Famous people and singers have been calling for a revolution for years so it is not so strange that Russell Brand is the latest in a long line of pseudo revolutionaries. I always took Russell’s view on revolution as a joke as something he played on. In the radio shows he called for a love revolution which seemed to be an excuse for everyone to get naked and fuck one another.
As time has gone on i’ve realised that he is on to something but not sure what that something is…..or even if he quite knows.
I went to see him the other day at Shoreditch two back to back shows about revolution. Why people want it and try to achieve it. The first showed a taped interview he did with a stanford university lecturer whose name escapes me as i’m writing this and has done since. He was though a bit uncomfortable with russell’s tendancy to talk about the nazi’s even physically pulling away at one point which i think said more about him than russell. He tried to explain how in life we are conditioned to be afraid of not getting a fair deal so we accept quite often a lot less than maybe we should, we settle. He did this by offering russell hazelnuts saying that we are more likely to accept anything we can get rather than fear the loss of what we don’t have. That we as are as a society are mentally conditioned to just take what we are given rather than fighting for more. How we should work together but we tend to descend into a tribal mentality wherein we stick within our groups socially and economically. Russell talked in between the film clips often explaining his thoughts a bit of it was what he had touched on in ‘messiah complex’ is a shave the best thing a man can get? Are apple what they are cracked up to be?.
This could hae become preachy but like he also said he is a slave to the consumer culture to. Mick drives him around in a mercedes, he has a iphone and i pad. Gareth uses a apple mac to edit the trews. And mcdonalds milkshakes are delicious… He also told a story that the press jumped on that he didn’t pay for a train journey. I never used to when i was little and people who have read russell's autobiography will nae this isn’t the 1st time he’s done it. He used this story to show that we aren’t perfect we all do stuff someone might find questionable but does that mean we should just stop living be robotic as we go through life not question just obey? Should we always follow the rules and just accept what we are told? how to dress, how to live? what is acceptable to society and should it matter to u?
There were questions some bird from ideal world i think was trying to get russell to be on there shopping network with the bloke from the shamen,and a student brought up the expense of transendental meditation and whether it should be more accessible to the poor. I think he was trying to take the piss i know that russell has done a lot of work fundraising for the david lynch foundation is he responsible for the expense of it no! People asked questions about housing and the welfare state all i think he answered intelligently.
The 2nd show was a different beast there was a definite shift in energy maybe it was the fact it was the start of a long bank holiday weekend but people didn’t seem as receptive which was a shame as the interview he did was good. What we could hear of it as there were sound problems with Alain de botton was interesting but the stuff he put up on the trews with him was better than the stuff he showed at the podcast record they touched on the media and how they try to keep us down. That we get showed how to be fearful of everything. How we should be in touch with our base instincts that when we lose touch with how we feel in the moment we lose any sense of freedom.
I think there will be a revolution will Russell be our glorious leader? I’m not sure but as Che Guevara said “in the risk of sounding ridiculous let me say that a true revolutionary is guided by a true feeling of love”
Russell has love in abundance maybe his love revolution was nearer the mark than this new one he’s trying out he has a huge heart maybe being a revolutionary is just being aware and caring he does that already….. so maybe he has started something he just needs a plan x
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