Russell Brand on Revolution

[Mungy]

Well i don't think it would be acceptable to appear on something like that at all. He's a man in his 30s and should know better.

can't speak for rb, only myself. i was 27/28 before i got clean from being a drug addict. read all kinds of stuff afterwards looking for a spiritual fix, i liked icke in those early days, until he started on about the lizard thing, then it became hard to trust him especially as he didn't (don't know if he now does) cite his sources or reference them. after that i found urban75 via another forum at the age of 34 in the heyday of conspiracy threads where there was much debate, vitriol and threads about dehydrated water. my education is still very much a work in progress at the age of 44. i have learned much on urban.

rb's age or mine has little to do with how wise we are. i think i am older than dc, but i doubt very much i will have that kind of breadth and depth of knowledge even when i am older and greyer than i am now.

 

[frogwoman]

He's in a position of huge privilege and should not be using it to apologise and normalise ickes racist bullshit or to turn everything into a huge publicity seeking tool.

 

[Mungy]

He's in a position of huge privilege and should not be using it to apologise and normalise ickes racist bullshit or to turn everything into a huge publicity seeking tool.

i don't see where he is normalising ickes racist bullshit, but i will concede that i might not be seeing it right now, and i could have an epiphany where it becomes clear.

he was a normal person before he found fame and fortune, suppose it was you in his position - i mean the fame and fortune bit, not necessarily any potentially dodgy political views. would you support things, would you retreat from public life? is it possible to be famous and be active politically without toxifying the things you support?

 

[Pickman's model]

i don't see where he is normalising ickes racist bullshit, but i will concede that i might not be seeing it right now, and i could have an epiphany where it becomes clear.

he was a normal person before he found fame and fortune, suppose it was you in his position - i mean the fame and fortune bit, not necessarily any potentially dodgy political views. would you support things, would you retreat from public life? is it possible to be famous and be active politically without toxifying the things you support?

yes

 

[BigTom]

i don't see where he is normalising ickes racist bullshit, but i will concede that i might not be seeing it right now, and i could have an epiphany where it becomes clear.

he was a normal person before he found fame and fortune, suppose it was you in his position - i mean the fame and fortune bit, not necessarily any potentially dodgy political views. would you support things, would you retreat from public life? is it possible to be famous and be active politically without toxifying the things you support?

Yes, but it either needs to be a particular type of thing, where publicity for the cause is pretty much all that is needed, or the famous person very much needs to be involved as a person and eschew their fame.
I think famous people need to go about these things quietly tbh, why Bill Gates comes off as being decent with his malaria fight funds, when geldof/bono come off as wankers doing similar for ebola.
Or you do something like rock against racism, whereby you take the thing you are famous for and you keep doing that and use it to financially or culturally support a movement rather than begin involved with groups as a famous activist.

 

[smokedout]

turning up quietly without a camera crew and with a chequebook would be a good place to start

 

[Mungy]

cash rather than cheque book, but yeah, i guess that would help

 

[Sue]

A small example of how the involvement of celebrities changes the media focus.

A friend's been involved in a community art project for the last year or so. Russell Brand turned up a couple of weeks ago (with the local Labour councillor) to open it. I've just googled the art project. It got some coverage in the local press but for them the interesting thing was that RB turned up rather than the art project itself. Likewise with the photos used to illustrate the story -- mainly of RB rather than of the people involved or of the art project.

 

[DexterTCN]

A small example of how the involvement of celebrities changes the media focus.

A friend's been involved in a community art project for the last year or so. Russell Brand turned up a couple of weeks ago (with the local Labour councillor) to open it. I've just googled the art project. It got some coverage in the local press but for them the interesting thing was that RB turned up rather than the art project itself. Likewise with the photos used to illustrate the story -- mainly of RB rather than of the people involved or of the art project.

Got a link?

 

[Sue]

http://hackneypost.co.uk/2014/11/10/russell-brand-unveils-mosaic/

http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/new...nch_of_extraordinary_hackney_mosaic_1_3846034

http://hackneycitizen.co.uk/2014/11/14/hackney-mosaic-project-unveiled-russell-brand-hackney-downs/

As far as my friend's aware -- and he was there every week -- this was the first time RB had been there.

 

[frogwoman]

Also hasn't he always had a bit of reputation for being a creepy sexist?

 

[The Pale King]

Also hasn't he always had a bit of reputation for being a creepy sexist?

He does indeed: http://www.thegrindstone.com/2012/0...ardrobe-girl-but-dont-worry-it-was-funny-274/

 

[killer b]

wasn't that particular story shown to be made up?

 

[The Pale King]

wasn't that particular story shown to be made up?

Was it? I hadn't heard that - the reporting of the incident stuck in my mind, but I didn't know it had been shown to be false. Apologies to Mr Brand if I have inadvertently cast unwarranted aspersions on his personage (parklife)

 

[killer b]

I can't remember the details, but I'm sure that one is dodgy.

He has however always had a bit of a reputation for being a creepy sexist. He admitted as much around the time he started political activity in earnest, and promised to try and change. I've not been following how successful he's been.

 

[free spirit]

from a link in the comments

I was surprised to read, just before our interview, tabloid reports that he'd been in an altercation with Russell Brand on a film set. Reportedly, Brand had repeatedly told a young assistant that he wouldn't film another frame until she'd shown him her breasts; and Connolly had stepped in to tick him off for harassment. Why did he…?

"That [widely reported] story," says Connolly evenly, "is a total invention. A complete fabrication. It's total bollocks. It never happened. Russell was very well-behaved, and I found him very interesting." Did he find him funny? "Oh aye. I really enjoyed his company. I liked his vocabulary, and his stance. He poses and… stances around all the time, and I like that."

 

[treelover]

Not all Greens are bad, the bloke that runs the Another Angry Voice blog is a Green and most of his stuff is pretty good but all the Greens on here seem shit

Becoming more concerned about Greens, one I am aware of, a Doctor, has described people coming to her clinic as "being on benefits and swinging the lead"another endorsed NL's workfare and may still support these schemes.

 

[The Pale King]

Cheers for the link free spirit and cheers for the heads up KillerB

 

[killer b]

Becoming more concerned about Greens, one I am aware of, a Doctor, has described people coming to her clinic as "being on benefits and swinging the lead"another endorsed NL's workfare and may still support these schemes.

who'd have thought it?

 

[J Ed]

Becoming more concerned about Greens, one I am aware of, a Doctor, has described people coming to her clinic as "being on benefits and swinging the lead"another endorsed NL's workfare and may still support these schemes.

Is that one of the councillors in Sheffield?

 

[J Ed]

omg this is gold, from the Sheffield Green Party

 

[frogwoman]

from a link in the comments

But it's not the only story involving him and sexism though.

 

[free spirit]

But it's not the only story involving him and sexism though.

not saying it is, nor particularly defending him, just think people should be attacked using real incidents that actually happened rather than bollocks made up by the sun.

 

[cantsin]

Was it? I hadn't heard that - the reporting of the incident stuck in my mind, but I didn't know it had been shown to be false. Apologies to Mr Brand if I have inadvertently cast unwarranted aspersions on his personage (parklife)

" Totally stupid anti Brand story cribbed from The Sun turns out of be utter bollocks" shocker.

 

[frogwoman]

not saying it is, nor particularly defending him, just think people should be attacked using real incidents that actually happened rather than bollocks made up by the sun.

I wasn't referring to a particular story when I said that. Just saying that he has a reputation for being sexist based on things he's said in interviews etc.

 

[DexterTCN]

http://hackneypost.co.uk/2014/11/10/russell-brand-unveils-mosaic/

http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/new...nch_of_extraordinary_hackney_mosaic_1_3846034

http://hackneycitizen.co.uk/2014/11/14/hackney-mosaic-project-unveiled-russell-brand-hackney-downs/

As far as my friend's aware -- and he was there every week -- this was the first time RB had been there.

Well that looks like he was invited to unveil it.

 

[Pickman's model]

I wasn't referring to a particular story when I said that. Just saying that he has a reputation for being sexist based on things he's said in interviews etc.

his little contretemps with andrew sachs didn't show him in a very revolutionary light

 

[Sue]

Well that looks like he was invited to unveil it.

I have no idea if he was invited and didn't say he wasn't -- though it would be interesting to know, if he was, who did the inviting.

My point was that his presence shifted the focus of the story from something local people had been working on for a long time to 'Russell Brand turned up'.

Compared to people fighting eviction etc this is obviously pretty trivial but does illustrate the point made by people above.

 

[Citizen66]

Brand lol. People just love having leaders. If they've already got stardust they can simply step into that role.

He's got the political coherency of a stoned six former. I guess most of his followers come from that age group.

 

[Pickman's model]

anyway if Cheesypoof's right that yer man only gets political 2/3 of the way through a book called 'revolution' i don't think marx or engels need quiver in their graves about being superseded.