My critical comments were all about Brand, not you. You are not Russell Brand, so if they were condescending or cantankerous they would be so to Brand, not you. I haven't noticed anything particularly offputting in your own ideas in this thread. Any notion that anything critical I wrote was somehow directed at you or your ideas is a misunderstanding.
I hope that finally clears it up. If you take any of this somehow negatively or still believe that I was being prejudiced, narrow minded, etc., ..., then my true message is still not getting across and it's probably better that we drop the discussion.
This does clear things up, and I am at fault for not explaining exactly why I find the way Brand is being criticized a little narrow minded. It is due to my own lack of eloquence.
I feel that when people are automatically dismissive of a person like Brand without acknowledging the fact that there is substance to what he is saying, it shows a lack of compassion. In the Days of the Soviet Revolution, the upper crust was guilty of the same lack of compassion. People were starving and suffering in mass due to a system that would not listen to their crys, and the longer they were ignored the more susceptible they became to the radical ideology of people like Marx and Lenin, who at least seemed to care. Then of course the people were betrayed, Lenin was poisoned and the soviet state fell under the control of despots even worse than the Czars.
It is the role of us who are aware of the lessons of history to awaken the others so that when the New Marxist take on the NWO Authoritarian Systems in the struggle for power, "We the People" empowered by knowledge that is supported by experience, and not just blind ideology, will be able to put forth other options. In this way we will evolve past the need for ever increasing control and domination by centralized governing systems that attempt to lord over everyone.
"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish, and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper, and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger, those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord, when I lay my vengeance upon thee........................... This may not be relevant, I just like that quote.......
What I want to convey is that many members of the "great intelligentsia" who snub their nose at people like Brand, and ignore the crys of suffering, all the while being isolated cozily in their ivory towers, think themselves so much holier than thou, but I disagree, because in my view they lack compassion. The man was Abused as a child and grew up surrounded by people who neglected him. Perhaps he is taking the wrong view of things and lashing out against the societal establishments which has ignored him and his early traumas in the same way that the Czars of Russia ignored the Peasants who lived wretchedly upon a diet of potato skins while they lived in absolute splendor.
What Stefan Was explaining and I wish you could stomach his voice long enough to listen, at least on this point, is that Brand was right on accessing the issues with the current system, but was wrong about the solution, because the kind of power needed to take back the power will only be corrupted and used against the people whom were supposed to be set free. It was an earnest attempt to educate Brand about the nature of power.
We need to take the discussion away from the confines of the old hat political critiques that focus on putting everyone's ideas into categories where they can be labeled narrowly and have boarders put upon. Let us view Brand as a Young Jedi Knight, like the young Anakin Shywalkerer, the force is strong with him, but there is still much fear which could very well lead to him falling to the dark side. Stefan is playing the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi and attempting to teach Young Brand to use the force wisely. Brand is still young... young messianic revolutionaries don't often hit their peak until their mid forties, when wisdom begins to fully mature. So we should be patient with some of his immaturity and encourage him in the same way Stefan is attempting to.
