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Russell Brand on Revolution

Fwiw my earlier statement needs amending. Brand came up in conversation this evening. I quote:

*Discussion on celebrities you coulda/shoulda shagged.*


fColleague: "Who's that guy who's started going on about politics?"

Me: "Russell Brand?"

Colleague: "yeah,him. He tried hitting on my mate. He was a really sleazy bastard."

There ya go.
 
Russell's latest video...let's all watch it then criticize.



Could be a set up. Could be that he is a ticking time-bomb where people are investing hope and significance into a man few here would deem trustworthy. Could be that he acts as a safety valve as neoliberal austerity drives hit home. Is it possible to get rich and famous without being a backstabber? Time will tell.

I don't like him for reasons others have articulated and will be apparent to you if you have followed the thread recently. He is a supporter of David Icke which tells you a lot. The sooner he fades away from the attention of those on the left politically the better.
 
Could be a set up. Could be that he is a ticking time-bomb where people are investing hope and significance into a man few here would deem trustworthy. Could be that he acts as a safety valve as neoliberal austerity drives hit home. Is it possible to get rich and famous without being a backstabber? Time will tell.

I don't like him for reasons others have articulated and will be apparent to you if you have followed the thread recently. He is a supporter of David Icke which tells you a lot. The sooner he fades away from the attention of those on the left politically the better.
What do you think about the video though?
 
I got as far as the bit where he uses a report by PressTv, the Iranian state channel. How is associating striking firefighters with the Iranian state anything but actively damaging?

Floggity woggity.
i understood it that it was the only footage they could find, that the event wasn't covered on uk tv. i don't know if this is true as i don't watch tv news unless i catch a bit of it before match of the day on saturday.
 
I got as far as the bit where he uses a report by PressTv, the Iranian state channel. How is associating striking firefighters with the Iranian state anything but actively damaging?

Floggity woggity.

There is a reason your called a copliker
 
Whose politics? his view of individual communities organised locally communicating globally, specifically one that gives breathing space to the likes of David Icke and fellow travellers and bigs up ISIS and even exagerates their achievements RE:taking Damascus on the grounds of "Anyone But America" sounds like and smells like Bloc Identitaire.

Now for Brand that his utopian micro society, non sexist, non racist, where the chicks and the jam jar natives can hang out,:sorry about the racist and sexist language ,yeah i'm working on that! can peacefully co exist with Ickes lizard baiters and seven shades of fash isn't a problem, he can tailor his utopia through meditation maybe give icke a jimmy saville wig and turn the kylie minogue up to 11. In the Mind State of Brand anything is possible.
 
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He is getting politics into the mainstream, is that such a bad thing??

I think it depends what you mean by politics, and what you mean by getting it into the mainstream.

He's certainly getting significant media coverage for himself, and perhaps a little for a few causes/issues, though as has been mentioned umpteem times now the coverage of the causes tends to be mediated through his celebrity involvement rather than being coverage of the causes/issues themselves.

And the version of politics which is getting into the mainstream, or rather the one which is already dominant and which is being re-enforced by his involvement, is unfortunately a top-down, elitest, celebritised version, rather than the bottom-up, inclusive, participatory one that many of us would like to see (and which Brand appears to think he's encouraging).

All of this is a consequence of the fact that Brand is using his celebrity status to "do politics" and would be problematic whoever the celebrity was; that's before we even get into specifics about his personal baggage, including some of his dodgy behaviour, statements and associations.

If this is your and Brand's idea of getting politics into the mainstream in a serious and productive way I don't think much of it...
 
I wish more like minded people in the public eye would come out and stir shit up.
How can anyone famous claim to be "progressive" and not use the luck/privilege
of fame to attack the system at every given opportunity?
 
The language that is used to defend/support Brand is illustrative.

Talk of bringing issues/politics "into the mainstream" suggest (to me at least) an upside down perspective. The job for the " left" or activists or whatever is surely not to persuade the "mainstream" (yuk) that these causes are significant but rather to identify and pursue causes people already have?
 
Fwiw my earlier statement needs amending. Brand came up in conversation this evening. I quote:

*Discussion on celebrities you coulda/shoulda shagged.*


fColleague: "Who's that guy who's started going on about politics?"

Me: "Russell Brand?"

Colleague: "yeah,him. He tried hitting on my mate. He was a really sleazy bastard."

There ya go.
seems to have something in common with one g galloway then
 
i understood it that it was the only footage they could find, that the event wasn't covered on uk tv. i don't know if this is true as i don't watch tv news unless i catch a bit of it before match of the day on saturday.
There's loads of footage of the strike - filmed by FBU members and supporters - why must it be a proper news channel for Brand to show it - esp if he's making a point of providing alternative news coverage? Fair play for doing this but again it's coming with problems.

There's two questions about claiming that he doesn't know who presstv are -1) if he doesn't know it yet again shows how gullible he is - Presstv is the iranian regimes state broadcaster - the iranian regime violently persecutes trade unionists (indeed the FBU have condemned them for this) you don't want to see what they do to gays and drug users 2) If he did know and didn't care - and his book suggests a slight anti-imperialist sympathy for the Iranian regime:

"he people of Iran have been under constant attack since their regime change in the early fifties" - note he doesn't mention they've been attack from the various regimes within the state since then - just the US - and his history is utterly wrong given the US support for the shah for 30 years of this period.

I don't believe he didn't know - given that presstv along with RT and the usual suspects (assange/kesier/icke/zetigeist/etc) are bang in the centre of his world view.
 
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There's loads of footage of the strike - filmed by FBU members and supporters - why must it be a proper news channel for Brand to show it - esp if he's making a point of providing alternative news coverage? Fair play for doing this but again it's coming with problems.

There's two questions about claiming that he doesn't know who presstv are -1) if he doesn't know it yet again shows how gullible he is - Presstv is the iranian regimes state broadcaster - the iranian regime violently persecutes trade unionists (indeed the FBU have condemned them for this) you don't want to see what they do to gays and drug users 2) If he did know and didn't care - and his book suggests a slight anti-imperialist sympathy for the Iranian regime.

I don't believe he didn't know - given that presstv along with RT and the usual suspects (assange/kesier/icke/zetigeist/etc) are bang in the centre of his world view.

perhaps he's not bothered about the source, perhaps the fact that iran was the only proper news channel the carried the story is why it was chosen, to illustrate that our media are biased. personally, i'm not interesting in dissecting everything rb writes or says, what he motivations are, who he follows on social media sites, what books he has read etc etc etc. i don't think i have the patience or cognitive faculties required. though i do find it interesting reading the conclusions of others.
 
Russell's latest video...let's all watch it then criticize.


While it gives the FBU a platform, his presentational style comes over as juvenile and self promotional.
The final bit where Wrack is cajoled into demanding we subscribe is especially irritating.
On the whole, if the WC has reached the state where we need this type of promotion, then we are essentially screwed.
 
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