Free Essay

Russel Brand on Riots

In:

Submitted By kelleRRR
Words 932
Pages 4
B
As an actor, writer, and comedian, Russel Brand has a background that makes it easy for him to comment on various things in a very characteristic, and in some occasion’s humorous way. This is the case, when he comments on the riot conflicts in England, though with a serious twist to it. Throughout the text, Brand has a tendency to use a strong degree of irony and sarcasm to make his statements very clear: “Saying the behavior (of the people attending riots) is unjustifiable and unacceptable- Wow! Thanks guys! What a wonderful use of the planets oxygen resources. ” As the quote proves, Brand also uses these clear statements to show what his view on these riots is. As the style of the commentary goes, irony and sarcasm are not the only two supplements Brand uses. Another addition is his use of swear words and slang that makes the text, and Brands view, more clear: “no wonder they have their fucking hoods up” and “dopey ol’ Boris.” Brand has maybe also chosen to use this kind of language to make it easier for the lower social classes to understand, since his commentary is mainly directed towards them. Although, the receivers of this text is the general population of the UK as well. In addition, to make the commentary more personal, Brand uses personal pronouns like “I” and “we” to make it seem like he is talking personally to his receivers. Due to this personal aspect of the commentary, Brand wants the readers of the commentary to think about what could be done about the problem. He is, in other words trying to help the problem by making the riot problem an active subject through this personal aspect. Furthermore, it could be argued that Brand also has a slight use of the rhetorical strategies in his commentary. The fact that he has lived nearby the areas where the riots are taking place, makes him a semi reliable source to the people reading his commentary. In addition, Brand himself actually attended to an anarchist protest similar to the ongoing riots: “I found those protests exiting, yes, because I was young and a bit of a twerp but also, I suppose, because there was a void in me.” However, in contrast to this argument, there are also arguments that proves against the authenticity of the things Brand describes regarding these riots. He says that he is not able to tell the whole truth due to the fact that he lives outside of England: “But I can’t, from my ivory tower in the Hollywood Hills.” Although Brand is not able to use any real proof, to show the reality of these riots, he appeals to the readers through Pathos and logos, and he uses them to show his attitude towards the riot problem. Firstly, it is clear that Brand has a general negative attitude towards the problem, and the way the government, led by Cameron, is dealing with the problem. “I remember Cameron saying: “hug a hoodie” but I haven’t seen him doing it. Why would he? Hoodies don’t vote, they’ve realized it’s pointless, that whoever gets elected will just be a different shade of the “we don’t give a toss about you” party.” What Brand means is that the government are overlooking the lower classes in England, and that it is a major problem. He also thinks that the reason for that is that the government think that the lower classes are doing nothing towards helping the government nor the society. This stands in comparison to the major firms and companies that, according to Brand, are keeping up the UK economy and sponsoring the government: “That the government existed not to look after the interests of the people it was elected to represent but the big businesses that they were in bed with.” Furthermore, at the start of the text, Brand also draws a parallel between the show big brother and the media in general. He says that the government forgets about the lower classes the same way the viewers of big brother forgets the winner as soon as a new season starts: “but the malady of reality TV stars is that their shelf life expires, just like dog years, by the power of seven.” This could also be interpreted as another argument on Brands negative attitude towards the government and their lack of action. In addition, Brand also uses Margaret Thatcher as a reason to why the young generation have no sense of society. Thatcher was known for her controversial statement: “There is no such thing as society.” Furthermore, his true attitude towards the riots is clear to see at the end of the commentary: “If we want to live in a society where people feel included, we must include them. where they feel represented, we must represent them and where they feel love and compassion for their communities then we, the members of that community, must find love and compassion for them.” This could also be an indirect message to the government, saying that they need to act in order for these riots to stop. In addition, this also attributes to the arguments earlier, saying that Brand is against the way the government is handling the problem. Overall, Brand has a good way of sending his message to the readers through irony and humor. This also makes the things he is saying more convincing, even though not everything is true. However, an overall good commentary that makes the reader think more about the problems presented in the text and the main points.

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Russel Brand - Big Brother Isn’t Watching You

...Russel Brand writes an article published on the Guardian’s website in 2011 and it is about the riot in London, 2011. I London there was a violent crowd of young people, who looted stores destroyed cars, had huge fights with the police, and vandalized buildings. Brand starts in the text with the fact he doesn’t live in Great Britain anymore, but he still has the national feeling of an Englishman. “I feel proud to be English, proud to be a Londoner (all right, an Essex boy), never more so than since being in exile, and I naturally began wonder what would make young people destroy their communities” by that he feels that it is okay to talk about the riots in his home country even though he doesn’t live there anymore. He also thinks it is okay to talk about it, because he had lived in the areas which have been offers to the riots. When he was young and lived in London, he was one of those youth who demonstrated and had the feeling of being ignored by the government. The politicians are criticized by Brand, because they do not give enough attention to the youth, but instead they are “sleeping” with the big companies. “A lack of direction, a sense that I was not invested in the dominant culture, that government existed not to look after the interests of the people it was elected to represent but the big businesses that they were in bed with.” Russel Brand views the media as a part of the blame, because they covered the riots with an attitude like when Brand was in “Big Brother”...

Words: 768 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Big Brother Isn't Watching You Analyze

...where the surveillance on society would be huge. The British comedian Russell Brand has changed the phrase to: “Big Brother isn’t watching you” in comment of the then recent UK riots, where he thinks that there clearly is no one, who is watching or controlling the riots. Russell Brand, married to the world famous Katy Perry, is especially known for his role in Get him to the Greek, where his very distinctive British accent brought a smile to every viewer. His comment on the riots is definately in a different genre, where he, with some serious and some sarcastical statements, is trying to define why these riots are occurring. Russell is starting his comment by telling a bit about himself. When he was in his early twenties, he had been participating in various protest. This means that even though he is no longer in the “economic class”, he can still relate to the riots, since he has been part of other riots. This experience from his early life is making him come up with what the reason of the riot could be. When he lived back in London and took part in riots, it was because he felt he was in need for some meaning in his life. Some goal he could go for, or like a direction, he could follow. He is sure that most of the rioting people are having the same problems as he had. However, some of the people rioting were doing it because they were deprived in a materialistic kind of way. Then Russell Brand is changing his view from the “economic class” to the politicians and the upper...

Words: 900 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Factors Affecting Students’ Enrolment Into the Executive Mba Programme at Africa University, Mutare, Zimbabwe

...International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management United Kingdom Vol. IV, Issue 3, March 2016 http://ijecm.co.uk/ ISSN 2348 0386 FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS’ ENROLMENT INTO THE EXECUTIVE MBA PROGRAMME AT AFRICA UNIVERSITY, MUTARE, ZIMBABWE Stanislas Bigirimana PhD, Faculty of Management and Administration, Africa University, Mutare, Zimbabwe sbigirimanaus@yahoo.com Joseph Chinzvende EMBA, Department of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), Africa University, Mutare, Zimbabwe chinzvendej@africau.edu Reason Masengu Phd Candidate, Graduate School of Business Management and Governance Leadership, North West University, Mmabatho, South Africa masengumasengu@yahoo.com Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate factors influencing the enrollment of students into the Executive Masters of Business Administration (EMBA) Programme at Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe. Questionnaires were distributed to students, lecturers and administrators of the EMBA programme. The analysis showed one the factors hindering increased enrollment is cost. The fees are unaffordable given the fact that the majority of students pay from their personal savings. Moreover, there is emerging competition from other programmes offered by Africa University while other universities in Zimbabwe are offering similar programmes at a lower cost. The participant also indicated that quality of service needs to be improved and formal advertising and marketing...

Words: 4267 - Pages: 18

Premium Essay

The Social

...animal Books by Elliot Aronson Theories of Cognitive Consistency (with R. Abelson et al.), 1968 Voices of Modern Psychology, 1969 The Social Animal, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2004; (with J. Aronson), 2008 Readings About the Social Animal, 1973, 1977, 1981, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2004; (with J. Aronson), 2008 Social Psychology (with R. Helmreich), 1973 Research Methods in Social Psychology (with J. M. Carlsmith & P. Ellsworth), 1976 The Jigsaw Classroom (with C. Stephan et al.), 1978 Burnout: From Tedium to Personal Growth (with A. Pines & D. Kafry), 1981 Energy Use: The Human Dimension (with P. C. Stern), 1984 The Handbook of Social Psychology (with G. Lindzey), 3rd ed., 1985 Career Burnout (with A. Pines), 1988 Methods of Research in Social Psychology (with P. Ellsworth, J. M. Carlsmith, & M. H. Gonzales), 1990 Age of Propaganda (with A. R. Pratkanis), 1992, 2000 Social Psychology, Vols. 1–3 (with A. R. Pratkanis), 1992 Social Psychology: The Heart and the Mind (with T. D. Wilson & R. M. Akert), 1994 Cooperation in the Classroom: The Jigsaw Method (with S. Patnoe), 1997 Nobody Left to Hate: Teaching Compassion After Columbine, 2000 Social Psychology: An Introduction (with T. D. Wilson & R. M. Akert), 2002, 2005, 2007 The Adventures of Ruthie and a Little Boy Named Grandpa (with R. Aronson), 2006 Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me) (with C. Tavris), 2007 Books by Joshua Aronson Improving Academic Achievement, 2002 The Social Animal To...

Words: 208005 - Pages: 833

Premium Essay

Cast Iron Kings

...The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald Download free eBooks of classic literature, books and novels at Planet eBook. Subscribe to our free eBooks blog and email newsletter. Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry ‘Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you!’ —THOMAS PARKE D’INVILLIERS  The Great Gatsby Chapter 1 I n my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. ‘Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.’ He didn’t say any more but we’ve always been unusually communicative in a reserved way, and I understood that he meant a great deal more than that. In consequence I’m inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores. The abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality when it appears in a normal person, and so it came about that in college I was unjustly accused of being a politician, because I was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men. Most of the confidences were unsought—frequently I have feigned sleep, preoccupation, or a hostile levity when I realized by some unmistakable sign that an intimate revelation was quivering on the horizon—for the intimate revelations of young men or at least...

Words: 49879 - Pages: 200

Premium Essay

The Great Gatsby

...The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald Download free eBooks of classic literature, books and novels at Planet eBook. Subscribe to our free eBooks blog and email newsletter. Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry ‘Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you!’ —THOMAS PARKE D’INVILLIERS  The Great Gatsby Chapter 1 I n my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. ‘Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.’ He didn’t say any more but we’ve always been unusually communicative in a reserved way, and I understood that he meant a great deal more than that. In consequence I’m inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores. The abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality when it appears in a normal person, and so it came about that in college I was unjustly accused of being a politician, because I was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men. Most of the confidences were unsought—frequently I have feigned sleep, preoccupation, or a hostile levity when I realized by some unmistakable sign that an intimate revelation was quivering on the horizon—for the intimate...

Words: 49879 - Pages: 200

Free Essay

Kiki

...THE B L A C K SWAN The HIGHLY I mpact IM of the PROBABLE Nassim Nicholas Taleb U.S.A. $26.95 Canada $34.95 is a highly improbable event with three principal characteristics: It is unpre­ dictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random, and more predictable, than it was. The astonishing success of Google was a black swan; so was 9 / 1 1 . For Nassim Nicholas Taleb, black swans underlie almost everything about our world, from the rise of religions to events in our own personal lives. A BLACK SWAN Why do we not acknowledge the phenomenon of black swans until after they occur? Part of the answer, according to Taleb, is that humans are hardwired to learn specifics when they should be focused on generalities. We concentrate on things we already know and time and time again fail to take into consideration what we don't know. We are, therefore, unable to truly estimate oppor­ tunities, too vulnerable to the impulse to simplify, narrate, and categorize, and not open enough to rewarding those who can imagine the "impossible." For years, Taleb has studied how we fool our­ selves into thinking we know more than we actually do. We restrict our thinking to the irrelevant and inconsequential, while large events continue to surprise us and shape our world. Now, in this reve­ latory book, Taleb explains everything we know about what we don't know. He offers...

Words: 158140 - Pages: 633

Premium Essay

International Business

...INDEX S.NO. TOPIC INDIAN CONTRACT ACT Nature and Kind of Contracts Offer and Acceptance of an Offer Capacity of Parties and Consideration Void Agreement and Contingent Contract Performance of Contract Discharge of a Contract Remedies for Breach of Contract and Quasi-contract Agency PAGE 2-10 11-22 23-34 35-49 50-62 63-72 73-81 82-99 SALES OF GOODS ACT Sales of Goods Act CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT Consumer Protection Act NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENT ACT Negotiable Instrument Act THE PARTNERSHIP LAW The Partnership Law THE COMPANIES ACT 1956 & COMPANIES LAW 2013 Companies Act 1956: Types of Company and Its Characters 101-127 129-140 142-167 169-191 193-211 Companies Act 1956: Memorandum, Article of Association and 212-239 Prospectus Companies Act 1956: Share Capital Companies Act 1956: Meeting Companies Act 1956: Management of the Company Companies Act 2013 240-275 276-302 303-340 341-364 THE CYBER LAW 2000 & AMENDMENTS IN 2008 CASES 0 MODULE-1 INDIAN CONTRACT ACT 1872 Chapters 1. Nature and Kind of Contracts 2. Offer and Acceptance of an Offer 3. Capacity of Parties and Consideration 4. Void Agreement and Contingent Contract 5. Performance of Contract 6. Discharge of a Contract 7. Remedies for Breach of Contract and Quasi-contract 8. Agency 1 The Indian Contract Act 1872: Nature and Kind of Contracts Learning Objectives In this chapter, students will come to know    What is an agreement and a contract? What are the essential...

Words: 151878 - Pages: 608

Premium Essay

Work, Culture and Identity in Mozambique and Southafrica 1860-1910

...Acknowledgments ix Acknowledgments This book owes a great deal to the mental energy of several generations of scholars. As an undergraduate at the University of Cape Town, Francis Wilson made me aware of the importance of migrant labour and Robin Hallett inspired me, and a generation of students, to study the African past. At the School of Oriental and African Studies in London I was fortunate enough to have David Birmingham as a thesis supervisor. I hope that some of his knowledge and understanding of Lusophone Africa has found its way into this book. I owe an equal debt to Shula Marks who, over the years, has provided me with criticism and inspiration. In the United States I learnt a great deal from ]eanne Penvenne, Marcia Wright and, especially, Leroy Vail. In Switzerland I benefitted from the friendship and assistance of Laurent Monier of the IUED in Geneva, Francois Iecquier of the University of Lausanne and Mariette Ouwerhand of the dépurtement évangélrlyue (the former Swiss Mission). In South Africa, Patricia Davison of the South African Museum introduced me to material culture and made me aware of the richness of difference; the late Monica Wilson taught me the fundamentals of anthropology and Andrew Spiegel and Robert Thornton struggled to keep me abreast of changes in the discipline; Sue Newton-King and Nigel Penn brought shafts of light from the eighteenthcentury to bear on early industrialism. Charles van Onselen laid a major part of the intellectual foundations on...

Words: 178350 - Pages: 714

Premium Essay

The Great Gatsby

...|The Great Gatsby Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald |ФРЭНСИС СКОТТ ФИЦЖЕРАЛЬД | | | | | |ВЕЛИКИЙ ГЭТСБИ | |Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high,| | |bounce for her too, Till she cry "Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing | | |lover, I must have you!" | | |THOMAS PARKE D'INVILLIERS. | | |Chapter 1 | ГЛАВА I | | In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice| | |that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. |В юношеские годы, когда человек особенно восприимчив, я как-то получил| |"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told...

Words: 92932 - Pages: 372

Free Essay

Test2

...62118 0/nm 1/n1 2/nm 3/nm 4/nm 5/nm 6/nm 7/nm 8/nm 9/nm 1990s 0th/pt 1st/p 1th/tc 2nd/p 2th/tc 3rd/p 3th/tc 4th/pt 5th/pt 6th/pt 7th/pt 8th/pt 9th/pt 0s/pt a A AA AAA Aachen/M aardvark/SM Aaren/M Aarhus/M Aarika/M Aaron/M AB aback abacus/SM abaft Abagael/M Abagail/M abalone/SM abandoner/M abandon/LGDRS abandonment/SM abase/LGDSR abasement/S abaser/M abashed/UY abashment/MS abash/SDLG abate/DSRLG abated/U abatement/MS abater/M abattoir/SM Abba/M Abbe/M abbé/S abbess/SM Abbey/M abbey/MS Abbie/M Abbi/M Abbot/M abbot/MS Abbott/M abbr abbrev abbreviated/UA abbreviates/A abbreviate/XDSNG abbreviating/A abbreviation/M Abbye/M Abby/M ABC/M Abdel/M abdicate/NGDSX abdication/M abdomen/SM abdominal/YS abduct/DGS abduction/SM abductor/SM Abdul/M ab/DY abeam Abelard/M Abel/M Abelson/M Abe/M Aberdeen/M Abernathy/M aberrant/YS aberrational aberration/SM abet/S abetted abetting abettor/SM Abeu/M abeyance/MS abeyant Abey/M abhorred abhorrence/MS abhorrent/Y abhorrer/M abhorring abhor/S abidance/MS abide/JGSR abider/M abiding/Y Abidjan/M Abie/M Abigael/M Abigail/M Abigale/M Abilene/M ability/IMES abjection/MS abjectness/SM abject/SGPDY abjuration/SM abjuratory abjurer/M abjure/ZGSRD ablate/VGNSDX ablation/M ablative/SY ablaze abler/E ables/E ablest able/U abloom ablution/MS Ab/M ABM/S abnegate/NGSDX abnegation/M Abner/M abnormality/SM abnormal/SY aboard ...

Words: 113589 - Pages: 455