George Monbiot: I once admired Russell Brand. But his grim trajectory shows us where politics is heading

Posted on March 12, 2023 by Stephen Shellard

George Monbiot’s Guardian article is definitely worth a read if at some time previously you thought, as I did, that Russell Brand was someone of great originality, clever, funny, articulate, worth listening to despite his occasional missteps and his rejection of political engagement. I never thought the latter sound thinking, though I could perfectly understand the frustration with our political system which it expressed.

Also worth a listen, with a related theme, and including content on Russell Brand amongst others, is Helen Lewis’s Radio 4 series “The New Gurus” available as a podcast.

About Stephen Shellard

I am a retired College lecturer, having worked originally in supported programmes but latterly having taught social science subjects, Psychology and Politics, though my degree was in Sociology. I am from Newry in Northern Ireland, but now live in Dumfries in South West Scotland. https://carruchan.wordpress.com/about/

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This entry was posted in Misc, Podcasts etc. and tagged George Monbiot, Guru, Helen Lewis, Russell Brand. Bookmark the permalink.

1 Response to George Monbiot: I once admired Russell Brand. But his grim trajectory shows us where politics is heading

SoundEagle 🦅ೋღஜஇ says:

April 10, 2024 at 10:32 am

Dear Dr Stephen Shellard,

It seems that we both admire George, not to mention our social science background.

As I stated in in one of my expansive, multidisciplinary posts entitled “The Quotation Fallacy” at http://soundeagle.wordpress.com/2017/10/18/the-quotation-fallacy/#top, George Monbiot has the following to say about the constant assaults on reason, intellect and integrity as well as the dilutions of idea and substance, which are brazenly stoked by the chronic inducements of consumerist ethos, pop culture and tabloid mentality in the unrelenting cult of celebrity and hero-worship saturating the mass media and contemporary living:

One of the curiosities of our age is the way in which celebrity culture comes to dominate every aspect of public life. Even the review pages of the newspapers sometimes look like a highfalutin version of gossip magazines. Were we to judge them by the maxim “great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people”, they would not emerge well. Biography dominates, ideas often seem to come last. Brilliant writers like Sylvia Plath become better known for their lives than their work: turning her into the Princess Diana of literature does neither her nor her readers any favours.

Even when ideas are given prominence, they no longer have standing in their own right; their salience depends on their authorship. Take, for example, the psychology professor Steven Pinker, who attracts the kind of breathless adulation that would seem more appropriate in the pages of Hello magazine.

Yours sincerely,
SoundEagle

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