Im happy to be a part of the conversation, if more young people are talking about fracking instead of twerking were heading in the right direction. The people that govern us dont want an active population who are politically engaged, they want passive consumers distracted by the spectacle of which I accept I am a part.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the importance of political engagement among youth, suggesting it is preferable to focus on serious issues rather than distractions.
In this quote, Russell Brand expresses his satisfaction with the dialog surrounding significant societal issues like fracking, especially when compared to frivolous topics like twerking. He critiques the governing bodies for preferring an uninvolved populace that is consumed by entertainment, rather than one that is actively engaged in political discussions and decision-making.
In practice
During a conference on youth activism, one could quote this to emphasize the importance of political discussions among young people.
Perhaps if we could popularise through the techniques of branding and consumerism, a different idea, a different narrative, perhaps the world can change. After all it changes constantly and incessantly, it's just the perceptions that we have are governed by people with self-interest and are not inalignment with the health and safety of us as individuals or as a planet.
Say I feel all sad and self-indulgent, then get stung by a wasp, my misery feels quite abstract and I long just to be in spiritual pain once more - 'damn you tiny assassin, clad in yellow and black, how I crave my former innocence where melancholy was my only trial'.
I've never had a sustained period of medication for mental illness when I've not been on other drugs as well. It's just not something that I particularly feel I need. I know that I have dramatically changing moods, and I know sometimes I feel really depressed, but I think that's just life. I don't think of it as, "Ah, this is mental illness," more as, "Today, life makes me feel very sad." I know I also get unnaturally high levels of energy and quickness of thought, but I'm able to utilize that.
I know that's the sort of thing people say and I really hate it when people say the sort of things people say. I always think, 'You don't mean that, you just think it sounds good.
When I was poor and I complained about inequality they said I was bitter. Now I'm rich and I complain about inequality they say I'm a hypocrite. I'm starting to think they just don't want to talk about inequality.
It is 10 years since I used drugs or drank alcohol and my life has improved immeasurably. I have a job, a house, a cat, good friendships and generally a bright outlook.
Geeks like to think that they can ignore politics, you can leave politics alone, but politics won't leave you alone.
To be free is better than to be unfree – always. Any politician who suggests the opposite should be treated as suspect.
Communism may be over as an economic system, but as a model of state domination, it is very much alive in the People's Republic of China and in Putin's police state.
When Western politicians propose blanket discrimination against Islam, they bolster the terrorists' propaganda.
First of all, the world criticizes American foreign policy because Americans criticize American foreign policy. We shouldn't be surprised about that. Criticizing government is a God-given right - at least in democracies.
A political problem thought of in military terms eventually becomes a military problem.
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