UK Politics: No Bully XL for you

[Tywin et al.]

31 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

I seem to remember a long time ago Russell Brand seemed normal.

R. Kelly seemed normal too until you took a second look. I really liked Brand after seeing Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but his act grew thin for me pretty quick and that's before he really went off into bizzarro land. Not saying he's guilty, however I wouldn't be shocked if he is. This is a guy who masturbated in a crowd previously after all. 

[Fragile Bird]

8 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

R. Kelly seemed normal too until you took a second look. I really liked Brand after seeing Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but his act grew thin for me pretty quick and that's before he really went off into bizzarro land. Not saying he's guilty, however I wouldn't be shocked if he is. This is a guy who masturbated in a crowd previously after all. 

Sad, honestly. I liked him in Sarah Marshall, and what was that other movie, Get me to the Greek?

[Gaston de Foix]

He's just one of those B-list celebs that masquerade as comedians.  Has he actually done anything funny? He's no Sean Lock.  

Anyway, kudos to the Sunday Times for revealing his true nature.  5 years after #MeToo started and it seems like we have only scratched the surface....

[Pebble thats Stubby]

by his own words the time period these alleged incidents happened he was very promiscuous.  although he claims everything was consensual.  I'll give him some benefit of the doubt at this time and sugest he may not fully understand exactly what consent is.  A lot of men don't.   

Most people nowdays are aware that No means No,  and not "maybe in 10 mins or after another drink"  too many people assume a lack of blunt No means Yes.  Only an active Yes can mean Yes.

Brand being in his very promiscuous stage probably means his memory of events leading up to each incident is not exactly remembered.  He probably cosiders himself as someone who would never force himself on others, thus could not have happend as the women describe.  But becaue he never understood consent when these happened (before me to, and even assuming he understands now) he will never belive these things happened.

 

I am not in anyway trying to excuse Brand,  but if he doesn't understand what happened was wrong he will always see himself as the victim and not reflect on his own actions and will not be able to become a better person in the future.  5 (so far) women don't lie.

[The Anti-Targ]

I feel like up to 2020 Brand was trying in his own way to speak truth to power. But COVID or whatever has seen him pivot to speaking whatever he thinks will gain the attention and devotion of the powerless.

[Spockydog]

2 hours ago, Gaston de Foix said:

Anyway, kudos to the Sunday Times for revealing his true nature.  5 years after #MeToo started and it seems like we have only scratched the surface....

Um, Dan Wootton.

[Tywin et al.]

11 hours ago, Fragile Bird said:

Sad, honestly. I liked him in Sarah Marshall, and what was that other movie, Get me to the Greek?

Yeah, those were his two big movies. He also remade Arthur and has done some voice work (and I forgot he was in Death on the Nile). His IMDB page is a lot shorter than I would have expected when it comes to acting considering his level of fame.

2 hours ago, Pebble thats Stubby said:

I am not in anyway trying to excuse Brand,  but if he doesn't understand what happened was wrong he will always see himself as the victim and not reflect on his own actions and will not be able to become a better person in the future.  5 (so far) women don't lie.

These allegations begin when he was over 30. Not understanding at that point is simply unacceptable. 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

On 9/16/2023 at 9:16 AM, Maltaran said:

Although existing owners will be able to keep them if they’re neutered and muzzled 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66829892

Pit bulls are sweet dogs who, sadly, have shitty owners to train them to be aggressive.

[The Anti-Targ]

Also don't want to make excuses, but a lot or all of the time period in question was not just when Brand was highly promiscuous, but also he was well addicted to substances. There's a good chance his memory of many of his sexual encounters is a complete blur and he was impaired in his normal moral decision making capacity. His maturity and accountability today would be in admitting that in those situations, while he feels everything was consensual it is possible the women had a different perspective an his mental state at the time means his recollection is of questionable value.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

2 minutes ago, The Anti-Targ said:

Also don't want to make excuses, but a lot or all of the time period in question was not just when Brand was highly promiscuous, but also he was well addicted to substances. There's a good chance his memory of many of his sexual encounters is a complete blur and he was impaired in his normal moral decision making capacity. His maturity and accountability today would be in admitting that in those situations, while he feels everything was consensual it is possible the women had a different perspective an his mental state at the time means his recollection is of questionable value.

He’s responsible for his actions.  Including getting drunk or high and then allegedly acting without consent. He was interesting… until he embraced that “InfoWars”… Alex Jones horseshit.

[Pebble thats Stubby]

30 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Yeah, those were his two big movies. He also remade Arthur and has done some voice work (and I forgot he was in Death on the Nile). His IMDB page is a lot shorter than I would have expected when it comes to acting considering his level of fame.

These allegations begin when he was over 30. Not understanding at that point is simply unacceptable. 

It is totally unaccpetable.  but I still do feel some pity for those that for whatever reason can't understand that they may have done wrong, because until they do they can never become a better person.  And just cos I can pity him does not excuse him in any way.   I also have so much more sympthaty for his visctims.

20 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

He’s responsible for his actions.  Including getting drunk or high and then allegedly acting without consent. He was interesting… until he embraced that “InfoWars”… Alex Jones horseshit.

come now don't you know Drunk men can't be responsible for what they do while drunk.  Drunk Women are always responsible for what happens to them while drunk.

 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

26 minutes ago, Pebble thats Stubby said:

come now don't you know Drunk men can't be responsible for what they do while drunk.  Drunk Women are always responsible for what happens to them while drunk.

 

The double standard is strong.  And infuriating.

[Tywin et al.]

38 minutes ago, Pebble thats Stubby said:

It is totally unaccpetable.  but I still do feel some pity for those that for whatever reason can't understand that they may have done wrong, because until they do they can never become a better person.  And just cos I can pity him does not excuse him in any way.   I also have so much more sympthaty for his visctims.

He's probably a narcissist and can't recognize why his actions were wrong.  

[mormont]

7 hours ago, Gaston de Foix said:

Anyway, kudos to the Sunday Times for revealing his true nature.  5 years after #MeToo started and it seems like we have only scratched the surface....

Brand's 'true nature' was 'revealed' in 2006 and on several occasions since when allegations about his behaviour were published in various newspapers.

[Gaston de Foix]

6 hours ago, Spockydog said:

Um, Dan Wootton.

Missing the relevance here.  

1 hour ago, mormont said:

Brand's 'true nature' was 'revealed' in 2006 and on several occasions since when allegations about his behaviour were published in various newspapers.

Thanks. I, at least, was unaware. 

If that's the case do you know why he was still publicly prominent and interviewing prominent politicians? (forgetting now whether it was Ed Miliband or Gordon or Cameron?)

[mormont]

9 minutes ago, Gaston de Foix said:

Thanks. I, at least, was unaware. 

If that's the case do you know why he was still publicly prominent and interviewing prominent politicians? (forgetting now whether it was Ed Miliband or Gordon or Cameron?)

That's a large part of the current scandal, actually.

On the one hand, Brand seems to have made liberal use of lawyers after these previous stories to threaten consequences if the individual allegations were repeated. On the other, various media folks seem to have been very willing to overlook the allegations. Nothing ever went to court, so Brand sailed along for quite a while. At some point there seems to have been less of a willingness to overlook the rumours, possibly coinciding with a general fall in his popularity, at which time (coincidentally or not) Brand started spouting right wing talking points, somewhat at odds with his former professed politics. And that brings us to now, more or less.

[Spockydog]

1 hour ago, Gaston de Foix said:

Missing the relevance here.  

 

The idea that anyone at News International is in any way ennobled for writing about Brand, when Wooton, one of their own, is accused of equally revolting activities, yet they've not printed a word about him. 

Edited September 17 by Spockydog

[The Anti-Targ]

13 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

He's probably a narcissist and can't recognize why his actions were wrong.  

That probably is at the heart of it, and at the heart of most if not all responses to cases of abuse that go something like "I did nothing wrong because it was consensual". Provided it was consensual in the mind of the accused that's all that matters, to the accused. The accused don't care about what is in the mind of the victim and to them the victim's perspective is irrelevant. "My intention was consensual sex, and it was not my intention to rape, ergo the sex I had with that person cannot be rape because I wouldn't have had sex with them if I had to force them into it. So that means I'm the real victim here." or something like that.

Brand claims to be a recovering addict. But if you are going to deny the bad stuff "in your other life", or rationalise it as a lesser bad (promiscuity) than what it really was (rape) then you are not truly in recovery. A line that I love from Mass Effect 2 in relation to addicts who give free reign to their destructive addictions about Morinth: she is a tragic figure, not a sympathetic one. Seems like that would sum up Brand.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

11 hours ago, Spockydog said:

The idea that anyone at News International is in any way ennobled for writing about Brand, when Wooton, one of their own, is accused of equally revolting activities, yet they've not printed a word about him. 

Especially after the recent freak outs regarding other British media figures (who's names escape me at the moment).

I'm convinced Wooton's got dirt on someone big.

[Heartofice]

I'm quite sure the allegations against Brand are true, of course we should presume innocence until proven guilty, but just on the face of his public persona and how much of himself he has revealed, the stories seem to fit. I have also seen other women come out to defend him, saying that they have slept with him in the past, have asked him to stop and he's been cool with it. I'm not sure that proves very much because my reading is that Brand is an emotionally volatile character with a number of issues. He may well be nice one day, but who knows what he's like the next day. 

Brand has a history of drug abuse and bad behaviour, he seemed to try to proclaim that he fixed himself with therapy and doing a bit of yoga, but really I don't expect he was ever 'fixed'. His latest youtube David Icke'ing behaviour just seems like an extension of how he has always been. 

There is a question of 'why now', and a lot of his fans think it's all some conspiracy because Brand is close to the truth! Fuck knows what truth Brand is close to, but it highlights the sort of batshit stuff his followers believe.

I think instead he has simply lost power, become too unpopular and a probably a bunch of journos wanted to bring him down. That unfortunately is the world we live in right now, he was seemingly protected from all this by being in Hollywood and a media darling, but when he went out on his own and criticised the press, well then he has no friends to help him out. 

Edited September 18 by Heartofice