Russel Brand: Tunisia attack minute of silence, minute of BS

Brand is right. Western power groups, in our name, ferment war and assign despots to increase their oil and arms profits, suppress democracy and cause to extremists to emerge which means more war and profit. Meanwhile the sheep refuse to see that, and get grumpy and jihadists, which the media (owned by the power groups) channel them into doing.

We said exactly the same, that this minutes silence in this case is actually an embarrassing farce. I thought it was so disrespectful to all those other people who died on that day of long term illnesses or other reasons. It's almost as if to say, we only really care if you get shot by a terrorist, you other peasants can go and die, never to be mentioned.

I am all for giving respect to people who died horrifically in any circumstance but whilst being shot on holiday is a bummer, I think getting squashed to death at a football game with police ignoring you is much, much worse and therefore holding a minute silence for the Hillsborough victims is an appropriate thing to do.

Doing it for the 'Brits' [other nationalities also died ] is a political statement rather than one borne out of 'care' and therefore I did not take part. Yes it was a tragedy, but people die under worse circumstances every day.

a reply to: HumansEh

As for Mr Brand, all these are learning experiences for him (pissing people off!) and I hope they help him to grow and become even more effective, he has a good brain that just needs refining,
- if he doesn't fall down the stairs some day that is.

Agree, he his by no means perfect, and his past erratic behaviour and stupid stuff he's done and said years ago is still a stain.
But that said, people change and learn, hopefully he'll only get better with time.

Brand is correct about the minute silence. pointless theatrics. professional greiving. and, on the part of the government, rank hypocrisy. BS.

a reply to: hellobruce

Whilst I agree that there are celebrities who only care about being the talk of the town, I think that just because one used to be on showbiz doesn't mean they can't express their frustration and views on current events.
He being labelled a 'conspiracy theorist" by the media and talking about stuff that we talk about on this site, I think is reason enough to have a thread about, especially seeing the little attention these Tunisia attacks had in here.

If we had a minutes silence for every travesty or tragedy, no one would ever speak again.

If we had a minutes silence for every travesty or tragedy, no one would ever speak again.

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

that is the best and truest comment I've read so far, thank you

Does that 1 minute of silence mean anything, or is it an empty futile gesture, part of a general policy of BS so that our government can continue selling arms around the world and perpetuating a cycle where its own needs are met at the expense of its own citizens lives.

Yes, it means something.
It's about showing respect and consideration, it's about mourning.
Russel made a damn bad choice picking this to attack in his idiotic, simplistic, naive ranting.

originally posted by: athousandlives
I had to share this as I am sure it resonates with a lot of ATSers, although I'm surprised by the little coverage of these attacks on this site. (Maybe it just lost its shock value? are we beginning to numb?)

It's because this is a predominantly American site, and many here only pay attention to things like this when Americans are killed or threatened by it. You can see that even in the reporting by American media. They mention the story, and immediately make it about America. They jumped from talking about the attack on tourists in Tunisia to instantly making it a threat to Americans by saying things like "are YOU safe on vacation?" "could it happen HERE? TO AMERICANS?!"

If any American had been killed in this there would have been endless threads about it.

originally posted by: athousandlives
My personal opinion, he truly hit home this time, and thats why his comments have 'offended' many.
I don't usually agree with absolutely everything this guy says, but I always saw these minutes of silence rituals and politicians public statements as ridiculous hypocrisy, and here he explains it plainly how many feel about it.

The only things I agree with in his video are the emphasis on the religion of the terrorists, and the fact that we hypocritically sell arms to countries we should not be dealing with at all.

Everything else he said is bs.
It angers me when people attempt to "excuse" murder of innocent people by claiming they somehow "deserve it" because of what someone else is doing to someone else.

We are all responsible for our individual actions. No one should be attempting to claim that it's "understandable" that people slaughter innocent people because a country bombed a country once. The fact that someone was a victim of a drone strike in Pakistan has NOTHING TO DO with the person a terrorist murders. Brand would probably claim that this is not what he means, but that is actually what he's saying.

He's basically saying that because the US killed someone in Pakistan with a drone, we should not be surprised that a terrorist murdered a bunch of people. He's being an apologist, and it's actually pretty sick.

I participated in the one minute of silence, because those people died in a nightmarish scenario they didn't deserve. It's about being a collective community, about being a decent society, about showing respect and thinking about those who lost their lives.

Russel wants to make it all about the evil government, with his typical holier-than-though righteousness, as if he has a clue.

I actually used to like him, and I've agreed with a lot of the things he's said before on so many issues. Like I said I agree that our government is a hypocrite (note: not the millions of people participating in a minutes silence) for selling arms to countries they shouldn't. However, he's lost a massive amount of respect from me for this one video.

a reply to: stumason

Unless you have better information than parliament.gov.uk...

We have sold to Syria, Libya & Iraq.
& we are among those who destroyed Libya in the first place.



As for Brand being a "twat"...
Ad hominem is a sign of defeat in debate...
And that's how you opened up.







Re: minutes silence...
It was proposed by Cameron... Libya's "liberator"...
The guy who wants to now bomb Syria again, despite his last failed attempt...


If regular people wish to take a moment to remember and honour those who were needlessly killed, that's great...
They shouldn't need the impetus of David Cameron.

The whole thing is just pathetic and insulting to anybody with a brain. From the faux exaggerated sadness and dramatic voice overs spoken by women doing their best mummy talking to a retarded child who's goldfish stopped swimming impression on the news to lingering 10 minute footage of a plane on a runway where nothing happened, to the predictable moron response of "kill the mooslumz", the flag waving, the "they will not change our way of life" abysmally rehashed and insincere reject speeches from bad hollywood movies, the herd standing like obedient statues while the bell sombrely rings over the top of it interspersed with the half dead uncaring monarch faking empathy, the human interest hero angles that are constantly run and respun. It's all just annoying as f**k and makes me want to punch my tv.

originally posted by: Hecate666
Doing it for the 'Brits' [other nationalities also died is a political statement rather than one borne out of 'care' and therefore I did not take part.

I agree, the world is smaller and "doing it for the brits" just seems self-centered.

originally posted by: CharlieSpeirs
a reply to: stumason

That's an absolute lie...

Unless you have better information than parliament.gov.uk...

We have sold to Syria, Libya & Iraq.
& we are among those who destroyed Libya in the first place.

You're not even spouting a MSM narrative, you're just making it up to fit your wishful thinking.

Actually, it's you who is lying...

Libya got some comms equipment after Blair became Gaddafi's best bud. Syria got some listening devices and chemicals for industrial use, which never arrived. This is the MSM "narrative", by the way. Feel free to provide some links of the weapons we sold to them.

I also said Iraq hadn't been supplied recently - the last arms shipments were back in the 80's.

As for Libya being "destroyed" - hardly. They did that themselves. After the fall of Gaddafi, they had all the support of the International Community but they soon fell into infighting and petty sectarian/tribal conflict.

originally posted by: CharlieSpeirs
As for Brand being a "twat"...
Ad hominem is a sign of defeat in debate...
And that's how you opened up.

He is and it is a generally held belief by many, the guy is a prize pillock. It's not an ad hom, just an observation. He's so far up his own arse, he coughs himself up when he has a cold.

a reply to: stumason

www.theguardian.com...

Seems to me that 'the west' is due for a reboot, whether other parts of the world will follow suit I don't know, other posters seem to feel the same, but, as the old saying goes "be careful what you wish for" I'm not wishing for it, just getting that feeling...

a reply to: MagnaCarta2015

Don't watch TV news so much then
Sympathies for the families concerned of course, but a rough average of 1500 British people die every day and my sympathy is the same for them.
I carried on working during the minutes silence, same as the guys I was with, the radio went silent and we discussed the possibility this big nationwide play is solely being created to get the masses wanting 'action' taken against [insert ME/African] nation.

It was so obviously political, and it seems most of the nation got themselves emotionally caught up with it, enough to soften them towards accepting military action in another land.
That is the tragedy to me.

a reply to: stumason

I've seen 3 MSM articles negating your argument...
& a parliament.gov.uk source also negating your stance.

a reply to: athousandlives

Russell Brand should stick to comedy... he makes me laugh!

a reply to: Rocker2013

It's because this is a predominantly American site,

If any American had been killed in this there would have been endless threads about it.

You have a point there, I hadn't thought about it that way.

I participated in the one minute of silence, because those people died in a nightmarish scenario they didn't deserve. It's about being a collective community, about being a decent society, about showing respect and thinking about those who lost their lives.

Nothing wrong with that and coming together to pay respects, no one is saying that's wrong.

How I see it the point that is being made by him and some posters here is about the hypocrisy beneath, and the ignoring of the countless other victims of the Middle East situation, on all sides of the argument.
The cost of human lives is a tragedy, but fake emotional speeches about being the victim and good guys whilst adding fuel to the fire is just Bulls###.

a reply to: grainofsand

You're right I really shouldn't, it's no good for my blood pressure at all.

I don't get how the manipulation is so friggin obvious but so many fall for it again and again. Frustrating as hell man.