raising their
voice rather than keeping silent I know
there are people in my country who will
face prison to say what they think
because they believe in the sacrifice of
burning themselves so that there might
be light to eliminate others yet many of
my friends in Turkey when I talk to them
they say it is getting worse that there
is so much pressure that they can’t deal
with it they’re using the same word that
we’re discussing here today as a matter
of fact they’re saying it is becoming
impossible to live there I understand
and I sympathize but to me they are
still fundamentally wrong things are
going badly in Turkey and I’m the first
to admit it
I also think that once criticism a once
country government history or culture
doesn’t mean that one is against it
doesn’t mean that one doesn’t like it it
just means simply that one wants to make
make it better the first step in in
solving any problem is to recognize that
there is a problem
but the solution I think is not to
escape the solution is not to leave
behind the solution is to resist if
history has told us one thing that is
the fact that anything can be changed by
resistance anything can be changed by
resisting change is not impossible it
may be tough you may be abandoned you
may be ostracized you may be put in
prison you may be beaten up but it is
possible it is realizable human dignity
that grant word requires one to be
strong and never to yield never to give
up
never to give in one should have the
right and one has responsibility I think
to resist to any kind of bigotry either
performed by a government or others
either performed against you your
friends or others and that last point I
think is very important it is important
to defend other people’s rights as they
are yours like they are yours
a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf for
example and I don’t have much in common
we wouldn’t even see eye-to-eye on a
political level or on probably any level
but what does it make me if I do not
stand up for our rights as well how can
I look myself in the mirror and how can
I have dignity and integrity integrity
if I don’t stand up for and support her
rights – this is what human dignity and
integrity requires to be able to look
yourself in the mirror without shame
without fear and say that you’re doing
the right thing to know in your heart
that you’re not compromising your ideals
nobody should have the right to tell you
how to lead your life as long as you’re
not having any effect on them why should
anyone have the audacity to tell me that
why should anyone care if I’m gay for
example why should anyone concerns
themselves concern themselves if I don’t
believe in their God why would they pay
attention if they and I don’t agree on
the best way to govern a country this is
why I still believe for any moral
argument our basis should be the golden
rule and it’s a very simple rule one
should be treated as one should treat
others as one one one would like to be
treated or in its negative form one
should not treat others as one would not
like to be treated
to conclude impossible really doesn’t
mean anything to be impossible is not
how a thing is impossible is how you
choose to think about a thing
once you realize that the boundaries
that we set for ourselves are very much
prone to our own willpower in our
ability to perceive even the persevere
in the face of difficulty you feel the
power in yourself to make the impossible
into possible is not better than to
fight rather than concede defeat isn’t
it better to resist than to
MIT isn’t it better even if you’re a
minority or one to be on the right side
of history isn’t it better to live your
life in dignity integrity honor rather
than fear and shame if you’re confronted
with in polities the solution is not to
escape the solution is not to leave
behind the solution is never to bow down
the solution is to raise your head and
do the right thing and you’ll understand
that then that impossible is only a
perception by submitting yourself to you
making it a reality but if you resist it
then it will walked away in the air or
in the examples that I’ve cited today
that of Vital Gretzky Harriet Tubman the
tank man enough proof of what can be
achieved by perseverance isn’t it better
to try to emulate their examples and try
to defend your rights and other people’s
rights do stand up do not let anyone
tell you how to live your life do not
let anyone tell others how to lead their
lives that is not impossible thank you
for listening
[Applause]
academic studies on languages
become interested in a new topic the
first thing I do is to look into the
meaning or the Col word that is related
to that subject and the subject today is
impossibilities
what does impossible mean and before
delving into what it personally means to
me what does it literally mean the word
impossible comes from the Latin word
passe meaning to be able to do something
and it’s also related to the word potent
meaning powerful incidentally also
meaning able to reach an orgasm but
sadly this is not what we’re going to
talk about today moving on from the
literal meaning of the word and because
of the words relation to power when we
say that something is impossible we
imply that one likes to power to achieve
it or realize it yet words only have
meaning can only be and can only be
valuable as far as the value that we
choose to confer unto them the same goes
for the word impossible the ultimate
point is not about the about the literal
realizability of an action we only
perceive acts situations or events as
either unrealizable and therefore
impossible yet it only takes one to show
the world that they’re not history for
examples filled with amazing examples of
people who have done the impossible can
you imagine the fear that the tank man
felt when he stood up in front of the
People’s Liberation Army tanks at
Tiananmen Square in 1989 this ordinary
figure shopping bags in his hands became
a symbol of peaceful resistance all over
the world it is the example that you can
achieve what so many people think is
impossible to this day we have no idea
what happened to he might have been let
off by the soldiers in an act of mercy
or he might have been executed then and
there but somehow this is not even
important because this is the image of a
man who was fed up with the mindless
persecution and violence that was going
on and decided to stand up and stand up
literally in front of Tanks but also
against the morally bankrupt idea he
showed what can be done just by a single
seam
unimportant individual he did the
impossible one could also cite the
example of Harriet Tubman who lived at a
time when people could own other people
in the United States Harriet Tubman was
a slave but not only that she was a she
was a female slave at a time when even
white American women did not enjoy the
same rights as their male counterparts
and to say the least were second-class
citizens Harriet Tubman amazingly
managed to escape from her enslavers
which was a massive achievement on its
own but she did not just stop there she
went back into the slave states 13 times
overall and rescued 70 slave families
later on in her life she also became an
active supporter of women’s suffrage
movement the single woman did so much
for the civil rights movement that was
to come years later she said I can’t die
but once and thought that she had to do
something that she had to resist I would
also like to talk about V told P let’s
key in honor of us doing this TEDx talk
here in Warsaw Poland he was prisoner
for eight five nine in the a schvitz
concentration camp but he hadn’t gone
there by force he volunteered to go
there he was one of the founders of the
secret polish army when Nazi Germany
invaded Poland in November 1939 and when
the secret army first became aware of
the Auschwitz concentration camp he
decided that if you could get himself
arrested then it’d probably be sent to
Auschwitz and once there he could gather
intelligence for the Allies as well as
organize and inmate resistance which is
exactly what he did
despite stomach problems typhus
extremely heavy labor and cruelty at the
hands of the Nazi guards he managed to
organize an inmate resistance and
compiled the first comprehensive report
on the Holocaust for the Allies
furthermore after he escaped from
Auschwitz he participated in the 1944
rising after that after the communist
takeover of the country of Poland
he remains loyal to the Polish
government-in-exile and gathered
intelligence for them in Poland against
the oppressive communist rule
unfortunately he was arrested and after
torture and a show trial he was executed
in 1948 after the announcement of his
death sentence he said I’ve been trying
to live my life so that in the hour of
my death I would rather feel joy than
fear now he was simply one of the most
important heroes of the Second World War
volunteering to go to the art whit’s
concentration camp was a deed so
honorable so respectable so heroic that
would have been enough for him for a
lifetime he would still be remembered
and through at the end of the human
history just for doing that but he did
so much more and I think this says so
much about our perception of what
possible is and what impossible is these
amazing people I have cited and their
stories show us what can be done by
perseverance and they make us think
about how we should lead our own lives
and to take away from all this is that
impossible is in fact only a perception
if you’re frustrated disappointed
abandoned if you’re left your own
devices if you’re persecuted for your
briefs or ideals if your life is under
threat by thugs who have lost their
moral compass
if bigots or whatever nature are
preventing you from living the life that
you like to live then you feel things
are impossible yet I’ll say it again it
only takes one to show the world that
impossible can’t be made possible now
turning away from history and at the
risk of sounding pompous or in implying
that I could be considered in the same
category as these people I’d like to
talk about myself
I was born in 1988 started at age 1 and
never shut up after that as against even
in this photo I’m talking and I also
sort of tried to squeeze the photos to
make myself look thinner but sadly that
doesn’t seem to work
I lied about myself because people my
friends
my friends here at the College of Europe
in Netherlands seem to think that I am
also impossible let me tell you why
first of all I consider myself to be a
democratic socialists although I agree
that the term needs a bit of clarifying
now there are a lot of Democratic
socialists in the world or people who in
some way or another vibrate socialism so
there’s no biggie
I’m also gay I don’t want to put two
naked guys walking on a beach with their
dog or something like that or two naked
guys kissing so this is a generic gain
of image that I found from Google now
being gay puts me in anywhere from five
to ten percent of the world population
that is certainly a minority
I’m also an atheist which means that I
share this attribute with anywhere from
3 to 13 percent of our fellow primates
so that there’s definitely a minority as
well now the combination of the three
outfits or personal traits or qualities
certainly does not make me an oddity or
impossibility in itself but the reason
why people seem to think I am an
impossible combination of things is
because I also come from Turkey and
having all these traits and being all
these things I’m inherently happy about
it at the moment turkeys run by a very
conservative government a country in
which the majority of the population is
traditionally homophobic a country that
has a very strong overwhelmingly Muslim
population let’s peep why people always
ask me the questions for example isn’t
it difficult to be gay in Turkey can you
talk freely about atheism in Turkey well
turkeys certainly not the dream country
for a gay Democratic Socialist atheists
it’s not it’s not the paradise obviously
but let me tell you this I am happy I
choose to be so I’m not only happy
because I now away from my country
because I’m never really away from it
anyway in my mind I constantly followed
the news I constantly talk to my friends
about what is going on in the country I
am happy because I love my country and I
believe that there are good people in my
country who have big hearts and big
minds whatever the current conditions
may be I know that there are people in
my country who
exercise bigotry against any kind of
minority and would stand up with them to
defend their rights whatever those
rights may be whatever those rights may
be I know there are people in my country
who supported the right to university
education of veiled women they even some
some of them atheists like me they
supported the right to university
education of veiled women to the point
that they were shunned paid by their own
peers I know that there are people in my
country who stood up with me against the
imminent threats of being beaten up by
police officers during the gezi protests
because they believed in raising their
voice rather than keeping silent I know
there are people in my country who will
face prison to say what they think
because they believe in the sacrifice of
burning themselves so that there might
be light to eliminate others yet many of
my friends in Turkey when I talk to them
they say it is getting worse that there
is so much pressure that they can’t deal
with it they’re using the same word that
we’re discussing here today as a matter
of fact they’re saying it is becoming
impossible to live there I understand
and I sympathize but to me they are
still fundamentally wrong things are
going badly in Turkey and I’m the first
to admit it
I also think that once criticism a once
country government history or culture
doesn’t mean that one is against it
doesn’t mean that one doesn’t like it it
just means simply that one wants to make
make it better the first step in in
solving any problem is to recognize that
there is a problem
but the solution I think is not to
escape the solution is not to leave
behind the solution is to resist if
history has told us one thing that is
the fact that anything can be changed by
resistance anything can be changed by
resisting change is not impossible it
may be tough you may be abandoned you
may be ostracized you may be put in
prison you may be beaten up but it is
possible it is realizable human dignity
that grant word requires one to be
strong and never to yield never to give
up
never to give in one should have the
right and one has responsibility I think
to resist to any kind of bigotry either
performed by a government or others
either performed against you your
friends or others and that last point I
think is very important it is important
to defend other people’s rights as they
are yours like they are yours
a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf for
example and I don’t have much in common
we wouldn’t even see eye-to-eye on a
political level or on probably any level
but what does it make me if I do not
stand up for our rights as well how can
I look myself in the mirror and how can
I have dignity and integrity integrity
if I don’t stand up for and support her
rights – this is what human dignity and
integrity requires to be able to look
yourself in the mirror without shame
without fear and say that you’re doing
the right thing to know in your heart
that you’re not compromising your ideals
nobody should have the right to tell you
how to lead your life as long as you’re
not having any effect on them why should
anyone have the audacity to tell me that
why should anyone care if I’m gay for
example why should anyone concerns
themselves concern themselves if I don’t
believe in their God why would they pay
attention if they and I don’t agree on
the best way to govern a country this is
why I still believe for any moral
argument our basis should be the golden
rule and it’s a very simple rule one
should be treated as one should treat
others as one one one would like to be
treated or in its negative form one
should not treat others as one would not
like to be treated
to conclude impossible really doesn’t
mean anything to be impossible is not
how a thing is impossible is how you
choose to think about a thing
once you realize that the boundaries
that we set for ourselves are very much
prone to our own willpower in our
ability to perceive even the persevere
in the face of difficulty you feel the
power in yourself to make the impossible
into possible is not better than to
fight rather than concede defeat isn’t
it better to resist than to
MIT isn’t it better even if you’re a
minority or one to be on the right side
of history isn’t it better to live your
life in dignity integrity honor rather
than fear and shame if you’re confronted
with in polities the solution is not to
escape the solution is not to leave
behind the solution is never to bow down
the solution is to raise your head and
do the right thing and you’ll understand
that then that impossible is only a
perception by submitting yourself to you
making it a reality but if you resist it
then it will walked away in the air or
in the examples that I’ve cited today
that of Vital Gretzky Harriet Tubman the
tank man enough proof of what can be
achieved by perseverance isn’t it better
to try to emulate their examples and try
to defend your rights and other people’s
rights do stand up do not let anyone
tell you how to live your life do not
let anyone tell others how to lead their
lives that is not impossible thank you
for listening
[Applause]
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