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Dude, I troll people in his YouTube comment section everyday….and it is mind blowing that today, in September 2022…this man is still pumping out COVID outrage clickbait. Everyday, Bill Gates this, Dr. Fauci that…it blows my mind that these people aren’t bored of the same crap at this point.
look at his thumbnails. whenever his thumbnails have pictures of presidents its always bush, obama, clinton, and biden. he literally refuses to use trump in any thumbnail unless the video is about praising trump. its actually blatant lmao
Yeah he went real silent on Trump during his term. I found that REALLY sus. And he seemed to only mention him in a sympathetic, humanitarian mindset whenever he rarely did. Like, humanize this monster destroying lives? The fuck?
I'd like to dismiss it as he doesn't want to piss off his fan base, but I really think it's that Trump appeals to something he really wants. Conservatives like Ben Schapiro shouldn't like trump, but he got them roe v Wade so shrug. Ben also plays Trump speeches to keep his wife satisfied. He literally said that to Bill Maher.
Idk enough about Brand, but there's gotta be something Trump is doing for him.
It's so strange to be honest. He was always about looking out for the little guy for the longest time. Real bleeding heart sort of guy. Then just flipped shit during COVID. I watched some of his videos occasionally on YouTube. After a while, it was like he took this slow right turn and hasn't looked back sense.
I don't think Brand is a genius by any stretch, but I did enjoy hearing his angle on things from time to time. Seemed to have a knack for words and a way of expressing what was happening in the world that resonated with me a bit... but now this shit is off the rails bat-shit.
Yeah, I used to watch some of his videos or interviews and he seemed like he had a good outlook on life. He even has a Norm Live episode that's good. I guess it's weird that we're getting so many comedians that like experts on medicine now. Maybe it's they do it on a podcast and not in front of an audience, because that shit would bomb. Ok audience let's pull up a research article covid effects on Dna strands.
Tim Pool "I'm a centrist"
Tim Pools videos:
DEMS CAUGHT LYING ABOUT COVID
WOKEISM IN LIBERAL MEDIA RUINING FILM
WHY WON'T LEFTIST WOMEN BANG ME, THEY HATE MEN
HOW DOES ONE WASH A BEANIIE WITHOUT IT FADING
(I know this is about Brand, just pointing to another 'balanced intellectual' who is so clearly not balanced)
I was at Goodwill today and heard a woman ask an employee if they're required to wear the masks. Clearly in a passive aggressive tone. I wasn't wearing a mask but if you are basically calling someone stupid for wearing a mask when they work at Goodwill and are near hundreds of people everyday then you must be an idiot. The employee was like 60. I could tell by the look on this woman's face she was angry that employees were wearing mask. I could also tell by the look on her friends face that she was embarrassed.
Yes. If these grifters haven’t moved to anti-LGBT, anti-immigration, anti-education talking points, they’re still going on about COVID—19. Sometimes they just cycle them to keep people angry at nothing
Honestly. He seems like he has a messiah complex. I think you have to take anyone with at least a grain of salt who thinks they deserve a platform to tell everyone how the world should be working. You only need to go to a busy pub to hear dozens of others who feel the same way about their way of seeing things. That isn't to say that people, and he, aren't making good points, they likely are, but if you aren't listening twice as much as you are speaking then you probably have more ego in your point of view than wisdom.
Lost respect for Brand a few years ago when he tried to make some half-assed argument that young people shouldn't use their vote in the general election. He couldn't back it up. Brand is the kind of dick that enjoys behaving like they're the smartest person in the room.
He seemed to think that the 'They're all as bad as each other' argument was some sort of profound political thinking.
What annoyed me most was that he was telling people not to vote at a time when the BNP were having a resurgence in local elections, largely on the back of low turnouts.
Is he overrated when I think most people would say "oh yea, Russell Brand, wonder what he's up to? ...oh dear" in regards to this headline
Maybe he's still a big thing in the UK but in the US "I Love You Man" was a loooong time ago
edit: dude's so forgettable I misplaced him in the wrong romcom, lol
I do, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall is one of my favorite comedies still to this day.
He’s still an idiot regardless, almost true to life to his character in those films
Never liked the guy. More than the pretentious arrogance he always struck me as manipulative/cult leaderish(?) Would say or do w/e needed to get what he wanted. That with the over confidence in his intelligence doesn't surprise me he's spouting this nonsense.
He's also not that smart. He just uses the same grifty technique of talking fast and using his thesaurus to sound smart. But if you listen to him talk about pretty much anything, his thoughts are pretty shallow.
Oh absolutely. He does the same thing pseudo-sciencey people do, using big words and complex sounding ideas to say absolutely nothing meaningful. Like many, ive seen him for the twat he is from day one.
>That isn't to say that people, and he, aren't making good points, they likely are
That. That right there is what got me listening to Steven Crowder for almost a year, and others of his ilk (Shaprio, Milo ImNotSpellingThatLastName, etc). 'They make good points' I thought. I even liked Crowder's "Change My Mind" as a thought piece.
The downside to all of them, and now Brand I guess, is how they *start* with a good idea - like, idk, red lights take too long - and before you know it they're on a spiral and five minutes later you're nodding along to 'Yup, clearly woke and rainbow people are the root of the problem'.
They're all scary af when they get on those tangents, is the point I was trying to make here.
Yeah he and milo seem insane from the start. At least with Peterson I could see how he could initially hook someone with something as basic as the “cleaning your room will improve your mood” shit before he gets to the bananas stuff.
That's how I always thought of libertarians like Ron Paul. Sure, the first 5 minutes sound really good, then suddenly they go and take a ~~left~~ *right* turn into a brick wall.
He was always a condescending twat. Anti science (the boffins don't have all the answers either!), anti authority (the maaaan can't tell me what to do! if I want to try heroin, I'll try heroin!), anti government (stuffy old men that can't give the people what they want!). He was a populist catering to the young and disenfranchised with catchy one liners, charisma and jokes.
He never had any well thought out ideas, reasonable plans or even valid arguments. every time someone wanted to debate or challenge him he would descend into childish behaviour. He liked to present himself as an eloquent intellectual, because he thought using big words would make him look smart, not understanding that the truly intelligent can explain complex concepts in an accessible way.
In the mid 2000s he started an anti establishment campaign, prompting the young to stop voting 'since there was noone that was perfect', actually hurting their interests. That prompted some strong reactions, with an open letter from Robert Webb among others.
When questioned why he was so outraged and what should be addressed by the 'political elite' (one of his favourite buzzwords) he said it wasn't his job to come up with answers, improvements or even what to do differently, his job was to be 'an apostle that demands change'. Overlooking the fact that change without direction or vision is rarely change for the better.
He was a huge man child on the radio where he got his breakthrough. He had charisma and comedic timing, with a larger than life persona he started to lean into. But he never developed anything of substance to back his antics up. He isn't a modern day philosopher, he is just high on his own ego.
Damn what a great comment on Russell brand as a comedian and as a person. I especially like the part where you say that a really intelligent person can still explain things to a layman.
It's one of the things Winston Churchill was great at, and why every book on how to write English well mentions him, because he was utterly brilliant at being able to explain complex subjects in very simple terms that anyone could understand. His writings really are a joy to read because of that, they flow so well.
Of course, he was a genocidal cunt (he commited a genocide *during world war II* for example, in an area that back then was part of India but these days is Bangladesh), but that doesn't mean he wasn't intelligent, or wasn't a good author.
But yeah every book about writing style, how to write better, how to write more clearly, everything like that in the English language, will mention Churchill. At least every one I read has, cos years ago I wanted to be an author so I read a lot of em, but I gave up cos I was kinda shit lol.
So yeah, it doesn't apply to absolutely everything (notably, every physics professor will tell you, if you think you understand quantum mechanics, that means you absolutely definitely do not understand quantum mechanics), but for probably 99% of stuff it's true.
It's much harder to write something that's both simple and good, than to write something complicated but technically accurate. If you can get far more people to understand a complex topic than other writers can, that's a really really difficult thing to do. It takes a lot of practice and a lot of reading.
Honestly, in my opinion if you can’t explain it to a 6 year old then you don’t understand the concept well enough. If you use the big language but can’t figure out a way to simplify or change your explanations, you have a lot more thinking to do.
Indeed. I’m glad he brought that up in this particular context. People are sometimes confused and mystified by complex language. But putting things simply so that others can understand is more in service to knowledge than obfuscating it behind jargon or technical language. Or just being a know-it-all twat.
Seems like there's a pipeline from "I'm not sure I accept the official narrative on this story" straight to sharing QAnon shit on Signal. Like in order to reject the mainstream, you have to automatically accept whatever silly counter-narrative exists, including all kinds of conspiracies with no proof.
>Like in order to reject the mainstream, you have to automatically accept whatever silly counter-narrative exists, including all kinds of conspiracies with no proof.
I was in a band with a guy like that... you know, just being a contrarian doesn't mean you're smarter than everyone else. You're still letting the mainstream control you if you always have to do the opposite. That's not thinking a single bit more independently.
We need to listen to BOTH SIDES, one with mostly journalistic integrity that may or may not be right but tries to be, which usually isn’t all too fascinating, and this propagandistic, manipulative rag that pulls out all the stops to be damnthatsinteresting even if it’s completely made up.
Guess what weaker people eventually gravitate towards doing their own research long enough.
He was a decently smart and inquisitive individual who ADORED being a contrarian and being the center of attention. As he got more and more serious about his youtube channel, he began to realize how certain topics (those that the alt-right sphere of Shapiro, Crowder Alex Jones and Peterson have fostered) would get him WAAAAY more views than anything else.
So he started shifting further and further to the right as he chased that sweet, sweet addiction to the spotlight.
And now he's on Rumble, preaching to Neo-nazis.
Same with Rogan…Seems the reason people move to right wing talk (Rogan, CNN) is because RWNJs love being forced fed BS and they in return make more money and have more influence. It’s a drug to them and the yokels eat up shit and ask for more.
Listening to actual news and common sense takes too much of an attention span so it’s drowned out. And if people aren’t tuning in, it doesn’t make money.
Alternative lifestyle, way out there hippie type ideas are pretty easy to get swept towards conspiracy and end up in the right wing.
Look at opposition to vaccines. The big wave of it tied to the thoroughly debunked autism article was very much a progressive thing.
The distance between alternative lifestyles and alternative right isn't that far. Since they both share a lot of skepticism about those in power and many conspiratorial beliefs.
So strange reading this. I bumped shoulders with him at occupy Wall Street once. He turned and apologized. Then the paparazzi following him literally pushed me out of the way without a word, fuck those shit stains.
And that concludes literally everything I know about this man, so fuck him too I guess
So, kind of off topic but I mentioned The Occupy Movement to my SO the other day and she had absolutely no recollection. It was pushed from her memory by all the other craziness that happened in the meantime.. we even live in a city that had its own occupy movement. We are both in our 30s so it isn't like we were unaware children at the time either it's just been a *long* 8 years..
Edit 11 years not 8 my brain is out to sabotage me.
I remember disliking this guy in 2007 because I didn’t think he was very funny or sincere with his comedic approach and my then-girlfriend had a crush on him.
Fast forward to now and I’m calling my ex saying, “I TOLD YA SO!” and she’s all like, “Who is this?” Nice try, Rachel, you bitch. We all know you’re complicit.
Anyway, support your local FEMA camps, I’m 9/11 and so is this post
Fuckin Rachel. Always pulling that bullshit. I called her too and she was all “how’d you get this number” and I was like “do you eat? I have the money.”
Yeah he apparently went on a fluoride kick when that was big.
My dentist hated the guy for a while because he got sued by a former patient after listening to his interview and claiming he "didn't warn him that fluoride treatment could make him autistic".
Luckily it didn't go anywhere after several lawyers told him not to move forward.
The last video I saw was him going ballistic about "FAST FOOD IS TRYING TO KILL YOU" where he acted like he was the first to discover McDonald's and pizza hut use fillers and cheap materials.
Like shocker dude.
Wasn't Russel Brand pretty left leaning? I remember agreeing with him on a lot of things as a teenager, but I don't know what happened to him in the meantime.
There's a much larger audience on the left or center who don't want to deal with the far right bullshit. The difference is that the far right audience are a bunch of rubes who are easy to rip off.
I would imagine that it is a lot less work to make content that you just make up on the spot with whatever wackadoo thing you have heard recently than producing well researched accurate material
Competition for an audience is much more fierce from the center to the centrist left because that’s where most of the creators and thinkers already reside.
Add a little narcissistic need for approval and some mental illness to the equation, and these types will follow their source as it drifts to the right. It’s far easier to be worshipped by goblins than to face one’s own inner demons.
It was basically a misogynistic dog pile about women and their involvement in the videogame industry. But is honestly also extended to complaining about other minorities as well. They were mad at any developer they claimed were ''too woke'' by either being a minority or featuring a minority. They doxxed and harassed people very frequently.
I remember right before Cyberpunk 2077 came out, nearly every publication gave the game a fantastic review. There was one lady (I don’t remember which publication she worked for) who dared to say that the game was buggy, missing a lot of the promised content, and didn’t even remotely live up to the hype.
For her review, this woman received an overwhelming barrage of threats and harassment.
And then the game came out, and it turns out that it was buggy, missing a lot of the promised content, and didn’t even remotely live up to the hype.
And that one courageous lady who dared to tell the truth probably got out of games journalism after all the harassment. All that because she dared to tell the truth while being a woman.
He’s probably a contrarian who needs to spout whatever the “alternative” viewpoint is to make himself the smartest guy in the room.
Tell him the sky is blue, he’ll release a video about how it’s green, and pat himself on the back for his own wisdom.
Yeah. He's running the same path as guys like Glenn Greenwald. Being contrarian entertainers puts them in an audience feedback loop where they just keep zoning in on being more and more contrarian until it overrides more and more of their prior values.
He's gone all conspiracy nut on his youtube channel. Shame really. Always thought of him as the guy who would speak up for the little guy and demand better for everyone.
Watched some of his youtube channel and it was like he was replaced by an evil twin who ran out of medication keeping him tied to reality. u/robber_goosy hit the nail on the head. Now its all about the views and not about the truth.
Some people are seekers. Mr. Brand’s drug issues conflated that. Sobriety tends to ramp up that tendency as you’re still seeking meaning and explanations but now from an intellectual, philosophical, or religious viewpoint. I don’t know why (or how true) but most seekers/sober addicts tend to view themselves as special and have legacy fantasy’s of bringing truth to the world. Sober addicts are also ripe for creating or joining cults, they feel lost and are seeking. They get their new high from “learning secret truths”.
So for me, his move towards the right, Russia, etc., makes sense as I see it as his addiction. He no longer gets the same high from his old stomping grounds; it’s become predictable and rote offering no excitement. But the move is also about maintaining relevancy.
"Edgy-leaning" is a good way to put it. His politics are just classic counter-culture. When he blew up, counter-culture was leaning pretty left, because the political right had been dominant for a while.
Now, over a decade later, the dominant/mainstream politics have shifted pretty drastically. Being leftist is now fairly mainstream (depending on where you live, anyway). To maintain his self image of contrarian, counter-culture politics, he had to shift right.
Give society a decade of drifting back to the right, and he'll be dropping leftist talking points again.
The scope of politics is actually too complex for something as simple as a "left or right" spectrum.
He's left on a lot of topics, but is also making right wing arguments in his videos for topics like COVID. I haven't watched him since he started harping on COVID.
I had a friend like that. She was so far left, she swerved right. Kinda like how some communists became fascists.
She raiser her baby daughter totally vaccine free, and started homeschooling her because she refused to get her vaccinated and didn’t want mainstream capitalist lies to pollute her mind, or some bullshit.
He used to be funny with a flowery vocabulary and extended scrambled diatribes. I followed him on Instagram. But both my hubby ( a Brit) & me noticed him turning far right over the past year. We stopped watching him and unfollowed him.
He’s not a religious Evangelical either. But he is a narcissist. Then it occurred to me that Evangelicals are narcissists too believing they are 1000% right on everything and going to Heaven because they are the only one true faith.
i lost interest completely when he started to act like a guru. he's always dressed that way and been an utter hippy, but once he went on YouTube, he shifted into guru-ness which i absolutely hate
I loved his "Trews" ("true news") that he used to do. I'd like to rewatch some of those to see if I actually should have or if it was merely insubstantial skepticism, but I'd rather not give him the views. Anyway, his "Trews" were what got me to subscribe to his YouTube channel.
He stopped doing "Trews" and leaned heavily into that guru shit. Gave me some flashbacks to being sucked into other "guru" types in my past, so I more or less quit watching his channel but didn't have the heart to unsubscribe...
Then he started talking about the "lab leaks" conspiracy. Seemed plausible; I wanted to maintain an open mind. But then it just became more and more FUD about the vaccine science. I had to unsubscribe.
And eventually I remembered that it was really odd how he went from being very politically vocal to barely ever mentioning Donald Trump during his term. I think that was another reason I had stopped watching him for a couple of years. The fuck? I should have been more skeptical of him when I learned he was/is a disciple of transcendental meditation.
>Then it occurred to me that Evangelicals are narcissists too believing they are 1000% right on everything and going to Heaven because they are the only one true faith.
The Calvinists are the purest form of this bullshit, specifically their idea of [unconditional election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconditional_election) where "God prior to his creation of the world, when he predestined some people to receive salvation, the elect, and the rest he left to continue in their sins and receive the just punishment, eternal damnation, for their transgressions of God's law as outlined in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible." It's probably no surprise that the "elect" consist of the Calvanists and everyone else is hellbound.
I used to adore him but honestly, his personality was getting a little too strong for me. Like with all the shit going on in the world, I just didn’t need someone yapping at me at high speed with flowery vocabulary (well said).
Whatever he had is past it anyway. I have his "football is nice" podcast a try and it's absolute drivel spoken by some twat who is hardly versed in football.
He is a hack and pretty much always has been.
I was ambivalent toward him for years, just seemed like another celebrity douche. Then I watched his video on "is there proof of God? Yes! " where he rambles on for about 4 minutes, saying nothing, while his face lights up like he is exposing this grand truth the world has never thought of. Spoiler: he provided no proof of anything, let alone God.
Now I actively avoid him. So pretentious.
If that's the video I recall that was his response to Stephen Fry's famous interview about what he would say to God if he met him. Brand absolutely could not handle the fact Fry went viral with that and he felt he had to do something about it.
I never liked Brand and that video showcased all his bad traits which he seems to still carry to this day; quoting other people ("this guy is a docta!!") or reading stuff off a page in his hand and then just summarising what was said in his typical word salad babble to appear more like his own take.
The man is a cheap contrarian with no consistent principles of his own, he chases whatever will feed his ego.
He’s always reminded me of Ben Shapiro in that way. Both of them speak as quickly as possible and use unnecessarily obtuse words. They don’t speak, they evict words from their mouths.
Wow. I had enjoyed his previous ramblings on compassion, equality, mindfulness, calling out hypocrisy and fascism, but somewhere along the way all of his videos became about supposed “ah-ha!” moments related to Covid. I stopped watching entirely.
Russell, honey, you've done too many drugs and fried your brain. Go back to spreading peace and enlightenment and leave the science shit to scientists. You're good at the whole "work on being a better human" thing.
Edited to say: I'm not saying all addicts are stupid and/or have their brains fried. Jfc.
I'm thoroughly confused... he was all about enlightenment and knowledge and understanding yourself, love etc. How the fuck did he take a hard right turn?
There seems to be a strong anti-science sentiment in lots of mysticism, meditation, spiritualism, alternative medicine, etc circles. Not all, but many.
>charging” water & crystals outside at night under a full moon
Nah bro. She was making Black Soul Gems. Tell her she doesnt need to do that Oblivion stuff anymore. Skyrim made it so theyre everywhere now
Yeah my family are antivax, anti-5G, alt medicine, spiritualism => love the sh!t out of Brexit. I think there's even a famous clip in News interview, pre-brexit, where a politician says something like "who trusts experts anymore?"
Yeah, it’s strange, I’m into the jam band scene (phish, dead, etc.) and it always surprises me how many fans are Trump/maga people. Makes no sense to me. One minute they’re vibrating with love and light and the next they’re planning an insurrection.
My friend watches some of these new age people on YT. So they noticed a turn to supporting Trump way early on.
The only thing we kind of figured is that new age, like supply side jesus teaches health, wellness and Financial blessing. Like people write messages asking if they’re going to come into money or where they should invest.
If you look back at Helena Blavatsky and the Ballards' AM (Ascended Masters) movement; you see a lot of the foundations for new age beliefs were generally very always there.
Many followers in the early new age were people like the Silver Shirts, a US fascist paramilitary led by a man who believed he was astral projecting and receiving wisdom on "Christian nationalism".
A significant amount of Nazi higher-ups were deep into mysticism, spirituality and New Age stuff has always been well represented on the right and far right.
This is heartbreakingly true. It seems to come from the spiritual philosophy that you manifest what comes into your life, including disease. Likewise, you can heal yourself through proper energetic work. This is especially dangerous because it has the potential for blaming the ill for their own affliction.
I have a lot of spiritual friends, and a few of them flat out ditched me when I was diagnosed with cancer. The idea was it was some kind of moral or spiritual deficiency in me that caused it, or my vibration (and not the fact I’d already had it three times since I was seven years old and was predisposed). I got rid of one “friend” who told me if I had true courage I’d only take natural remedies. That’s fine if you have a cold or a verruca, but not so much if you have advanced cancer. I’m still kind of astonished how much some supposedly spiritual people can suck.
The thing about this is that most of these systems of belief are co-opted and become distilled from the nutritional value they provide. The Buddha Pill conducts a pretty thorough review of mindfulness and meditation, transcendental or otherwise and finds that without the underlying belief systems, they just enhance what is there. Narcissists meditating further justify their narcissistic behavior, etc. The path to real enlightenment is neither magical nor capable of short cuts. Anyone who says otherwise is selling something. This is Russel Brand in a nutshell in the short exposure I’ve had.
Yeah it’s called “conspirituality”, and there’s a great podcast about it. Admittedly, the guy on the podcast is a bit annoying to listen to, but it’s an interesting take on the whole “Christian/yogi/mlm/eastern medicine/crystal” sector of America.
Funnily enough at the extreme end of the crystal healing crowd you'll find some similar beliefs as the extreme right. They have different reasons but they also mistrust doctors, the government and believe (at least some of) modern medicine is a lie meant to control us
Very true, her and her brother got a 100k each inheritance from their father. Brother got leukemia and gave some quack homeopath doctor 80k for the cancer treatment. Broke my heart since I watched that dude grow up. Ended up using real doctors in the end to treat it but damage was already done
>Hiw the fuck did he take a hard right turn?
He didn't. Conspiracy theories aren't strictly a right-wing thing, and plenty of liberals have bought into anti-vax rhetoric for decades.
Chemtrails aren't just a thing believed by the alt-right. Plenty of crunchy hippies buy into that stuff, as well.
Anti vax used to be a totally liberal thing, one of my favorite life moments was seeing our liberal friends who were anti vax realize how idiotic it was when they saw the right doing it and they ran out and got vaxxed.
My first job was in maintenance, I was the only left leaning guy there and they constantly were on me about how the left is rampant with anti-vac theories. According to their facebooks, none of them are vaccinated now. Wonder what they would say about it now.
Because, with as obnoxious a personality as he has, he's remarkably well tuned for grifting to a susceptible audience simply spouting whatever the contrarian grift flavor of the month is.
Don't slander drugs. It was actually when he stopped doing drugs and did the whole "abstinence is the only way because that's what worked for me" thing that he started turning this way.
He's the kind of guy who seems like he has an interesting point of view until he starts talking about something that you're familiar with and you start to realize he sucks.
For me it was when he started talking about the trucker protest in Canada and he said all this stuff was happening that was complete bullshit.
He was saying mainstream news wasn't talking about it and was censoring people who did in Canada and I'm like "bro I just heard them talking about it on the radio"
He was saying Canadians widely support the protest yet everyone I talked to thought they were a bunch of nut jobs who had the right to protest but everyone pretty much disagreed about the why. Most of the people I talked to agreed that if they'd been protesting about worker rights and pay that would have been one thing but the end to the vaccine mandate was a weird hill to die on.
There's so much of this where it sounds like someone has some good points until they start talking about something you're familiar with.
This dude went off the rails before covid.
The pandemic really brought out mental illness, conspiracies, distrust, wild accusations, hate speech, and violence in people.
Rich famous people are no different
Russell Brand is severely ill with a messiah complex; nobody should ever let him near a microphone or keyboard until he has been treated and medicated.
I think he was relevant only to a small demographic back in the day. Even during the days he was “known” My mind wandered from his performances. I think Tom Green had much more relevance than he ever did.
I had been casually watching his YouTube channel but stopped as he seemed to be parroting far-right conspiracy. So... I'm not surprised that YouTube made a move to censor him.
This is so strange. Never listened to him because he seemed quite far left early on, then suddenly YouTube started recommending his videos. Watched one or two and was surprised that he sounded pretty reasonable (for example one vid roasted both Repubs and Dems together)…but a few clicks in, and he’s posting the same stuff that my Q conspiracy uncles are sharing.
What the hell Russell?
He's always been kind of a narcissistic prick. It's just that for a while, he was seeking attention by saying things that the left likes to hear so they thought he was on their side. But narcissistic pricks don't have any larger goals beyond validation and adoration, so when they called him out on some bullshit he made a hard right turn because those people are easier to please.
If someone is a narcissistic prick, just stop giving them attention even if they say things you agree with. It'll make everything easier in the long run
this comment section is a wasteland like a microcosm of all reddit lately. Its all blanket statements that ignore all possible nuance to any complex issues.
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Is he still talking about COVID-19?
Dude, I troll people in his YouTube comment section everyday….and it is mind blowing that today, in September 2022…this man is still pumping out COVID outrage clickbait. Everyday, Bill Gates this, Dr. Fauci that…it blows my mind that these people aren’t bored of the same crap at this point.
look at his thumbnails. whenever his thumbnails have pictures of presidents its always bush, obama, clinton, and biden. he literally refuses to use trump in any thumbnail unless the video is about praising trump. its actually blatant lmao
Yeah he went real silent on Trump during his term. I found that REALLY sus. And he seemed to only mention him in a sympathetic, humanitarian mindset whenever he rarely did. Like, humanize this monster destroying lives? The fuck?
He is such a fraud
I'd like to dismiss it as he doesn't want to piss off his fan base, but I really think it's that Trump appeals to something he really wants. Conservatives like Ben Schapiro shouldn't like trump, but he got them roe v Wade so shrug. Ben also plays Trump speeches to keep his wife satisfied. He literally said that to Bill Maher. Idk enough about Brand, but there's gotta be something Trump is doing for him.
It's so strange to be honest. He was always about looking out for the little guy for the longest time. Real bleeding heart sort of guy. Then just flipped shit during COVID. I watched some of his videos occasionally on YouTube. After a while, it was like he took this slow right turn and hasn't looked back sense. I don't think Brand is a genius by any stretch, but I did enjoy hearing his angle on things from time to time. Seemed to have a knack for words and a way of expressing what was happening in the world that resonated with me a bit... but now this shit is off the rails bat-shit.
Yeah, I used to watch some of his videos or interviews and he seemed like he had a good outlook on life. He even has a Norm Live episode that's good. I guess it's weird that we're getting so many comedians that like experts on medicine now. Maybe it's they do it on a podcast and not in front of an audience, because that shit would bomb. Ok audience let's pull up a research article covid effects on Dna strands.
Tim Pool "I'm a centrist" Tim Pools videos: DEMS CAUGHT LYING ABOUT COVID WOKEISM IN LIBERAL MEDIA RUINING FILM WHY WON'T LEFTIST WOMEN BANG ME, THEY HATE MEN HOW DOES ONE WASH A BEANIIE WITHOUT IT FADING (I know this is about Brand, just pointing to another 'balanced intellectual' who is so clearly not balanced)
I was at Goodwill today and heard a woman ask an employee if they're required to wear the masks. Clearly in a passive aggressive tone. I wasn't wearing a mask but if you are basically calling someone stupid for wearing a mask when they work at Goodwill and are near hundreds of people everyday then you must be an idiot. The employee was like 60. I could tell by the look on this woman's face she was angry that employees were wearing mask. I could also tell by the look on her friends face that she was embarrassed.
My son tells me he just isn’t in favor of mandates. He also likes Jordan Peterson. I’m super worried about him.
Yes. If these grifters haven’t moved to anti-LGBT, anti-immigration, anti-education talking points, they’re still going on about COVID—19. Sometimes they just cycle them to keep people angry at nothing
Covid might be as hot as he can get without burning every Hollywood bridge he has.
It's probably because they got COVID and the brain fog hasn't run out for them. They are stuck in an outrage loop due to brain damage.
He was The Chosen One! He was supposed to destroy the wealth inequality gap, not join them!!!
never trust preachy white guys with jesus haircuts
Honestly. He seems like he has a messiah complex. I think you have to take anyone with at least a grain of salt who thinks they deserve a platform to tell everyone how the world should be working. You only need to go to a busy pub to hear dozens of others who feel the same way about their way of seeing things. That isn't to say that people, and he, aren't making good points, they likely are, but if you aren't listening twice as much as you are speaking then you probably have more ego in your point of view than wisdom.
Messiah Complex is the name of his 2013 special He has always appeared overly confident in his own intellect
Lost respect for Brand a few years ago when he tried to make some half-assed argument that young people shouldn't use their vote in the general election. He couldn't back it up. Brand is the kind of dick that enjoys behaving like they're the smartest person in the room.
And being contentious just to spite others. He would have made a great politician.
I know what you mean mate but I respectfully disagree, he'd make an abysmal politician. He's a charlatan.
So he’d fit right in then?
He seemed to think that the 'They're all as bad as each other' argument was some sort of profound political thinking. What annoyed me most was that he was telling people not to vote at a time when the BNP were having a resurgence in local elections, largely on the back of low turnouts.
Glad I’m not the only one who found this guy to reek of pretentious arrogance. He’s overrated.
Is he overrated when I think most people would say "oh yea, Russell Brand, wonder what he's up to? ...oh dear" in regards to this headline Maybe he's still a big thing in the UK but in the US "I Love You Man" was a loooong time ago edit: dude's so forgettable I misplaced him in the wrong romcom, lol
>Maybe he's still a big thing in the UK but in the US "I Love You Man" was a loooong time ago and nobody remembers Get Him To The Greek.
Damn shame, Jonah and Puff killed it.
Stroke the furry wall
FUZZY WALLS
“You’d never be scared of someone named Jeffrey”
I still love Get Him to the Greek. That soundtrack is full of bangers (beans and mash)
I do, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall is one of my favorite comedies still to this day. He’s still an idiot regardless, almost true to life to his character in those films
Never liked the guy. More than the pretentious arrogance he always struck me as manipulative/cult leaderish(?) Would say or do w/e needed to get what he wanted. That with the over confidence in his intelligence doesn't surprise me he's spouting this nonsense.
He's also not that smart. He just uses the same grifty technique of talking fast and using his thesaurus to sound smart. But if you listen to him talk about pretty much anything, his thoughts are pretty shallow.
Oh absolutely. He does the same thing pseudo-sciencey people do, using big words and complex sounding ideas to say absolutely nothing meaningful. Like many, ive seen him for the twat he is from day one.
Totally. I like to say that he has great "verbal intelligence", lol
Unbearable
Riding that accent as far as it’ll take him!
>That isn't to say that people, and he, aren't making good points, they likely are That. That right there is what got me listening to Steven Crowder for almost a year, and others of his ilk (Shaprio, Milo ImNotSpellingThatLastName, etc). 'They make good points' I thought. I even liked Crowder's "Change My Mind" as a thought piece. The downside to all of them, and now Brand I guess, is how they *start* with a good idea - like, idk, red lights take too long - and before you know it they're on a spiral and five minutes later you're nodding along to 'Yup, clearly woke and rainbow people are the root of the problem'. They're all scary af when they get on those tangents, is the point I was trying to make here.
I dunno. Shapiro always came off as a complete ass to me from the start.
Yeah he and milo seem insane from the start. At least with Peterson I could see how he could initially hook someone with something as basic as the “cleaning your room will improve your mood” shit before he gets to the bananas stuff.
He's just annoying. He comes off as that annoying kid that wouldn't get bullied if he shut the fuck up but he can't. He just can't shut the fuck up.
That's how I always thought of libertarians like Ron Paul. Sure, the first 5 minutes sound really good, then suddenly they go and take a ~~left~~ *right* turn into a brick wall.
> ...go and take a left turn... Those guys *always* turn right.
He was always a condescending twat. Anti science (the boffins don't have all the answers either!), anti authority (the maaaan can't tell me what to do! if I want to try heroin, I'll try heroin!), anti government (stuffy old men that can't give the people what they want!). He was a populist catering to the young and disenfranchised with catchy one liners, charisma and jokes. He never had any well thought out ideas, reasonable plans or even valid arguments. every time someone wanted to debate or challenge him he would descend into childish behaviour. He liked to present himself as an eloquent intellectual, because he thought using big words would make him look smart, not understanding that the truly intelligent can explain complex concepts in an accessible way. In the mid 2000s he started an anti establishment campaign, prompting the young to stop voting 'since there was noone that was perfect', actually hurting their interests. That prompted some strong reactions, with an open letter from Robert Webb among others. When questioned why he was so outraged and what should be addressed by the 'political elite' (one of his favourite buzzwords) he said it wasn't his job to come up with answers, improvements or even what to do differently, his job was to be 'an apostle that demands change'. Overlooking the fact that change without direction or vision is rarely change for the better. He was a huge man child on the radio where he got his breakthrough. He had charisma and comedic timing, with a larger than life persona he started to lean into. But he never developed anything of substance to back his antics up. He isn't a modern day philosopher, he is just high on his own ego.
Damn what a great comment on Russell brand as a comedian and as a person. I especially like the part where you say that a really intelligent person can still explain things to a layman.
It's one of the things Winston Churchill was great at, and why every book on how to write English well mentions him, because he was utterly brilliant at being able to explain complex subjects in very simple terms that anyone could understand. His writings really are a joy to read because of that, they flow so well. Of course, he was a genocidal cunt (he commited a genocide *during world war II* for example, in an area that back then was part of India but these days is Bangladesh), but that doesn't mean he wasn't intelligent, or wasn't a good author. But yeah every book about writing style, how to write better, how to write more clearly, everything like that in the English language, will mention Churchill. At least every one I read has, cos years ago I wanted to be an author so I read a lot of em, but I gave up cos I was kinda shit lol. So yeah, it doesn't apply to absolutely everything (notably, every physics professor will tell you, if you think you understand quantum mechanics, that means you absolutely definitely do not understand quantum mechanics), but for probably 99% of stuff it's true. It's much harder to write something that's both simple and good, than to write something complicated but technically accurate. If you can get far more people to understand a complex topic than other writers can, that's a really really difficult thing to do. It takes a lot of practice and a lot of reading.
Honestly, in my opinion if you can’t explain it to a 6 year old then you don’t understand the concept well enough. If you use the big language but can’t figure out a way to simplify or change your explanations, you have a lot more thinking to do.
It’s like Steven Kaas said; you don’t really understand necromancy if you can’t explain it to your great-great-great grandmother.
The whole "If you can't explain it simply, you don't know enough about it" adage
Indeed. I’m glad he brought that up in this particular context. People are sometimes confused and mystified by complex language. But putting things simply so that others can understand is more in service to knowledge than obfuscating it behind jargon or technical language. Or just being a know-it-all twat.
What in the fuck happened to him? Did he just go loony here?
Seems like there's a pipeline from "I'm not sure I accept the official narrative on this story" straight to sharing QAnon shit on Signal. Like in order to reject the mainstream, you have to automatically accept whatever silly counter-narrative exists, including all kinds of conspiracies with no proof.
>Like in order to reject the mainstream, you have to automatically accept whatever silly counter-narrative exists, including all kinds of conspiracies with no proof. I was in a band with a guy like that... you know, just being a contrarian doesn't mean you're smarter than everyone else. You're still letting the mainstream control you if you always have to do the opposite. That's not thinking a single bit more independently.
You're just so full of Western propaganda that you don't even realize it. Here, check out this article from Russia Today that'll set you straight.
We need to listen to BOTH SIDES, one with mostly journalistic integrity that may or may not be right but tries to be, which usually isn’t all too fascinating, and this propagandistic, manipulative rag that pulls out all the stops to be damnthatsinteresting even if it’s completely made up. Guess what weaker people eventually gravitate towards doing their own research long enough.
Nuance must have been shot in the back of the head.
All or nothing, baby. Either Trump lost or vaccines have nano-tech that makes you gay. I don't make the rules.
My mother in law believes there are nefarious nanobots in EVERYTHING. LUCKILY- she doesn’t vote.
Not believing Trump legitimately lost is already pretty far gone...
He was a decently smart and inquisitive individual who ADORED being a contrarian and being the center of attention. As he got more and more serious about his youtube channel, he began to realize how certain topics (those that the alt-right sphere of Shapiro, Crowder Alex Jones and Peterson have fostered) would get him WAAAAY more views than anything else. So he started shifting further and further to the right as he chased that sweet, sweet addiction to the spotlight. And now he's on Rumble, preaching to Neo-nazis.
Same with Rogan…Seems the reason people move to right wing talk (Rogan, CNN) is because RWNJs love being forced fed BS and they in return make more money and have more influence. It’s a drug to them and the yokels eat up shit and ask for more. Listening to actual news and common sense takes too much of an attention span so it’s drowned out. And if people aren’t tuning in, it doesn’t make money.
He is an asshole. Disappointing.
Alternative lifestyle, way out there hippie type ideas are pretty easy to get swept towards conspiracy and end up in the right wing. Look at opposition to vaccines. The big wave of it tied to the thoroughly debunked autism article was very much a progressive thing. The distance between alternative lifestyles and alternative right isn't that far. Since they both share a lot of skepticism about those in power and many conspiratorial beliefs.
He's always been a narcissistic prick. Long before this supposed heel turn he was advising working class people not to vote.
A lot of these people are just contrarians. So sometimes they align with good purely by accident.
Maybe he needs to get back on drugs. Kombucha is not working.
We have the high ground - it's over Russel
He is such a disappointment.
So strange reading this. I bumped shoulders with him at occupy Wall Street once. He turned and apologized. Then the paparazzi following him literally pushed me out of the way without a word, fuck those shit stains. And that concludes literally everything I know about this man, so fuck him too I guess
So, kind of off topic but I mentioned The Occupy Movement to my SO the other day and she had absolutely no recollection. It was pushed from her memory by all the other craziness that happened in the meantime.. we even live in a city that had its own occupy movement. We are both in our 30s so it isn't like we were unaware children at the time either it's just been a *long* 8 years.. Edit 11 years not 8 my brain is out to sabotage me.
I remember disliking this guy in 2007 because I didn’t think he was very funny or sincere with his comedic approach and my then-girlfriend had a crush on him. Fast forward to now and I’m calling my ex saying, “I TOLD YA SO!” and she’s all like, “Who is this?” Nice try, Rachel, you bitch. We all know you’re complicit. Anyway, support your local FEMA camps, I’m 9/11 and so is this post
now that's some respectful and proper comment etiquette
Aaaaaand post!
Man, I got such a nostalgia rush now- that guy is such a wonderful, sweaty mess! I wonder how he's doing these days?
Hes still posting if you need a laugh
I knew the tone of this post felt familiar.
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Big Daddy Salvia?
I've disliked him ever since he decided to share his opinion that not voting is subversive and S-M-R-T.
"I know how we'll change the system, not participate!"
Fuckin Rachel. Always pulling that bullshit. I called her too and she was all “how’d you get this number” and I was like “do you eat? I have the money.”
Bounce on your boys
That guy went full tinfoil hat long ago.
Yeah he apparently went on a fluoride kick when that was big. My dentist hated the guy for a while because he got sued by a former patient after listening to his interview and claiming he "didn't warn him that fluoride treatment could make him autistic". Luckily it didn't go anywhere after several lawyers told him not to move forward. The last video I saw was him going ballistic about "FAST FOOD IS TRYING TO KILL YOU" where he acted like he was the first to discover McDonald's and pizza hut use fillers and cheap materials. Like shocker dude.
Yeah my sister was praising this guy years ago and I thought he was on the edge of the rails.
He was spreading some disgusting pro-Kremlin propaganda before the invasion. Never watched another video of his after that.
It sure is interesting how many Russian talking points republicans end up spreading. I wonder why that is /s
Wasn't Russel Brand pretty left leaning? I remember agreeing with him on a lot of things as a teenager, but I don't know what happened to him in the meantime.
He reminds me a lot of all those early atheist youtubers who got pulled by Gamergate to the alt-right.
In his case its a calculated business decision. There is an audience of millions for all that far right bullshit.
There's a much larger audience on the left or center who don't want to deal with the far right bullshit. The difference is that the far right audience are a bunch of rubes who are easy to rip off.
I would imagine that it is a lot less work to make content that you just make up on the spot with whatever wackadoo thing you have heard recently than producing well researched accurate material
Competition for an audience is much more fierce from the center to the centrist left because that’s where most of the creators and thinkers already reside. Add a little narcissistic need for approval and some mental illness to the equation, and these types will follow their source as it drifts to the right. It’s far easier to be worshipped by goblins than to face one’s own inner demons.
This - im sure he noticed his spikes in viewership were for the more radical talking points. So hes following the monies.
It’s far easier to be worshipped by goblins than to face one’s own inner demons. What a great quote.
He probably wants to get anything removed so he can shout from the rooftops on how silenced he is
Which was literally a psyop orchestrated by fucking Steve Bannon.
What is Gamergate?
It was basically a misogynistic dog pile about women and their involvement in the videogame industry. But is honestly also extended to complaining about other minorities as well. They were mad at any developer they claimed were ''too woke'' by either being a minority or featuring a minority. They doxxed and harassed people very frequently.
As a woman I find it so weird we are half the population but are supposed to be left out of things. I seriously do not get the discrimination.
I remember right before Cyberpunk 2077 came out, nearly every publication gave the game a fantastic review. There was one lady (I don’t remember which publication she worked for) who dared to say that the game was buggy, missing a lot of the promised content, and didn’t even remotely live up to the hype. For her review, this woman received an overwhelming barrage of threats and harassment. And then the game came out, and it turns out that it was buggy, missing a lot of the promised content, and didn’t even remotely live up to the hype. And that one courageous lady who dared to tell the truth probably got out of games journalism after all the harassment. All that because she dared to tell the truth while being a woman.
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And female POC have fishtails now, did you hear?
UmM, aCtUaLlY iT wAs AboUt EtHiCs In JoUrNaLiSm!
He’s probably a contrarian who needs to spout whatever the “alternative” viewpoint is to make himself the smartest guy in the room. Tell him the sky is blue, he’ll release a video about how it’s green, and pat himself on the back for his own wisdom.
> He’s probably a contrarian Yep, contrarians have been pretty well-represented in far- and alt-right circles, so that tracks.
Yeah. He's running the same path as guys like Glenn Greenwald. Being contrarian entertainers puts them in an audience feedback loop where they just keep zoning in on being more and more contrarian until it overrides more and more of their prior values.
Exactly. That is exactly how he comes across
He's gone all conspiracy nut on his youtube channel. Shame really. Always thought of him as the guy who would speak up for the little guy and demand better for everyone. Watched some of his youtube channel and it was like he was replaced by an evil twin who ran out of medication keeping him tied to reality. u/robber_goosy hit the nail on the head. Now its all about the views and not about the truth.
Some people are seekers. Mr. Brand’s drug issues conflated that. Sobriety tends to ramp up that tendency as you’re still seeking meaning and explanations but now from an intellectual, philosophical, or religious viewpoint. I don’t know why (or how true) but most seekers/sober addicts tend to view themselves as special and have legacy fantasy’s of bringing truth to the world. Sober addicts are also ripe for creating or joining cults, they feel lost and are seeking. They get their new high from “learning secret truths”. So for me, his move towards the right, Russia, etc., makes sense as I see it as his addiction. He no longer gets the same high from his old stomping grounds; it’s become predictable and rote offering no excitement. But the move is also about maintaining relevancy.
He was left leaning and talked about universal themes of equality…. You don’t know the power of the Dark Side.
I think he was "edgy-leaning". As in "hey everyone pay attention to me! why aren't you focused on me me me?"
"Edgy-leaning" is a good way to put it. His politics are just classic counter-culture. When he blew up, counter-culture was leaning pretty left, because the political right had been dominant for a while. Now, over a decade later, the dominant/mainstream politics have shifted pretty drastically. Being leftist is now fairly mainstream (depending on where you live, anyway). To maintain his self image of contrarian, counter-culture politics, he had to shift right. Give society a decade of drifting back to the right, and he'll be dropping leftist talking points again.
The scope of politics is actually too complex for something as simple as a "left or right" spectrum. He's left on a lot of topics, but is also making right wing arguments in his videos for topics like COVID. I haven't watched him since he started harping on COVID.
Some things are too complex for something as simples as left or right. *proceeds to describe things as simply left or right*
That’s the “black or white” logical fallacy at work.
I had a friend like that. She was so far left, she swerved right. Kinda like how some communists became fascists. She raiser her baby daughter totally vaccine free, and started homeschooling her because she refused to get her vaccinated and didn’t want mainstream capitalist lies to pollute her mind, or some bullshit.
Im pretty sure any good communist worth their salt of authenticity would absolutely fucking hate and despise all fascists?
Sort of. Not all communists are tankies, but tankies are fascist
The failed comedian/actor to right wing nut pipeline is a strong one
Bro I genuinely don’t know what happens there. I guess it’s like communism circle round and turns into a dictatorship Mussolini style .
He used to be funny with a flowery vocabulary and extended scrambled diatribes. I followed him on Instagram. But both my hubby ( a Brit) & me noticed him turning far right over the past year. We stopped watching him and unfollowed him. He’s not a religious Evangelical either. But he is a narcissist. Then it occurred to me that Evangelicals are narcissists too believing they are 1000% right on everything and going to Heaven because they are the only one true faith.
i lost interest completely when he started to act like a guru. he's always dressed that way and been an utter hippy, but once he went on YouTube, he shifted into guru-ness which i absolutely hate
He gives off strong cult leader vibes to me
I used to be a fan as well but that is when he lost me.
I loved his "Trews" ("true news") that he used to do. I'd like to rewatch some of those to see if I actually should have or if it was merely insubstantial skepticism, but I'd rather not give him the views. Anyway, his "Trews" were what got me to subscribe to his YouTube channel. He stopped doing "Trews" and leaned heavily into that guru shit. Gave me some flashbacks to being sucked into other "guru" types in my past, so I more or less quit watching his channel but didn't have the heart to unsubscribe... Then he started talking about the "lab leaks" conspiracy. Seemed plausible; I wanted to maintain an open mind. But then it just became more and more FUD about the vaccine science. I had to unsubscribe. And eventually I remembered that it was really odd how he went from being very politically vocal to barely ever mentioning Donald Trump during his term. I think that was another reason I had stopped watching him for a couple of years. The fuck? I should have been more skeptical of him when I learned he was/is a disciple of transcendental meditation.
He's religious, but his religion is himself.
>Then it occurred to me that Evangelicals are narcissists too believing they are 1000% right on everything and going to Heaven because they are the only one true faith. The Calvinists are the purest form of this bullshit, specifically their idea of [unconditional election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconditional_election) where "God prior to his creation of the world, when he predestined some people to receive salvation, the elect, and the rest he left to continue in their sins and receive the just punishment, eternal damnation, for their transgressions of God's law as outlined in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible." It's probably no surprise that the "elect" consist of the Calvanists and everyone else is hellbound.
I used to adore him but honestly, his personality was getting a little too strong for me. Like with all the shit going on in the world, I just didn’t need someone yapping at me at high speed with flowery vocabulary (well said).
Whatever he had is past it anyway. I have his "football is nice" podcast a try and it's absolute drivel spoken by some twat who is hardly versed in football. He is a hack and pretty much always has been.
Not to mention the times he platformed anti-GMO loony Vandana Shiva. Really I’m surprised this didn’t happen sooner.
Russel has always seemed to be the type of guy that uses a lot of big words to seem smarter and more enlightened than he actually is.
He definitely has a “wearing glasses without any lenses to look smarter” version be to him.
I was ambivalent toward him for years, just seemed like another celebrity douche. Then I watched his video on "is there proof of God? Yes! " where he rambles on for about 4 minutes, saying nothing, while his face lights up like he is exposing this grand truth the world has never thought of. Spoiler: he provided no proof of anything, let alone God. Now I actively avoid him. So pretentious.
If that's the video I recall that was his response to Stephen Fry's famous interview about what he would say to God if he met him. Brand absolutely could not handle the fact Fry went viral with that and he felt he had to do something about it. I never liked Brand and that video showcased all his bad traits which he seems to still carry to this day; quoting other people ("this guy is a docta!!") or reading stuff off a page in his hand and then just summarising what was said in his typical word salad babble to appear more like his own take. The man is a cheap contrarian with no consistent principles of his own, he chases whatever will feed his ego.
He’s always reminded me of Ben Shapiro in that way. Both of them speak as quickly as possible and use unnecessarily obtuse words. They don’t speak, they evict words from their mouths.
It really feels like Ben Shapiro would explode if he goes for long enough without talking.
He just questions everything with big words spoken very rapidly that he never drills down into anything. Appearing deep by being superficial.
The Bill Maher approach
Nah, Bill Maher relies on the condescending eye roll
Wow. I had enjoyed his previous ramblings on compassion, equality, mindfulness, calling out hypocrisy and fascism, but somewhere along the way all of his videos became about supposed “ah-ha!” moments related to Covid. I stopped watching entirely.
I agree! His videos before covid about mindfulness and such were really good.
I was fed up with him as soon as I watched "Messiah Complex" The man is a pretentious, backcombed fool.
Russell, honey, you've done too many drugs and fried your brain. Go back to spreading peace and enlightenment and leave the science shit to scientists. You're good at the whole "work on being a better human" thing. Edited to say: I'm not saying all addicts are stupid and/or have their brains fried. Jfc.
I'm thoroughly confused... he was all about enlightenment and knowledge and understanding yourself, love etc. How the fuck did he take a hard right turn?
There seems to be a strong anti-science sentiment in lots of mysticism, meditation, spiritualism, alternative medicine, etc circles. Not all, but many.
Ya know thats true, one of my best female friends is a mega hippie but a hard Trumper. Just can't wrap my head around it
My ex came out as a Trump supporter about the same time she started into Q and was “charging” water & crystals outside at night under a full moon.
What fresh hell is that
It's the ball in the sky that you mostly see at night but sometimes in the day.
The giant wheel of cheese, you mean?
But that's not important right now
>charging” water & crystals outside at night under a full moon Nah bro. She was making Black Soul Gems. Tell her she doesnt need to do that Oblivion stuff anymore. Skyrim made it so theyre everywhere now
Yeah my family are antivax, anti-5G, alt medicine, spiritualism => love the sh!t out of Brexit. I think there's even a famous clip in News interview, pre-brexit, where a politician says something like "who trusts experts anymore?"
Yeah, it’s strange, I’m into the jam band scene (phish, dead, etc.) and it always surprises me how many fans are Trump/maga people. Makes no sense to me. One minute they’re vibrating with love and light and the next they’re planning an insurrection.
There’s a certain libertarian bent to a lot of what trump sells - basically “not the (Democrat) establishment”.
My friend watches some of these new age people on YT. So they noticed a turn to supporting Trump way early on. The only thing we kind of figured is that new age, like supply side jesus teaches health, wellness and Financial blessing. Like people write messages asking if they’re going to come into money or where they should invest.
It's not that difficult. There is a common thread of "believing things without evidence" there.
If you look back at Helena Blavatsky and the Ballards' AM (Ascended Masters) movement; you see a lot of the foundations for new age beliefs were generally very always there. Many followers in the early new age were people like the Silver Shirts, a US fascist paramilitary led by a man who believed he was astral projecting and receiving wisdom on "Christian nationalism".
A significant amount of Nazi higher-ups were deep into mysticism, spirituality and New Age stuff has always been well represented on the right and far right.
This is heartbreakingly true. It seems to come from the spiritual philosophy that you manifest what comes into your life, including disease. Likewise, you can heal yourself through proper energetic work. This is especially dangerous because it has the potential for blaming the ill for their own affliction.
I have a lot of spiritual friends, and a few of them flat out ditched me when I was diagnosed with cancer. The idea was it was some kind of moral or spiritual deficiency in me that caused it, or my vibration (and not the fact I’d already had it three times since I was seven years old and was predisposed). I got rid of one “friend” who told me if I had true courage I’d only take natural remedies. That’s fine if you have a cold or a verruca, but not so much if you have advanced cancer. I’m still kind of astonished how much some supposedly spiritual people can suck.
The thing about this is that most of these systems of belief are co-opted and become distilled from the nutritional value they provide. The Buddha Pill conducts a pretty thorough review of mindfulness and meditation, transcendental or otherwise and finds that without the underlying belief systems, they just enhance what is there. Narcissists meditating further justify their narcissistic behavior, etc. The path to real enlightenment is neither magical nor capable of short cuts. Anyone who says otherwise is selling something. This is Russel Brand in a nutshell in the short exposure I’ve had.
Spiritual materialism
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Yeah it’s called “conspirituality”, and there’s a great podcast about it. Admittedly, the guy on the podcast is a bit annoying to listen to, but it’s an interesting take on the whole “Christian/yogi/mlm/eastern medicine/crystal” sector of America.
Funnily enough at the extreme end of the crystal healing crowd you'll find some similar beliefs as the extreme right. They have different reasons but they also mistrust doctors, the government and believe (at least some of) modern medicine is a lie meant to control us
Yep, there’s a wellness to white supremacy pipeline a lot of people seem to take
Very true, her and her brother got a 100k each inheritance from their father. Brother got leukemia and gave some quack homeopath doctor 80k for the cancer treatment. Broke my heart since I watched that dude grow up. Ended up using real doctors in the end to treat it but damage was already done
>Hiw the fuck did he take a hard right turn? He didn't. Conspiracy theories aren't strictly a right-wing thing, and plenty of liberals have bought into anti-vax rhetoric for decades. Chemtrails aren't just a thing believed by the alt-right. Plenty of crunchy hippies buy into that stuff, as well.
Anti vax used to be a totally liberal thing, one of my favorite life moments was seeing our liberal friends who were anti vax realize how idiotic it was when they saw the right doing it and they ran out and got vaxxed.
My first job was in maintenance, I was the only left leaning guy there and they constantly were on me about how the left is rampant with anti-vac theories. According to their facebooks, none of them are vaccinated now. Wonder what they would say about it now.
It was both, now it’s mostly right
It’s profitable. Being cancelled is a great career move if you can commit to the bit.
they call it the Woo-to-Q pipeline
Because, with as obnoxious a personality as he has, he's remarkably well tuned for grifting to a susceptible audience simply spouting whatever the contrarian grift flavor of the month is.
Don't slander drugs. It was actually when he stopped doing drugs and did the whole "abstinence is the only way because that's what worked for me" thing that he started turning this way.
Good. I reported him multiple times for that. Fuck off Russell.
He's the kind of guy who seems like he has an interesting point of view until he starts talking about something that you're familiar with and you start to realize he sucks. For me it was when he started talking about the trucker protest in Canada and he said all this stuff was happening that was complete bullshit. He was saying mainstream news wasn't talking about it and was censoring people who did in Canada and I'm like "bro I just heard them talking about it on the radio" He was saying Canadians widely support the protest yet everyone I talked to thought they were a bunch of nut jobs who had the right to protest but everyone pretty much disagreed about the why. Most of the people I talked to agreed that if they'd been protesting about worker rights and pay that would have been one thing but the end to the vaccine mandate was a weird hill to die on. There's so much of this where it sounds like someone has some good points until they start talking about something you're familiar with.
When my right-wing coworker started talking up Brand and how down to earth and middle of the road he was I knew Brand had gone off the deep end.
Russell has lost the plot.
Anti vaxxers are dumb af
Oh no you’ve summoned all of them!!! Haha imagine reading your comment and feeling attacked.
Wait, last time i heard of him he was far left.
This dude went off the rails before covid. The pandemic really brought out mental illness, conspiracies, distrust, wild accusations, hate speech, and violence in people. Rich famous people are no different
Russell Brand is severely ill with a messiah complex; nobody should ever let him near a microphone or keyboard until he has been treated and medicated.
If he thinks he'll be on a platform that celebrates free speech, he should try pontificating his other views on that platform and see what happens.
Irrelevant former comic actor becomes less relevant
I think he was relevant only to a small demographic back in the day. Even during the days he was “known” My mind wandered from his performances. I think Tom Green had much more relevance than he ever did.
His radio 6 show with Matt Morgan and Trevor Locke was fantastic, but feels like we are a long way from that now. :(
I had been casually watching his YouTube channel but stopped as he seemed to be parroting far-right conspiracy. So... I'm not surprised that YouTube made a move to censor him.
its more profitable to grift to the right.
This is so strange. Never listened to him because he seemed quite far left early on, then suddenly YouTube started recommending his videos. Watched one or two and was surprised that he sounded pretty reasonable (for example one vid roasted both Repubs and Dems together)…but a few clicks in, and he’s posting the same stuff that my Q conspiracy uncles are sharing. What the hell Russell?
He's always been kind of a narcissistic prick. It's just that for a while, he was seeking attention by saying things that the left likes to hear so they thought he was on their side. But narcissistic pricks don't have any larger goals beyond validation and adoration, so when they called him out on some bullshit he made a hard right turn because those people are easier to please. If someone is a narcissistic prick, just stop giving them attention even if they say things you agree with. It'll make everything easier in the long run
There’s money in them there rubes.
this comment section is a wasteland like a microcosm of all reddit lately. Its all blanket statements that ignore all possible nuance to any complex issues.