Russell Brand: End the Drugs War, BBC 3 at 9pm

[BigG]

Polarising debate results in higher viewing figures, and more money for him. I think it really is that simple.

Probably is

 

[Vurtual]

Do you not think though that sometimes he's just using "big words" for the sake of it and probably doesn't even know himslef what he's saying.

No-one in their right mind would seriously say...

"This attitude of churlish indifference seems like nerdish deference contrasted with the belligerent antipathy of the indigenous farm folk, who regard the hippie-dippie interlopers, the denizens of the shimmering tit temples, as one fey step away from transvestites"

I mean come on......what the fuck does that mean??? hahah!!


EDIT - just found another classic:-

"The internal mayhem I'm feeling is spilling out everywhere. I loved it, and felt very connected to activism – particularly activism that feels loaded with potential. Not the oppositional activism that seems like there's a stasis around it - earnestly sincere, but a monolith equal to the establishment"

I'm sorry I know some of you guys like him but for fuck sake!!....speak plain English!!

I don't get what's wrong with those words - they work in a sentence to create meaning quite effectively - they are in a book after all (ok, he converses a bit like this too, but i like that). And i'm sure he does know what those sorts of words mean - he's pretty damn clever imo. Sure he might have said it more laconically (ooh is that word too pretentious?), but i like words and wordplay.

I talk the same sort of too-fast too-many-long-words fashion (not as well), in other people's eyes probably pretentiously - but there is no pretense; i don't do this on purpose, it just happens automatically from reading lots of books and that (like russell, i also try and defuse it by putting colloquialisms like 'and that' on the end). I do tone down my wordiness when in company i don't know because i know some people are intimidated by it, but why should i?.

Should he make himself sound less intelligent to sound more 'authentic'? I'm sick of the anti-intellectualism in our culture, especially the assumption that connects 'intelligence' to social class - i'm sticking up for lower class self-educated people who can string a word or two (or nine) together

 

[BigG]

I knew you'd like it!!

I'm sorry but using ridiculously convoluted sentences and searching for 10 impossibly long words when 2 "normal" ones would do is pretentious.

No, I'm not saying he has to talk like an oaf but I know many very clever men and they don't feel the need to string daft sentences together that I guarantee the vast, vast majority of people wouldn't understand. (and that doesn't make people stupid)

I'm no genius but I'd like to think I'm not an idiot either (I have two bachelors and one masters degree) and I don't have a clue what the first one means (I understand the second but only just)

Anyone who feels the need to speak like that is doing so in an attempt to draw attention to himself. Did Einstein speak like that ? Does Stephen Hawking or Richard Dawkins?...or are they not "clever" enough to use that kind of language?

He's an egocentric, narcissistic (look big words!) prick!

i'm sticking up for lower class self-educated people who can string a word or two (or nine) together

Really? - that changed quickly, they were shit poor a minute ago (or was that too lower class?)

 

[Vurtual]

egz74: I still don't see the problem with that sentence (it's obviously within a context). Sure a 'professional' writer would have put it better and shorter, but it's the slightly rough way he takes on ivory-tower concepts that can be so appealing to me.

I really think he just talks like that - my evidence is that i talk similar without trying, and often even if i don't want to - that's not pretentious; over-verbose maybe. Sure even if i don't think i'm narcisistic and egocentric i probably am (look at how i made this post about me ), but who can help that sort of shit (you on top of all your subconscious foibles?). Russell is the first to admit he's narcisistic and egocentric, but the work he's done on himself with TM has had a definite effect on him as far as i can see (he's less egocentric than 5 years ago). I don't see what reason there is to write him off totally as a 'prick' - to me he comes across as genuinely passionate about injustice and is trying to use his celebrity for some good - and it doesn't matter if he is a prick it's the message that's important.

(and what are you saying 'really' to - do you not believe i'm an auto-dida... that i taught myself?)

 

[ColtDan]

I don't get what's wrong with those words - they work in a sentence to create meaning quite effectively - they are in a book after all (ok, he converses a bit like this too, but i like that). And i'm sure he does know what those sorts of words mean - he's pretty damn clever imo. Sure he might have said it more laconically (ooh is that word too pretentious?), but i like words and wordplay.

I talk the same sort of too-fast too-many-long-words fashion (not as well), in other people's eyes probably pretentiously - but there is no pretense; i don't do this on purpose, it just happens automatically from reading lots of books and that (like russell, i also try and defuse it by putting colloquialisms like 'and that' on the end). I do tone down my wordiness when in company i don't know because i know some people are intimidated by it, but why should i?.

Should he make himself sound less intelligent to sound more 'authentic'? I'm sick of the anti-intellectualism in our culture, especially the assumption that connects 'intelligence' to social class - i'm sticking up for lower class self-educated people who can string a word or two (or nine) together

Pretty much exactly my thoughts. bang on

 

[BigG]

and what are you saying 'really' to

Because I saw what you wrote before you changed it

 

[Don Luigi]

I agree too - whatever you think about russel, the trews is some of the best news-related visual media we can get in britain right now (people are snobbish about americans, but where's our version of Democracy Now!, the Young Turks or even Jon Stewart or John Oliver (i mean he's ours anyway (i remember him off the now show)) - what's the best we've got - News Quiz, Have i got news for you and Mock the week? Pathetic really

I've subscribed to Young Turks for a long time (although Cenk is really starting to grind on me. He needs some new catchphrases or something!), and it seems that any time Russel Brand is on, he is brown-nosed. It's the same when he's on a lot of the American shows, they just seem over captivated by this eccentric British fellow who uses words they've never heard.

He does my tits in but does make some good arguments. Although, I'd watch him on with O'Reilly or Hannity any day.

 

[Vurtual]

Because I saw what you wrote before you changed it

Well i put 'underclass' originally which is still how i think of myself automatically (it's how i was brought up and have spent most of my life) - i have now risen into the very bottom of the working class so i changed it (my allegiance is to the lumpen-proles though). Ooh just saw your edit - yes i put shit-poor too (and that's true believe it or not) i took it out cos i thought you'd say i couldn't stick up for russel cos he's rich.

 

[ColtDan]

Anyone who feels the need to speak like that is doing so in an attempt to draw attention to himself. Did Einstein speak like that ? Does Stephen Hawking or Richard Dawkins?...or are they not "clever" enough to use that kind of language?

You've really missed the point haha. i assume you dont know the meaning of the words he bangs into sentences

 

[BigG]

were you "shit-poor" though

You've really missed the point haha. i assume you dont know the meaning of the words he bangs into sentences

Erm yes I know the meaning of the words. My issue is with the combination of all of them at once in a sentence in what I think is an unnecessary way....I'm not an idiot

 

[Vurtual]

were you "shit-poor" though

(Oh well i suppose i made the thread about me) - yes i was/am 'shit-poor'; depending how you define it i suppose (i could have said 'for britain, but not for the world') - my income is defined as 'poverty' is that good enough for you? Saying that, it's actually enough for what i need so i feel fairly rich really (compared to being on benefits). Anyway can we go back to the topic please?

 

[BigG]

To quote Noel Gallagher (Brand's friend)....."Well, I love Russell but he don't half talk out of his a**e sometimes," he told Noisey during a recent interview.

"His fine, muscular, pert arse. He does talk a load of s**t. I couldn't see him overthrowing a table of drinks. Do you think he's going to put himself in charge? Hmm, I wonder."

and to quote that cuddly man of the people Boris Johnson....

''What people listen to are short Anglo Saxon words that readily correspond to some object in the universe that they can identify. So in other words talk simply, use plain English and talk about stuff in the real world.''.

I sick of talking about Russel Brand now.

I think we've identified the earth shattering conclusion that some like him.......and some don't

 

[Dark Side]

Noel Gallagher does nothing but talk shite

 

[Vurtual]

Yes, but i'd rather listen to russell brand than noel gallagher or boris johnson any day of the week (and anyway, i think elsewhere on in that noel interview he says much more complimentary stuff - post the whole interview (and what's that throwback overthrown anyway? decent music? His brother? )

It doesn't matter if you don't like him - play the ball, not the man (like i didn't)

 

[Don Luigi]

I consider myself to have a half-decent range of vocabulary, and a passable level of intelligence. However, I have to look up a lot of the words he uses. I think if he wants these 'proles' to relate to him better, he could maybe turn down the exotic nature of his rhetoric. Then again, it may also grab people's attention who otherwise wouldn't have given a fart about the issues he talks about.

 

[Vurtual]

Maybe thinking you need to talk down to the proles is part of the problem - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I think he should carry on as he is - he's got quite a large audience, so must be doing something right. I don't think his vocabulary gets in the way of the basic message he's getting across in any particular trews episode (judging by watching it with some of my young relatives) - it's usually clear what he's on about, even if you miss some of the adjectives (and hearing new words is good).

 

[Don Luigi]

I must give the trews a wee watch at some point. To be honest, I don't think I've even heard of it.

 

[tripnnface]

Russel brand is a controlled opposition shill . he pretends to be a man of the people and self proclaimed revolutionary; meanwhile shaking hands and dining with the "Queen" ( German zionist scum) and dating into multi billionaire banking elite families ( zionist scum) . mark my words. he will be exposed in time. everything he says is recycled rhetoric he has learned from other sources. with some charisma and charm; talk fast enough; and apparently everybody thinks you're a saint lol. leaves a very bad taste in my mouth . just because he can say the right thing does not mean he believes in it. look at his actions and who he associates with if you want to fathom his true allegiance

 

[BigG]

- he's got quite a large audience, so must be doing something right.

Come on though mate, Hitler had a large audience and unless you count getting the trains to run on time it's difficult to think of much he got right. (before anyone says it, I'm not comparing Brand to Hitler, simply refuting Virtual's remark about having a large following meaning that you've got it right.)

Also while I hate to re-ignite this discussion on Brand who I clearly don't think much of but you like as it just goes round in circles, I still felt obliged to point this bit out

 

[Vurtual]

^ i was responding to the suggestion that he should dumb himself down to reach a more mainstream audience - that was a fair comment i thought, and no excuse for being godwinned (and anyway i don't think hitler ever actually won a proper majority - hindenberg apponited him to avoid social democrats or something (and commies had been banned by then hadn't they, so it was no real election anyway)).

^^ And as for brand being a shill - who is he shilling for exactly? Is there a part of the 'zionist' elite that actually wants social justice, direct democracy and socialism? If there is, sign me up (and don't say it's the new world order/neoliberalism cos that's plainly capitalist) (and he split up with jemima goldsmith a while back anyway)