Russell Brand was recently interviewed on a British television show, “Newsnight,” where he commented about the state of the world and his feelings that a revolution is inevitable, if not here already. The speech was intriguing, but the real meat of his ideas can be read in an article he wrote as a guest editor for an edition of the New Statesman magazine.
While I have been a fan of his comedy, movies and books for a while, I didn’t realize he is in fact a genius until I watched his documentary calling for drug addiction treatment in the United Kingdom. The movie was shown in a psychology class while I was studying abroad in London, and I found it to be an honest, rational and undeniably important comment about social services and drug laws. He laid out some simple truths about drug addiction in the film that I simply hadn’t seen articulated so well before that.
His latest call for revolution grasps me so much for the very same reason. Whether or not you agree with his politics, style or anything he does, if you read the article you can’t deny that he presents his reader with ideas about why things are the way they are and what we should do to change them that have never been presented in quite the same manner ever before. He is a prodigally eloquent writer, relatable, funny and innovative. As the host of the “Newsnight” interview inquired: Does this make him qualified to speak on politics? I think yes, it does—a new spin on all of these issues is exactly what we need.
Reading the introduction of his article, in which he talks about how politics bore him and don’t seem to be delivering to the people they are supposed to serve, bells rang in my head. How many of my friends say often that they “hate” or “don’t follow” politics? Sometimes people prefer to stay ignorant. I admire that Russell Brand offers up an alternative: it’s okay to hate politics, but instead of ignoring their existence how about thinking up ways to change the entire political system?
His main point is the realization that almost politicians are the same, and seem to be serving a purpose of big business instead of the people. And his secondary point, which I love, is that you don’t have to be a total revolutionary to agree with him. He talks about how he once attended a protest, got recognized as working at MTV, and was told he shouldn’t even be there because MTV was part of the problem. While this may be true, the point he’s trying to illustrate is that no one can be perfect, no one can one 100 percent renounce the society we live in, but you can still be a part of thinking of alternatives that will try to alleviate the economic disparity going on.
His views are leftist, his political credentials nonexistent, but his passion and intelligence is enough to make him a worthy voice. His non-political opinion on politics is more similar to my own thought process about the government than any politician could be.