International Rowan Atkinson speech on state of the UK

PBAC

PBAC

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Ok so this popped up on my timeline as a recently made speech but it was actually 12 years ago. I wonder if he would change his perpective in the current climate. If he sees free speech as necessary but if an absolutely open freedom of expression leads to dangerous collaborations.

Cliffs are that he compares the state of the UK to some of his past comedy sketches such as not the 9 o clock news. He laments that free speech is under threat.

Starts a slew of reactionaries calling for him to run for election because all it takes nowadays is to be an opinionated celebrity to run a country.

Doesn't fully state anything about anti immigration or approach some of the reasoning as to why some forms of expression are better kept to themselves. This is where I wonder if his tone on this has shifted as he doesn't strike me as being in that bench at all. The video s being recirculated to justify antiimmigrant rioting.

 
Was watching James Bond today, Never Say Never Again 1983, and Rowan popped up. Never knew he was in that film.

Great man. His house in Oxford looks so silly though.
 
You rarely see him on TV these days, so I assume that he hasn’t changed his view.

You are blacklisted very quickly in the UK if you don’t tow the establishment’s line.
 
Quadtavius Tuck said:
Yeah I'm definitely gonna watch Mr. Bean talk about what's wrong in the world

Not
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You realize that Mr. Bean was a character, right? It's a thing that happens on TV and movies a lot actually. For example, Jim Rockford and Magnum P.I. weren't actually real private investigators but were fictional characters played by actors.
 
LeonardoBjj said:
- Being the character of MR Bean, doesnt impede the man of have serious opinions about political issues.

And since Rowan is hilarious, his opinions are far more important than Rogan!
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Guys like Rowan Atkinson and John Cleese might seem a bit stuffy now, but they're super intelligent people.

This is the thing with the current age, though. Most people who are actually smart aren't doing podcasts. They're certainly not doing them about shit they don't know anything about like a pseudo-journalist.

The podcast/social media age is chock full of very prominent opinions from people whose opinion you shouldn't take seriously. The people whose opinions you might wanna listen to are getting drowned out in the incessant squawking.
 
What use is free expresion when you dont have a roof over your head. His rankings seems off. I agree with the rest.
 
Atkinson IRL is a very smart dude, which means he has virtually no place in the public sphere these days. And his arguments in the clip are just waiting for a 90 IQ dipshit to start regurgitating what they learned in the lesbian pottery class that language is violence waaah.
 
LeonardoBjj said:
- Being the character of MR Bean, doesnt impede the man of have serious opinions about political issues.

And since Rowan is hilarious, his opinions are far more important than Rogan!
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He has a master's degree in electrical engineering from Oxford. He's probably smarter than 99% of people on this forum lol.
 
Siver! said:
Guys like Rowan Atkinson and John Cleese might seem a bit stuffy now, but they're super intelligent people.

This is the thing with the current age, though. Most people who are actually smart aren't doing podcasts. They're certainly not doing them about shit they don't know anything about like a pseudo-journalist.

The podcast/social media age is chock full of very prominent opinions from people whose opinion you shouldn't take seriously. The people whose opinions you might wanna listen to are getting drowned out in the incessant squawking.
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It was ever thus.

The trick has always been to find a way of appealing to the masses whilst also maintaining intellectual integrity. I think a lot of podcasters (like Rogan) have tried to do that but found themselves attacked and screamed at for pointing out the fallacies of a lot of left wing ideas. This just pushes them further to the right, taking a lot of their fans with them.
 
BigDeadFreak said:
It was ever thus.

The trick has always been to find a way of appealing to the masses whilst also maintaining intellectual integrity. I think a lot of podcasters (like Rogan) have tried to do that but found themselves attacked and screamed at for pointing out the fallacies of a lot of left wing ideas. This just pushes them further to the right, taking a lot of their fans with them.
Click to expand...

Yeah podcasters are effectively funded directly by the listener, they're going to do whatever the listener base wants, which is why they shouldn't really be listened to. It becomes instant grift, even accidentally so, and everyone just sorta falls aimlessly into it.

But podcasts are just the trash reality TV equivalent, where Black Adder, Fawlty Towers, etc, are works of genius. The smart people won't be doing podcasts and being told what to say, they'll be doing satire and their views will be relatively anonymous.

As had always been the case, the strongest, most poignant messages are found in allegory, satire, drama and comedy. They extend their wisdom to all newsworthy incidents. Political debate, podcasting, reality TV, etc isn't nearly as useful as its too direct, too specific, needs arguing and rearguing every single day, and ultimately goes nowhere.
 
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