Russell Brand: From Stand-Up Comic To Icke-Esque Conspiracist & Possible Abuser?

escargot said:
Ignorance is a tool for controlling the less powerful. The trick is to make it look like a virtue. This has always been the case.
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I thought we weren't allowed to discuss politics.

Unless through interpretive dance.....

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Coal said:
It is however, preferable to blind obedience.
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Is it though?

I mean - in the sense Myth seemed to be describing - which is simply bloody minded contrarianism, and no more grounded in critical thinking than blind obedience?

It's right and proper that we should question the orthodox if we feel the need arises. But there's no genius to simply upending an orthodoxy based on the sole evidence of it being one - and that does seem to be the main exercise of a lot (not all) of what passes for conspiracy these days.

Edit: And although I don’t want to take this too far on a tangent, its worth noting that phrases like ‘blind obedience’ are often used to infer that those who follow an orthodoxy have not made a conscious and/or reasoned decision in doing so. Mass adherence to a line of thought or action is not – in and of itself – a bad thing. For anyone who doubts the effectiveness of collective action – much of which might seem at first to be unconscious and unreasoned, or easily interpreted as being so – I’d recommend reading James Michael Surowieck’s, The Wisdom of Crowds.
 
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The discussions on this thread that are not about Brand are noticeably more interesting than the ones about Brand himself.

Well, almost anything would be, really. :chuckle:

As I've run out of things to say about him, that's my last word on the subject.
 
escargot said:
The discussions on this thread that are not about Brand are noticeably more interesting than the ones about Brand himself.

Well, almost anything would be, really. :chuckle:

As I've run out of things to say about him, that's my last word on the subject.
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Given enough time, and anything Brand might have to say in the future, I am certain you will have quite a lot to say about him....:comphit:
 
Yithian said:
Okay, does anybody have a comment on Brand's course of travel, current interests or likely destination?

Because a 'Let's Insult Russell Brand' thread probably belongs in CHAT.
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I don't like Russel Brand's projected persona; after all, since I don't know him personally, it's all I have to go on. I tend to be very wary of those who seem to be saying "Look how intelligent I am!"
It's this persona that puts me off listening to his thoughts, theories and pronouncements - he may have a point, he may be promoting rubbish, but a broken clock can be right twice a day. However, if he really wants to give a valid message, he should reconsider the public persona he himself has cultivated. I just don't fall for 'hate watching' as I'm aware that any response, even views, increase platform credibility.
I've watched a couple of his most recent productions and, I'm afraid, my view on the man remains intact - right or wrong, he's still pushing the image that he's more clever than anyone else, especially if they're 'mainstream' or 'orthodoxy'.
 
If only there was some easy way to avoid hearing/seeing people in the media that annoy/irritate/have different world-views?
 
... which I do. As I said, I don't do 'hate watching'.

Ignoring trickery, misleading, dangerous or incredibly stupid pronouncements is easy. Doesn't counter or debate it but ignoring makes it go away.
 
In the next episode, Russel manages to score a regular gig, with a weekly commentary show on Fox News. :rollingw:
 
I'm sure I saw him on Fox news years ago and he berated one of the presenters because she's said 'he' (referring to Brand) and he (quite correctly) pointed out that it was rude to speak of someone that way when they were in the same room.
 
Vardoger said:
Looks like he has found a new audience, radical right wingers and perhaps they pay good for his opinions. He still call himself a leftist.
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So does Tim Pool. There is currently a fairly well documented pipeline of left > new age > conspiracy > alt-right but calls themselves 'a classic liberal'
 
Dinobot said:
But who is happy to pander to the right wing, who are eager to support their views...
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He accept "Thanks" money on Youtube and sell merchs. 6.33mill subs and the last video has had 537 thousand views in 24 hours. I'll say he just have found another audience. Not sure he even believes what he himself says in the videos.
 
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Vardoger said:
He accept "Thanks" money on Youtube and sell merchs. 6.33mill subs and the last video has had 537 thousand views in 24 hours. I'll say he just have found another audience. Not sure he even believes what he himself says in the videos.
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I doubt he understands what he says, just knows it earns money and upsets people.
 
kamalktk said:
It's the adult version of this.
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It's not only a disorder.
I was listening to an abridged reading of a book by a psychologist who helped those who care for the mental health of carers for people suffering with dementia.
One situation is when the sufferer imagines their carer is part of 'a conspiracy' against them. In one case, the husband point blank refused to believe he was married and when the wife pointed to photos, he insisted that 'they' had planted the pictures there. They can be incredibly imaginative and create explanations quickly.
The ability to reason against evidence is a natural function of our mind. Apparently, it helps us to critically analyse any presented 'evidence' or 'fact' rapidly - going through possible permutations - until we assure ourselves that the evidence is actually true. We're talking about in nanoseconds here.
With dementia sufferers, their minds aren't finishing the critical analysis and just staying at a permutation as a certainty. Perhaps those who completely refuse to accept contradictory evidence, making up wild explanations, are doing this too. To have validation, a certainty that they can cling to, their minds would rather accept outlandish explanations than have to face up to being fooled or essentially wrong from the start. In short: no one likes to be wrong, or proved that they were fooled.
 
Cloudbusting said:
Ah of course, I guess I'd be better off looking at a never ending echo chamber of youtube videos.
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Or Facebook reels, which is a veritable warren of rabbit holes for the crazy and deluded. (political, religious and just general obsessive. Including lots of the delightful Russell.)
 
Min Bannister said:
Yes that seems likely. I also seem to remember he was all over every comedy panel TV show for years. For some reason they kept booking him. Some viewers must have liked him?
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Brand seems to have dropped off this circuit for some reason. Telling, as this has got to be a fairly easy money-spinner for British comedians. Why tour, when all you need to do is travel across London, sit in a studio for two or three hours, pick up the cheque at the end, commute home again? If you work it right, two or three of these shows - and you sometimes even get to host your own - have got to be a good working week. No heckling from the crowd, either.

Forgive me, the reasons for RB being largely absent from TV have been speculated about, but that's all it is - speculation. Best not to go into that here; it could be that he just wanted to step back and focus on vlogging.
 
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I don't know much about Brand but I watch Bill Maher on a regular basis and Brand was on the show spouting off on a number of subjects and generally being obnoxious , so for those interested you can find it online and youtube ...it was MARCH 3 .
Enjoy............;)
 
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