Politics Russel Brand on Newsnight.

[TdC]

thanks to you guys Scouse now has the face of Russel Brand in my mind

 

[soze]

In practical terms you have to tear down the existing institutions before you can clearly discuss the alternatives.

This genuinely scares me. The idea of our government being taken down by the people is horrible. With the amount of scum bags in our population any major upheaval in our government will probably lead to mass scenes like the London Riots but on a national scale. Anyone who thinks anything short of a military enforced government could take back the country is insane. In my nightmare like visions all I see is the rich fleaing and the strong bullying the weak in gangs eating the food while the government struggle to regain control.

I see nothing in our society that leads me to believe the intellectuals would not have the ever loving shit kicked out of them by groups of chavs with pitbulls.

 

[throdgrain]

Just like Mad Max but in England

 

[georgie]

Lord of the Flies with tea and crumpets.

 

[Wij]

Revolution would not work. The people have nothing they agree on. Look at what's happened in revolutions in the Arab Spring. Civil wars. You think we'd do better?

Anyway, world government? Seriously? People are tribal, by nature. The only way youd keep them all under one government is by repression. Of course not being a democrat you'd probably be happy that wew were being repressed for the greater good

 

[Lamp]

Brand is worth what? £30m?

 

[Scouse]

Brand is worth what? £30m?

Does that make his views invalid?

You're not going to trot out the "if he's serious he has to give all his money away" rubbish are you?

 

[Raven]

No, but it is very easy for those that don't have to worry about anything to have an opinion on everything.

 

[TdC]

Lord of the Flies with tea and crumpets.

tbh the farmers are the only ones who will survive. and the people who serve them. those are the only people who can truly laugh in the face of the revolution. everyone else has something to lose.

 

[Scouse]

tbh the farmers are the only ones who will survive.

I stayed at a stately home in Taunton in Somerset once. The house was given to its original owner, some woman, who Charles II had got up the duff, and she'd had an illegitimate son by him. (They looked after some of 'em I guess).

The bathroom that adjoined my room was almost as big as the top floor of my house. I'm nearly 6'3" and I could lie in the bath, on the bottom, completely submerged with plenty of room to spare, whilst my g/f reclined on the chez longue in front of the massive bay window reading from the available library they had in there.

I was reading a book on groundskeeping and landkeeping for these big royal estates. It was about managing them in a sustainable fashion in case the entire economic system came to a grinding halt. The system of running these estates, from the queen down, through the "landed gentry" is designed to keep 'er Maj. and her cronies in venison and elderflower wine should the towers of capitalism come crashing down (in a non-radioactive earth-ending manner, of course).

We've a system of maintaining these stately homes - funded by charities and public visits in the absence of their owners. It's called the National Trust. Plebs like us get to walk around the lovely estates, peek in the houses at the art, and the armour, and the guns, and the nice bedrooms and the likes - at a cost - and the houses are maintained. (Got a mate who lives in one as a groundskeeper/historical restorer - gets a pretty plush wing for life until she gets too old then they pension her off into a nice cottage on the grounds until she dies - the lord of his particular manor lives in about 1/4th of the estate which is out of bounds to the public). Aaaanyway - what the British public seem to be unaware of is that the National Trust is just holding these places in trust

 

[Olgaline]

tbh the farmers are the only ones who will survive. and the people who serve them. those are the only people who can truly laugh in the face of the revolution. everyone else has something to lose.

We who supply the water of life, shall reign beyond the masses.

 

[Kryten]

Paxman said something particularly fucking stupid in that interview, the implication/questioning of "how can you possibly have a say if you've never voted" - just like those fucking stupid adverts from a couple of years ago. Brand's answer to that was excellent.

"You have 5 fucking muppets. One is a rapist, one a murderer, 2 pillagers and a paedophile. Elect one to run the country"

He doesn't have much clue about the economy though. I think it's clear to most people that the only way to "fix" humanity in such a way isn't the redistribution of wealth (remember that story about an economics class being told they will all get the same averaged grade?), it would be to abolish the idea of wealth entirely. But being humans, that's never going to happen. We're all too mentally fucked up.

 

[Job]

It'a quite simple, I'm too lazy to take the time to invent/build/inspire/manage, so I leave it to others who are far more motivated, they get more cash for their efforts, wether it's work hard or steal hard and in return I get a little piece of the pie.
It's pretty obvious after a while someone's gonna get very greedy in deed, but I'm not going to pull down the entire system to fix something that will unfix itself very quickly..it may seem defeatist, I call it realist.
Without the semi authority we have, you'd have Mexico.
Cos if that's what you want

 

[SilverHood]

Paxman said something particularly fucking stupid in that interview, the implication/questioning of "how can you possibly have a say if you've never voted" - just like those fucking stupid adverts from a couple of years ago. Brand's answer to that was excellent.

"You have 5 fucking muppets. One is a rapist, one a murderer, 2 pillagers and a paedophile. Elect one to run the country"

He doesn't have much clue about the economy though. I think it's clear to most people that the only way to "fix" humanity in such a way isn't the redistribution of wealth (remember that story about an economics class being told they will all get the same averaged grade?), it would be to abolish the idea of wealth entirely. But being humans, that's never going to happen. We're all too mentally fucked up.

I don't think it's a mental thing, it's how society has evolved, because it was better than the alternatives. At the end of the day, wealth is just a token of labour, a univsal token used to simplify the process of bartering. What replaces it? A totally planned economy like the Soviets?

That said, a lot of the problems with the UK could be solved by abolishing first past the post voting and instituting proportional representation. At least it force the Tories, Lib Dems and Labour party to behave themselves.

 

[throdgrain]

I thought that speech was so pathetic I'm surprised anyone has anything to say about it at all.

 

[Wij]

It was frighteningly naive and completely ignored the fact that society is made up of human beings.

Yes, there's tonnes that can be made fairer but bullshit sorts nothing.

 

[Raven]

I actually agree. You don't vote then you should not have an opinion. Spoil you ballot for fucks sake. Accusing the institution of apathy then showing apathy by not turning up is utterly retarded. Show them that you think they are dicks, spoiled ballots are counted.

 

[Kryten]

How can that possibly work raven? See above comment. If you had the pick from 5 abject liars and thieves, would you therefore just pick the thief you like best maybe because of his hair colour or the shape she trimmed her bush? Why be forced to vote for any of them when they're all utter lying cunts.

 

[throdgrain]

Say what you like, there is a basic difference between left and right wing politics. They may all be a lot of cunts, but the inherent philosophy of left wing politics is to bring everyone down to a level, and control everything they think say and do. Right wing politics is for small government, and business growth. This tends to make a few people very wealthy, but also brings along some of the population along with them. Lazy and thick people tend to do worse.

 

[Raven]

How can that possibly work raven? See above comment. If you had the pick from 5 abject liars and thieves, would you therefore just pick the thief you like best maybe because of his hair colour or the shape she trimmed her bush? Why be forced to vote for any of them when they're all utter lying cunts.

I didn't say that. I said to spoil the ballot. ie, draw a massive penis on it or something, Or write "None of these cunts". That's how I vote now. People not turning up is seen as apathy, people spoiling their ballot is counted as None.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoilt_vote See the section on "Intentional spoiling"

 

[Wij]

I dunno. Name me any society with less fair distribution of wealth, privilege and power than Soviet Russia, Mao's China or North Korea now

 

[Kryten]

I didn't say that. I said to spoil the ballot. ie, draw a massive penis on it or something, Or write "None of these cunts". That's how I vote now. People not turning up is seen as apathy, people spoiling their ballot is counted as None.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoilt_vote See the section on "Intentional spoiling"

Ah, I see. Does that actually mean/do anything more than not showing though?

 

[Raven]

Not if only a few do it but if everyone who didn't vote because they could not find a candidate they can relate to did it they would soon notice, technically the validity of the vote can be called into question. I can 't remember the exact figures and can't really be arsed to find them but didn't the Tories get in on 25% of the population actually wanting them in? Likewise with Labour.

 

[rynnor]

Not if only a few do it but if everyone who didn't vote because they could not find a candidate they can relate to did it they would soon notice, technically the validity of the vote can be called into question. I can 't remember the exact figures and can't really be arsed to find them but didn't the Tories get in on 25% of the population actually wanting them in? Likewise with Labour.

The problem with spoiling your ballot is that its still counted as turnout and its turnout that legitimises the results.

 

[SheepCow]

Ah, I see. Does that actually mean/do anything more than not showing though?

From what I can remember from the last election they usually talk about ~60% turn out, and assume the 40% that didn't vote just cba. They did mention spoilt ballots but it was like 0.5% so no real effect

 

[TdC]

on le facebooks RB is being hailed as the best thing since sliced bread. Perhaps Lenin really was right about the masses.

 

[throdgrain]

There's nothing to disagree about Scouse, it's simple fact.

 

[Scouse]

There's nothing to disagree about Scouse, it's simple fact.

I completely disagree that politics is even slightly structured left and right wing at all.

There was a sort of idea about that once. But not any more.

 

[Job]

The happier people are the less they vote..the turnout for young people is 30%...they dont give a fuk..the world is too big to worry about the price of gas.

 

[SilverHood]

How can that possibly work raven? See above comment. If you had the pick from 5 abject liars and thieves, would you therefore just pick the thief you like best maybe because of his hair colour or the shape she trimmed her bush? Why be forced to vote for any of them when they're all utter lying cunts.

Vote blank. I'd probably vote for the Jimmy Saville character. Someone has to think of the children!