Russell Brand doesn’t vote

Posted on November 3, 2013 by Yoram Gat

A small media disturbance has been caused by Russell Brand‘s anti-voting message. Jeremy Paxman scolds him on TV with the usual threadbare formulas of electoralism. Robert Webb re-joins Labour. Brand has even found the occasional supporter.

I particularly like this:

I know, I know my grandparents fought in two world wars (and one World Cup) so that I’d have the right to vote. Well, they were conned.

I only wish that when Paxman asked Brand what his alternative to the current system is, he would have replied: “sortition!” It seemed like Brand himself wished he had something concrete to say. Please consider writing to Brand to tell him what he has been missing. He could be the high-profile champion sortition needs.

Filed under: Action, Elections, Press, Sortition | Tagged: anti-voting, Jeremy Paxman, Russel Brand |

11 Responses

keithsutherland, on November 3, 2013 at 8:01 pm said:

>He could be the high-profile champion sortition needs.

With friends like Brand, who needs enemies?

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AhmedRTeleb, on November 3, 2013 at 9:36 pm said:

I’d wager that Keith does not keep a beard; though I am not sure he did not have a poster of “el Che” in his room when he was a college student.

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keithsutherland, on November 4, 2013 at 8:29 am said:

My picture was of the Maharishi and he had a proper beard; my own was shaved off a long time ago.

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keithsutherland, on November 4, 2013 at 8:34 am said:

PS Just remembered that Russell Brand is also an acolyte of the Maharishi. Ironically the Maharishi was also the founder of the Natural Law Party and their election manifestos were unbelievably right wing.

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Michel, on November 4, 2013 at 8:54 am said:

Sortition has no political bias. Neither will it wipe out History or political ideas.

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BBC: The Philosophy of Russell Brand | Equality by lot, on February 8, 2014 at 6:06 am said:

[…] plenty of facial hair”. Following this introduction, and the expected sound bites from the Brand-Paxman interview, the segment talks about the attention Brand received, the Occupy/Indignados protest movement and […]

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keithsutherland, on October 27, 2014 at 4:50 pm said:

Brand’s interview last week with Newsnight’s Evan Davis confirms my view that Kleroterians shouldn’t touch him with a barge pole:

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Yoram Gat, on October 27, 2014 at 6:25 pm said:

Oh, the horror!

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keithsutherland, on October 28, 2014 at 7:37 am said:

It confirmed my view that he is a hectoring bully on speed, drunk with his own self-importance. I haven’t read his new book (that he was plugging on Newsnight) and, judging from the reviews that I’ve seen, I don’t think I’ll bother. If we want sortition to be taken seriously then we would be well advised to avoid mention of Russell Brand for, as his Guardian reviewer put it, “Brand might have designed the political programme that follows [in his book] to discredit leftwing thought.”

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Yoram Gat, on October 28, 2014 at 10:10 am said:

Yes – we have our reputation to think of. And Brand is the one drunk with self-importance.

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2014 review – sortition-related events | Equality by lot, on December 29, 2014 at 6:28 pm said:

[…] Brand’s anti-electoral message, although originally announced in 2013, continued to resonate and generate largely outraged responses throughout […]

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