(written by Terry MacNeil, on January 19-20, 2024)
One of the latest men of scandal is… Russell Brand. I remember that guy. First I heard about some of his roles in movies, later he became a spokesman for “the left” in Britain. During his era where he spoke for “the left”, he’d occasionally appear on a RT TV show called The Keiser Report, where he would promote his socialist causes. And I was most impressed by Brand’s ability to SPEAK. He himself admitted he should’ve read more books before becoming one of the spokesmen of “the left” – but he seemed to perform reasonably well (in that position) for a man who was not well-read. He had the gift of gab.
His gift of gab resulted in numerous interviews that were entertaining, which would go off the rails whenever Brand was displeased with the questions he was facing. I have a particularly fond memory of his appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where Brand spent the interview making Jimmy Fallon uncomfortable – and Fallon was trying as hard as possible not to discuss anything remotely “revolutionary” (which had been the subject of the book Brand was promoting, if memory serves me correctly).
I recall that Brand sounded like an anarcho-pacifist – until he told his followers to vote for the Labour Party (in certain ridings – as in, voting for “the lesser of two evils”). And that recommendation basically annihilated all the good will he had with “the left”. Facing harsh criticism, Brand disappeared for a while, and abandoned activism – and focused on acting again.
Brand seemed to reappear (from what I recall), by moving toward right-wing populism – a number of years after Donald Trump became president of the USA. But Brand was not unique in embracing “the right” – there were other prominent leftists who sold out around the time of Trump’s presidency.
WHY do so many leftist commentators sell out? The main reason, seems to be for money. It’s easier to make money promoting right-wing viewpoints on websites like Rumble, than promoting left-wing viewpoints anywhere else on the internet.
As for Russell Brand, I’ve heard some say he went right-wing, because he knew he’d be exposed as a rapist someday – and he allegedly calculated if he had a right-wing base, they’d never turn on him. So the theory goes.
I must emphasize, I’ve dealt with men who are skeptical of rape allegations when a long list of women come forward – because said men assume these women are just conspiring to screw over the accused (for money/fame/whatever). Said men are unaware that unless the accusations are being made by MANY people – if it boils down to “his word against her word”, the case rarely goes forward. And it must also be remembered, that the typical rapist has MANY victims (most of whom remain silent).
Most leftists say they believe EVERY person who claims to be a victim of rape or sexual assault – but that is only USUALLY true. With regard to Julian Assange’s accusers, I disbelieve them for the same reason I’m convinced the USA blew up the Nord Stream pipeline – because I don’t trust the CIA. And I say that, even though I KNOW most people won’t “believe the victims” when it’s “their guy/girl” that is being accused of sex crimes. For instance, many liberals refuse to accept Bill Clinton is a sex criminal, and many conservatives refuse to accept Donald Trump is a sex criminal. That said, even if Russell Brand hadn’t made his right-wing populist turn – I bet I’d still assume he’s guilty of sex crimes. Ⓐ
This is the website of TERRY MACNEIL: the (unpublished) Anarchist Novelist and Paranoid Schizophrenic! 