The Great Russell Brand Swindle

Saipanne

Russell Brand calls on followers to vote Labour on election day

http://gu.com/p/484j6


So, after making the case for people to abstain from voting, and selling a book to gullible idiots for a nice wedge. Brand has now jumped into bed with a mainstream party. The very kind of party he once derided for money.

So, what do his followers think of this move?

Menas

He is a bit of a muppet. A clever muppet, but still a muppet.

Generic Dreadhead

Saipanne wrote: »

So, what do his followers think of this move?

I thought the whole point of him was he did their thinking for them no?

ancapailldorcha

Bit late. Registration closed 2 weeks ago.

Yurt2

I see he didn't like Cameron calling him a joke.

He could have saved a lot of ink and trees by just sending out a tweet 'Vote Labour' a couple of years ago.

ShowMeTheCash

Saipanne wrote: »

Russell Brand calls on followers to vote Labour on election day

http://gu.com/p/484j6


So, after making the case for people to abstain from voting, and selling a book to gullible idiots for a nice wedge. Brand has now jumped into bed with a mainstream party. The very kind of party he once derided for money.

So, what do his followers think of this move?

I like brand, he is funny but I think he is one of these guys that likes to think about a thing and do a brain dump around it online without perhaps letting it settle.

One of the dumbest thing's around politics is the idea that people cannot change their mind, someone says something publically 10 years ago with half the facts cannot change their mind?

I think brand is an idealist, ideally we can change the way everyone thinks and vote in the Greens for example.

But in reality it comes down to two parties.
What do you want to do, vote someone you want in? Or let someone you don't want back in.....

BoJack Horseman

I want to know how Matt Morgan & Mr Gee feel.

smash

It's very easy for brand to represent 'the working man' and tell people not to be sheep while he sits on his millions.

bjork

Labours recent segregated event

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/05/05/12/article-3068429-285730AC00000578-936_964x447.jpg

Russesll Brand is a knob

Saipanne

smash wrote: »

It's very easy for brand to represent 'the working man' and tell people not to be sheep while he sits on his millions.

And adds to his millions by selling them a lie.

I didn't like the guy before, but I thought he had principles, at least...

ancapailldorcha

So... he can't change his mind? Is that the point of this thread?

c_man

So when he came out with his initial 'Don't bother voting' interview on Newsnight, everybody booed and called him an idiot. Now he comes out and says that even though it's an imperfect system, he thinks it's worth voting to keep the Tories out. Reaction: Everybody booing and calling him an idiot. You just can't win really.

BoJack Horseman

bjork wrote: »

Labours recent segregated event

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/05/05/12/article-3068429-285730AC00000578-936_964x447.jpg

Russesll Brand is a knob

Where was that?
Rotherham?

bjork

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

Where was that?
Rotherham?

Birmingham

Egginacup

smash wrote: »

It's very easy for brand to represent 'the working man' and tell people not to be sheep while he sits on his millions.

Do you have to be poor to have a political opinion?
Are only the destitute qualified to bring attention to governmental malfeasance?

smash

Egginacup wrote: »

Do you have to be poor to have a political opinion?
Are only the destitute qualified to bring attention to governmental malfeasance?

No, but you have to have credibility. I don't think he has any!

Saipanne

Brand: "I've never voted, never will"

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-24648651


LOL

ShowMeTheCash

smash wrote: »

No, but you have to have credibility. I don't think he has any!

Credibility is a weird thing....
Nothing wrong with having whacky ideas....

I don't think the current systems works, I think he has some good points, I think however he just realises he cannot change it....

smash

ShowMeTheCash wrote: »

Credibility is a weird thing....
Nothing wrong with having whacky ideas....

I don't think the current systems works, I think he has some good points, I think however he just realises he cannot change it....

He might realise that he can't change it, but he'll never admit that. After all, he's making money from his campaign.

Saipanne

ShowMeTheCash

smash wrote: »

He might realise that he can't change it, but he'll never admit that. After all, he's making money from his campaign.

Savvy!

brevity

I'd prefer for someone to change their mind because of certain factors they weren't previously aware of rather than stick blindly to their preconceived notions.

He said don't vote because there was no one suitable to vote for. Now he feels there is so he is suggesting Labour.

Saipanne

brevity wrote: »

I'd prefer for someone to change their mind because of certain factors they weren't previously aware of rather than stick blindly to their preconceived notions.

He said don't vote because there was no one suitable to vote for. Now he feels there is so he is suggesting Labour.

After he sold his book.

ancapailldorcha

c_man wrote: »

So when he came out with his initial 'Don't bother voting' interview on Newsnight, everybody booed and called him an idiot. Now he comes out and says that even though it's an imperfect system, he thinks it's worth voting to keep the Tories out. Reaction: Everybody booing and calling him an idiot. You just can't win really.

You might enjoy these:

http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2014/780-russell-brand-s-revolution.html

http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2014/781-russell-brand-s-revolution-part-2-the-backlash.html

c_man

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

So... he can't change his mind? Is that the point of this thread?

It seems so.

Also worth pointing out that he endorsed Labour just in England (think Scotland's pretty much sewn up) and that Green MP/candidate who appeared on the show last week. Seems like legit case of lesser of two evils in trying to keep the Tories out. Cos let's be honest, most people here aren't actually going to look into this in any way bar what a Guardian columnist spins it into.

Huntergonzo

I haven't heard much of him but I've heard a bit from his followers and they genuinely seem to think that's he's some sort of profound progressive political heavy weight. But from what I've heard of him he just seems to be a bit of an arbitrary rambler who likes to use fancy words and poetic language to con people into believing he's saying something brilliant. Personally I think George Carlin and Bill Hicks were far better political comedians (even though sadly they're both dead) and even Doug Stanhope, although he plays the hopeless deadbeat role.

ShowMeTheCash

brevity wrote: »

I'd prefer for someone to change their mind because of certain factors they weren't previously aware of rather than stick blindly to their preconceived notions.

He said don't vote because there was no one suitable to vote for. Now he feels there is so he is suggesting Labour.

Hmm perhaps or perhaps there is still no one suitable but Labour is a lesser evil than the Tory's...

Watching this on the news the whole campaign seems to be "Don't let the Tory's back in"...

walkingshadow

"Paradigm"

ancapailldorcha

c_man wrote: »

It seems so.

Also worth pointing out that he endorsed Labour just in England (think Scotland's pretty much sewn up) and that Green MP/candidate who appeared on the show last week. Seems like legit case of lesser of two evils in trying to keep the Tories out. Cos let's be honest, most people here aren't actually going to look into this in any way bar what a Guardian columnist spins it into.

Pretty much. I'd consider the Guardian to be the lesser of several evils.

wretcheddomain

Brand is an unprincipled idiot who peppers every sentence with the same words: "Bankers", "Paradigm", "Disenfranchised", "Elites", "Apathy", "Privatisation", "the 1%", "Corporations", "Disillusionment", "Frustrated"...

Brand is desperate to come across as credible, with many people falsely assuming this, no doubt because they conflate his awkward articulacy with some form of non-existent intelligence. In the video with Ed Miliband, Brand repeats the claim that there's no utility in voting and he's proud of that fact.

I disbelieve, as will many people, that he suddenly saw the light on meeting Miliband. His plan in advance of that interview was to promote the Labour party, yet he continued to smuggle his 'don't vote' attitude into the interview. Brand's duplicity has terminally atrophied any credibility he would otherwise have had.

foggy_lad

He reminds me of Kenny Everett:) But I think the late Kenny Everett was far more intelligent and had a lot more to say that was of use or relevance to the general public. He was also far more entertaining!

Magico Gonzalez

He has a very apt surname.

His opinions are just another product to be polished, packaged up and sold to a gullible audience who gobble it all up.

He does very nicely out of it.

I assume his revolution has been suspended?

myshirt

If I were English I'd be voting Dick Venes (Green Party), not Labour.

Magico Gonzalez

myshirt wrote: »

If I were English I'd be voting Dick Venes (Green Party), not Labour.

You vote for your local MP.

You can only vote for Venes in Levenshulme, a ward of Manchester.

foggy_lad

foggy_lad wrote: »

He reminds me of Kenny Everett:) But I think the late Kenny Everett was far more intelligent and had a lot more to say that was of use or relevance to the general public. He was also far more entertaining!

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I wasn't a huge fan of Everett, but not sure he surrendered all his integrity by pandering to wide eyed students impressed by the use of adjectives with over 3 syllables.

ShowMeTheCash

Deleted User wrote: »

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I wasn't a huge fan of Everett, but not sure he surrendered all his integrity by pandering to wide eyed students impressed by the use of adjectives with over 3 syllables.

No Everett supported Thatcher simply because he did not like the labour party.

folamh

He's undergoing a pretty typical trajectory from radicalism to more a moderate position, discovering that ideological purity is noble but impractical. He could be any dime-a-dozen politically conscious youth, except the whole world is watching him.

I disagree with him on most issues, including this recent support for Labour, but I think calling him out on hypocrisy is really silly and regressive. You can bet that the people who attacked him for not offering any practical solutions, are the same people now attacking him for doing just that.

smash

folamh wrote: »

You can bet that the people who attacked him for not offering any practical solutions, are the same people now attacking him for doing just that.

But he's not offering a practical solution.

Sleepy

I'd liken him to a 19 year old that having become a Che Guevara wearing lefty during their first year of their Arts degree has started to wake up to the real world in their second year of university... he's just 20 years behind most.

Brand is opinionated and somewhat floridly eloquent but it doesn't add up to either insight nor intelligence, never mind both.

It's very hard to take him seriously, but he takes himself seriously enough for everyone.

BoJack Horseman

Sleepy wrote: »

I'd liken him to a 19 year old that having become a Che Guevara wearing lefty during their first year of their Arts degree has started to wake up to the real world in their second year of university... he's just 20 years behind most.

True.

However I still like him, if only for his very good radio show on BBC radio 2 a few years back.

Then the whole 'sachsgate' thing put paid to it.

cloud493

I was voting labour anyway Mr Brand, but thanks.

Duggy747

He's a publicity-hunting gobshíte and always has been, well before this self-proclaimed "man of the people" status he's recently bestowed upon himself.

His "rebuttal" to the Stephen Fry / Gay Byrne video was ludicrious with every trope and standard appeal to authority tactic he's known for fired out in quick succession from his word salad thesaurus.

Jesus Wept

He is a knob with notions. I don't know why people are feeding it.

eviltimeban

ShowMeTheCash wrote: »

Watching this on the news the whole campaign seems to be "Don't let the Tory's back in"...

It seems to be the push alright, but on what grounds? Just because they are the Tories? Are they any worse than ("new") Labour? Milliband seems just as "corporate" as Cameron.

Because Cameron went to Eton? Nothing wrong with that - Eddie Redmayne, Hugh Laurie, Tom Hiddleston, Bear Grylls...they did too!

folamh

smash wrote: »

But he's not offering a practical solution.

I agree that voting for Labour will likely not resolve any of the social nor economic problems identified by Brand. What I'm saying is that people pretend to care about Brand's lack of practicality, when what they really want is for him to stay stagnant in his non-practical ideological beliefs so they can continue to ridicule him.

Saipanne

Observe the twists and contortions his fans are willing to make, just so their favourite cartoon pirate won't be viewed in a negative light...

smash

folamh wrote: »

I agree that voting for Labour will likely not resolve any of the social nor economic problems identified by Brand. What I'm saying is that people pretend to care about Brand's lack of practicality, when what they really want is for him to stay stagnant in his non-practical ideological beliefs so they can continue to ridicule him.

What people really want is for him to shut up.

Caliden

Saipanne wrote: »

Russell Brand calls on followers to vote Labour on election day

http://gu.com/p/484j6


So, after making the case for people to abstain from voting, and selling a book to gullible idiots for a nice wedge. Brand has now jumped into bed with a mainstream party. The very kind of party he once derided for money.

So, what do his followers think of this move?

In the same interview (the one where he admits he doesn't vote) he also admitted that until the system itself changes voting is the only way to influence the country.

Ush1

I find him entertaining but his reinvention as a political commentator has been pretty much a joke. Really showed his true colours when that Irish journalist asked him about his house where he lives at that protest and Brand just started insulting him.

Mechanical Clocktail

He's an attention seeking wanker. He has the mentality of a teenager. The only people he impresses are the ones who don't understand the "big words" he uses. He says nothing, ever, of any worth. Total mouth breather. The bigger crime is the attention that media gave him in relation to politics. I always appreciate Jeremy Paxman's interviews, I could just about watch the one with Brand. He could have torn the guy to shreds but Brand wouldn't have even understood what was happening.

Jeremy Paxman: But if they were to take you seriously, and not to vote –
Russell Brand: Yeah, they shouldn’t vote, they should – that’s one thing they should do, don’t bother voting. Because when it reaches – there’s a point – see these little valves, these sort of like little cozy little valves of recycling and Prius and like you know turn up somewhere, it stops us reaching the point where you think, "I see, this is enough now." Stop voting. Stop pretending. Wake up. Be in reality now. Time to be in reality now. Why vote? We know it’s not going to make any difference. We know that already.
Jeremy Paxman: It does make a difference.
Russell Brand: So like I have more impact at West Ham United cheering them on, and they lost to City, unnecessarily, sadly.
Jeremy Paxman: Well now you’re being facetious.

Such an idiot. That anyone listens to him. Christ almighty.