The Political Thread

[sintec]

A theory about a conspiracy to concoct conspiracty theories for political aims https://blog.usejournal.com/qanon-is-propaganda-and-we-know-whos-responsible-faa133fb6acd

Well worth a read if you're interested in some back ground on QAnon and some of the people promoting/distributing it.

[Funt Solo]

Thanks, sintec. Fascinating article. My favorite part so far is:

[Tjm86]

I feel like it should come with a health warning: this could terrifying the living shit out of you!

[Funt Solo]

Ways to change the world (s06e21) - Timothy Snyder

Fascinating interview by Krishnan Guru-Murthy.

[Funt Solo]

I already knew that Russel Brand was a fast-talking moron that's always trying to punch above his intellect, but I was still shaking my head at his response to Trump's attempted fascist coup-de-mob.

In his video (Capitol Hill - Who Is To Blame?) he spends much of the running time making the stupendously dull, moronic and provably false point that (paraphrasing) "it doesn't make any difference who you elect - they're all as bad as each other", thus blaming everything on ... the system.

In telling us it's not a perfect system (neatly rebutting a claim made by ... nobody, ever), he steps neatly over Voltaire's grave (having pissed on it, probably) and tells us that nobody in the USA will see any change in the quality of their lives regardless of who is president.

So, the fact that Obama's Affordable Healthcare Act has "reduced the number of uninsured people to historically low levels and helped more people access health care services, especially low-income people and people of color" doesn't matter to Mr. Brand. Facts are dull compared to feelings, and it's all or nothing for him, as he sits enjoying his over-privileged lifestyle and acting as if he's some kind of wise guru. What a twat.

[IndigoPrime]

I remember a brief period when he ended up on Question Time and also interviewed a bunch of politicians for his YouTube channel. It felt like a car crash, showing him up as a kind of vacuous Wilf Self — rich in vocabulary but short on substance. That hasn't changed. And right now, "but both sides" or "they're all as bad as each other" are staggeringly bad takes. Even Tories are trying to row back from that, now they've seen Trump's legacy is in tatters.

[Professor Bear]

So, the fact that Obama's Affordable Healthcare Act has "reduced the number of uninsured people to historically low levels and helped more people access health care services, especially low-income people and people of color" doesn't matter to Mr. Brand. Facts are dull compared to feelings, and it's all or nothing for him, as he sits enjoying his over-privileged lifestyle and acting as if he's some kind of wise guru. What a twat.

Most people knew he was a twat when he cold-called Manuel to tell him what he'd done to his grand-daughter's bottom.

I confess I lost track of Brand after he started growing the Osama Bin laden beard (at least 2 years before the lockdown) but I do know that Brand has long-posited (since at least the 2015 General Election) to his primary audience of 13 year-old girls that systemic change through voting would be unlikely given the limited options presented by the two-party setup, but the difference for the disabled and people reliant on the NHS if a party with a mandate to fund the NHS was to take power would be significant and potentially life-changing.  And then he endorsed the Greens.
I know he's a quixotic figure, but it seems you and he are actually of a similar mind in this and likely many other matters, even if he perhaps doesn't explain it to your satisfaction in that particular video because of his rambling demeanor.
Another video which covers much the same subject matter as Brand's - though with significantly more coherence - may be found HERE, and though it is now several months old, it is specifically about American fascists and you will note the author's pinned comment.

[Funt Solo]

I've been feeling some sympathy for some of the Capitol rioters. Yes, they're fascist boot boys - but a lot of them are working class stooges that have been set on this path by the manipulations of people who didn't take part in the riot and get to continue with their lives unmolested.

---

I expect Brand and I would agree on quite a lot - but I was frustrated that he seemed to see an attempted fascist putsch as a sort of "ho hum - same difference" event rather than a dangerous crossroads. At least, that's what I got from his video.

[The Legendary Shark]

It was ever thus.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I've been feeling some sympathy for some of the Capitol rioters. Yes, they're fascist boot boys - but a lot of them are working class stooges that have been set on this path by the manipulations of people who didn't take part in the riot and get to continue with their lives unmolested.

---

I expect Brand and I would agree on quite a lot - but I was frustrated that he seemed to see an attempted fascist putsch as a sort of "ho hum - same difference" event rather than a dangerous crossroads. At least, that's what I got from his video.

His 'woss the point in voting when naffink changes' schtick of a few years ago got on my tits something rotten.  Those who listen to Brand and don't vote: Young, liberal and progressive.  Those who don't listen to him, and vote: Tory and Ukip fans. 2020: Labour all but disappears and the Tories become a Ukip tribute act.  I'm not saying it's ALL the fault of hunky Russ (45), but he could have done with shutting his trap for a while back then.

[Funt Solo]

Now: if there had been a planned BLM protest that day, I've no doubt we'd have seen a much stronger police presence ...

I reckon there was a huge police presence, they were just wearing their nice red hats instead of their blue work hats.

Just read that there were off-duty police and fire fighters at the event, some of whom have since been placed on administrative leave.

[Rately]

Seeing them being rounded up at Airports, and taking it very badly that they are seen as Domestic Terrorists, is really something beautiful. The video of a man proclaiming "they are going to ruin my life" sums up these arseholes perfectly. No personal responsibility, always somebody else's fault and all the better for them if that person is a different colour.

The Right-Wing media response has been a thing of grotesque Fukery. Again, everybody else to blame, not Trump or his inciting, not those "Patriots" who desecrated their own Democracy and actually murdered a Police Officer. No Sir. Antifa, BLM, Soros, False Flags...

[IndigoPrime]

The guy, face down on an airport floor, screaming that the cops were treating him "like a black man" sums his ilk up.

[Professor Bear]

His 'woss the point in voting when naffink changes' schtick of a few years ago got on my tits something rotten.  Those who listen to Brand and don't vote: Young, liberal and progressive.  Those who don't listen to him, and vote: Tory and Ukip fans. 2020: Labour all but disappears and the Tories become a Ukip tribute act.

I fear you might be insulting the agency of the average human in suggesting they are mere thralls to the impeccably-reasoned arguments of Sir Russell Brand QC, but as the forum's democratically-elected left unity candidate and wallet inspector 1st class, I feel the need to point out that if you're the type who will only vote if the guy who divorced Katy Perry via text message says you should, you were never going to vote.

Brand has a massive social media presence and he uses it to promote left-wing ideas to an audience conditioned to be apolitical, and it seems foolish to assume that that same audience, faced with everyday concerns, would refute electoralism entirely on the say-so of a celebrity anarchist.  Brand is essentially encouraging critical thinking to teenagers and white van drivers, and their material conditions and experiences will decide whether or not they become politically-engaged and/or active after that.

[TordelBack]

Brand is essentially encouraging critical thinking to teenagers and white van drivers, and their material conditions and experiences will decide whether or not they become politically-engaged and/or active after that.

Man's a clever wally, but essentially this ^^^^.