RUSSELL BRAND (1m 07s): I suppose where our beliefs intersect Alex is that I think contemporary bipartisan politics is a meaningless spectacle to distract you from where power truthfully dwells so for me I don't have a view on Democrats, Republicans. I just sort of think of it as an interchangeable spectacle drawn across the reality. So I'm not surprised, disillusioned or disappointed...
The Obama Deception: The Mask comes Off (2009)Other Jesse Ventura wrestling posts
JESSE VENTURA: Politics in America today is identical to Pro-wrestling. What I mean by that, is in front of the Cameras and the public we all hate each other. "I'm gonna kick my opponents' butt. I'm gonna wail him from here to high water and beat the crap out of him" yet behind the scenes
WILLIE NELSON: ... You're all friends
VENTURA: We all go out to dinner together. It's all a work (Wrestling jargon: Charade). We're intermarried.
NELSON: Its showbiz
VENTURA: Its showbiz and that's what you have in America today. Democrats and Republicans aren't really opposed to each other
cut to
WEBSTER TARPLEY: Left and right mean nothing. The only thing that counts is are you working for Wall Street
JRE #374 - Marc Maron
JOE ROGAN: (18m 15s) Its almost like they want brownie points for running towards a progressive point in an aggressive way...
MARC MARON: Well I think what you have there is clasic reactionary thinking. And I've been that guy, I know what that guy is.
ROGAN: Kudos to you for figuring it out
MARON: After doing political talk radio for a year and a half. Like when I started Air America I was just a reactionary guy. I was a leftie guy but I was not educated. So basically anything that was anti-authority, anti-republican, anti-war, I'd be like "F·ck that guy!". I mean my comedy was like that to some degree. But when you get in the trenches of it and you really start to educate yourself on what issues are. How radio personalities are being used by political parties to move talking points. What the talking points are?
When it comes to real progressives, they're not so knee-jerk. They're fairly deliberate. They're fairly focused on what elements and causes are that will facilitate slow change. Rapid change is not really possible. But with these kinds of issues are quick. I tweeted something yesterday that "Occasional self-righteousness way more annoying than consistent self-righteousness"
ROGAN: Exactly. That's true.
MARON: Which is exactly what you're talking about. out of nowhere someone goes "GRRRRRRR" and they don't stand for that any other day or really engage in the public conversation but as soon as there's a hot topic and there's momentum then everybody gets righteous"
Occasional self-righteousness way more annoying than constant self-righteousness.
— marc maron (@marcmaron) July 14, 2013
JOE ROGAN: (46m 15s) In your defense, or anyone's defense if I didn't know me I'd assume I was a douchebag... The stereotype of anyone that would be a fighter is hyper aggressive, an asshole. I tried to be as friendly as possible so in my mind, I'm not trying to get sympathy but you get put in this weird kind of prejudice where you're put in this meathead category, automatically treat you like you're causing a problem
MARC MARON: That's interesting cuz that's what black people go through in this Country
ROGAN: I don't think I had it that bad (dismissing). That's cute [though]
MARON: No, no that's not what I was saying but that self consciousness. you know that people are going to judge you a certain a way and you have to behave in relation to the social realities of that stereotype
RUSSELL BRAND: Is this what you all do for a living? I'm here to promote a tour called 'Messiah Complex'... You're conveying news to the people of America? People of America we're going to be OK. Everything's alright. These are you're trusted anchors. Is that your news there? Give us your papers, I'll shuffle them for you.
(adopts the role of a news anchor)
We are going to talk about the situation with Edward Snowden...
That’s the problem about current affairs. You forget about what’s important. You allow the agenda to be decided by superficial information. What am I saying? What am I talking about? Don’t think about what I’m wearing. These things are superficial.
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| Russell Brand on MSNBC: Poking fun at our Newsroom |
Shoot Fights: When pundits get personal - Kilmeade VS Garofalo, Stewart VS Crossfire
In wrestling, a 'shoot' is when one of the combatants overrides the agreed script and does something unexpected by injecting real emotion. This may involve actually hitting (physically connecting with) other wrestlers or using very personal verbal attacks. In essence making a fake wrestling scenario or feud into a real one. Shoots aren't necessarily a bad thing as the heightened realism makes for compelling viewing and is sure to garner an audience.
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| Glenn Beck: "Never take yourself too seriously" |
Via Glenn Beck's FacebookGlenn shared the latest piece of art adorning his studio wall on his Facebook page. Glenn has been accused of being a Clown by his detractors, even those ideologically aligned with him
Last night I celebrated the purchase of the Studios at Las Colinas with my staff, and unveiled a new piece of artwork to hang in the stairwell as a reminder: Never take yourself too seriously.
Mark Levin to Glenn Beck: 'Stop acting like a clown'We at PunditFight have always contended that Beck is a lover of comedy even when he has distanced himself from it at times.
"The mainstream media is not your friend. It will promote you for the purpose of destroying you," he said, seemingly alluding to the somewhat favorable coverage of Beck’s speech. "Be careful playing footsie with the mainstream media."
"Decide what you are," Levin added, “A circus clown, self-identified, or a thoughtful and wise person. It’s hard to be both."
Jon Stewart, Wyatt Cenac and Mick Foley endorse the analogy that American Politics is like pro-wrestlingAPF pundit Glenn Beck is one of the best in the business at creating hype and cutting Wrestling Style promos. A wrestling promo typically features these elements:
WYATT CENAC: Jon here's your problem. You think politicians wanna win their arguments when all they really wanna do is keep having them. They know arguments are interesting, they energize voters, they keep the money flowing in.
JON STEWART: You're telling me their interest is in conflict, not in resolution?
WYATT CENAC: Yes. Jon do you watch professional wrestling?
GLENN BECK: Its best coming from you, not coming from a News organisation. Its best coming from you, you have until Monday. We have information on who this man is and listen to me carefully, in your little event world.
We know he is a very bad, bad, bad man. I know that doesn't make much sense to you right now but on Monday it will. It makes sense to somebody in Washington. I don't bluff, I make promises. The truth matters. I've had enough of what you've done to our Country. I thought I had heard and seen it all. I thought that I didn't trust my Government. Oh no. No, no there is no depth that these people won't stoop to. You have until Monday and then the Blaze will expose it
TheBlaze EXCLUSIVE: Saudi student connected to Boston Marathon bombing set to be deported under “security related grounds” Update: Congressional source confirms
The FBI said a file was started "just in case he was found to be connected to the crime," however, the file shows he was scheduled to be deported. This was not precautionary, it was listed as “orders.” The file was immediately classified. Sources are telling TheBlaze the deportation order will be classified as well – requiring a FOIA to access it.
One agent told TheBlaze he believes a "voluntary" departure has been signed – that means the Saudi student could be out of the country as early as today. While the official story was going to be “he wanted to go home,” the student was actually being deported.
TheBlaze has been told that by a source that this "looks like they were trying to make this a ‘lone wolf’ crime, so the Saudi government would be spared embarrassment and the U.S. would avoid explaining how a terror cell was active when we had AQ on the run."
Former Governor Sarah Palin at CPAC 2013Palin has diagnosed the same problem that is hampering effective leadership in American Politics, the endless campaign and the staged conflict. An opinion shared by the PunditFight blog and the likes of Jon Stewart and Ann Coulter.
SARAH PALIN: Entertainment TV is a good description of what's going on in D.C. because more than ever it feels like a put on. Every event feels calculated to fool us somehow, every speech feels like a con. Washington politicians, too many of both parties have a bad habit of focusing on the process of politics instead of the purpose of politics which is to lead and to serve.
Even our guys in the GOP too often have a habit of reading their stage directions, especially these days. They're being too scripted, too calculated...
The Daily Show (March 15, 2010) - Crumbums and Fat catsSarah Palin offers a remedy for the stagecrafted Politicians whilst sending a veiled diss to "Architect" Karl Rove. A shoot promo reminiscent of CM Punk' inside baseball diss of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
WYATT CENAC: Jon here's your problem. You think politicians wanna win their arguments when all they really wanna do is keep having them. They know arguments are interesting, they energize voters, they keep the money flowing in.
JON STEWART: You're telling me their interest is in conflict, not in resolution?
WYATT CENAC: Yes. Jon do you watch professional wrestling?
SARAH PALIN: (23min) Ending the top-down approach to D.C. also means changing out top-down political process. The next election is 20 months away, now is the time to furlough the political consultants, tune out the pollsters, send the focus groups home and toss the political scripts because if we truly know what we believe, we don't need professionals to tell us...
it means looking to our communities, our PTAs, our service clubs, small businesses, Tea Party rallies and city halls for people who are willing to lead. Do you know someone who's judgment you trust? Someone who doesn't just preach commonsense but actually lives it. Encourage her -- or him to run for office.
Are you Mad as Hell and think that you have a better way? Then run yourself. Don't let the Big Consultants, the Big Money Men, the Big, Bad media scare you off. Don't let them invalidate you. When you have more real world, practical experience with family, real work. That's real life than those in the political bubble that try to tell you who's worthy and who just doesn't fit their bill. The last thing we need is Washington D.C. vetting our candidates. If these experts who keep losing elections and keep getting rehired and raking in millions. If they feel that strongly about who gets to run in this party then they should buck up and stay in the truck. Buck up and run!
The Architect[s] can head on back to the great Lone Star state and put their name on some ballot though for their own sake I hope they give themselves a discount on their consulting services.
UPDATE: Jon Stewart Taking Summer ‘Daily Show’ Hiatus To Direct First Film And “Challenge” Himself, John Oliver To Sub
11 AM EXCLUSIVE: Jon Stewart will take a 12-week summer hiatus from hosting Comedy Central‘s The Daily Show to make his feature directing debut. In his absence, Daily Show regular John Oliver will be guest host for eight weeks of fresh shows. Stewart has written the script for and will direct Rosewater, an adaptation of the book Then They Came For Me: A Family’s Story Of Love, Captivity And Survival. Published in 2011 by Random House, the book is Maziar Bahari’s harrowing ordeal of leaving London in June 2009 to cover Iran’s presidential elections. With a pregnant fiance left behind, the BBC journalist expected to be away for a week. Instead, he spent the next 118 days in Iran’s most notorious prison being brutally interrogated by a man he knew only by one thing: he smelled of Rosewater. Bahari wrote the book with Aimee Molloy. Scott Rudin will produce with Stewart and Gigi Pritzker. Pritzker’s OddLot Entertainment is financing the film.
Glenn Beck Show: WWE Demonizes Tea Party Character
GLENN BECK: You know I can take it from a lot of people, I really can. I can't take it from the stupid wrestling people, especially since a lot of the people -- I would imagine that a lot of the people who watch wrestling are not New York elites. Now call me crazy, I'm going out on a limb. I don't think a lot of Ivy league Harvard professors are watching WWE. I also don't think a lot of the progressive administration officials are watching the WWE. So who watches it?
I personally think when the WWE comes after the Tea Party, that's like NASCAR coming after the Tea Party. Maybe at a higher level than wrestling...
GLENN BECK: ... Who are they appealing to?It's an understandable observation for Beck to make but those familiar with the theatre of wrestling should be aware that anything goes when it comes to "getting a draw". Whether a reaction is good or bad is negligible as long as it elicits a reaction, the stronger the better. The art is in harnessing those reactions and manipulating them through effective storytelling. At its purest, Wrestling is a circular hype machine not unlike Punditry.
STU BURGUIERE: Wouldn't the argument be -- at least one of the arguments would be they're trying to create villains. They do this all the time, they're trying to create a villain. Like when I was a kid, I remember the Iron Sheik. The Iron Sheik was from Iran and was always saying terrible things about America - that doesn't mean the WWE [WWF at the time] didn't like America. They were trying to make a villain out of the Iron Sheik. But this is different, the villain, the guy you're supposed to hate is this stereotype of this conservative I've never met
GLENN BECK: The problem with this is a bunch of Sheiks weren't watching the WWE. So you're making a villain of what? -- 80% of your audience who are tired as it is of being miscast...
Uncle Zeb Colter w/ Jack Swagger promo: WWE Raw (Feb 11, 2013)
ZEB COLTER: Fellow Americans, I got a question for ya. What is wrong with America? Zeb Colter knows what's wrong, Jack Swagger knows what's wrong but I think most Americans have forgotten what is wrong with America. Years ago me and this man's daddy laid in a jungle in Vietnam with bullets whizzing by our heads, you know why? Because we were real patriots, we were real Americans and now I look around and I see a Country that I don't even recognize. I see people with faces not like mine. I see people that I don't even know what they're saying. They can't even talk to me and I look around and I think where did all these people come from but most importantly I think how do we get rid of 'em? We the people, Americans -- Real Americans know the truth. Zeb Colter knows the truth. Jack Swagger knows the truth because this is the land of the free and the home of the brave, not the land of the free and the home to whoever wants to cross our borders.
This is a Real American. Its our Country, its our land to protect and defend because we are real patriots, real Americans and remember "We the People".
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| 'Mythologies' by Roland Barthes |
THE WORLD OF WRESTLING- TXC 'Total Xtreme Comedy': Wrestlers Mick Foley and Colt Cabana performing stand-up
We are therefore dealing with a real Human Comedy, where the most socially-inspired nuances of passion (conceit, rightfulness, refined cruelty, a sense of 'paying one's debts') always felicitously find the clearest sign which can receive them, express them and triumphantly carry them to the confines of the hall. It is obvious that at such a pitch, it no longer matters whether the passion is genuine or not. What the public wants is the image of passion, not passion itself. There is no more a problem of truth in wrestling than in the theater. In both, what is expected is the intelligible representation of moral situations which are usually private. This emptying out of interiority to the benefit of its exterior signs, this exhaustion of the content by the form, is the very principle of triumphant classical art. Wrestling is an immediate pantomime, infinitely more efficient than the dramatic pantomime, for the wrestler's gesture needs no anecdote, no decor, in short no transference in order to appear true...
