I saw that interview. I wondered how he could comfortably live with the huge feeling of cognitive dissonance he must walk around with. He’s not a stupid person so it’s a conundrum.
Actors are like anyone else. Smart, stupid, good, bad. The Golden Age actress Hedy Lamarr co-invented a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes that used frequency hopping technology to defeat the threat of radio jamming by the Axis powers. (Plagiarised from Wiki) Not too shabby.
The military rejected her inventions. They asked her to sell war bonds to help the war effort instead, because she was a celebrity. Really common. Intelligence asset.
Celebrity is often a tool of power. As is the case with everyone pictured here.
Like, "here's an example of a celebrity approached by the government to influence opinions despite other scientific contributions" feels extremely on the nose.
I'm an atheist and science fan, and so by default thought he must be a decent bloke. He was friends with Douglas Adams, for instance. I'm genuinely disgusted with the man.
These guys all bank on people sympathizing with the science, the atheism, the comedy - and that's how they get people defending the shit they push that's nothing of the sort.
It’s amazing how many assume and believe that a posh accent means you’re intelligent or that you have anything meaningful to say that’s worth listening to.
Stephen Fry shaking his head and sighing so everyone knows he really doesn't like all of the right wing reactionaries he keeps being seen standing next to.
Maybe the second feeds into the first… It must be easy to get pushed along a road towards ever more repellent behaviour if you get fluffed at every baby step.
Sorry, I think it’s incredibly dangerous to argue that only “idiots” fall for bad ideas. The history of fascism is littered with smart people falling for it.
Fry is plainly very intelligent. Understanding why someone like him falls for JBP and Murray is really important in fighting these shits.
You're right that it's dangerous to say only idiots fall for bad ideas, but that isn't what I'm saying. You may be impressed by Fry's Professor act but I'm not. He knows how to phrase things in a way that sounds clever - that is at best only one, limited, form of intelligence.
I think Fry is very representative of a type of person who *thinks* they're clever because they have mastered a certain type of language. They can read the broadsheets, they have some talent for phrase-making. These types are apt to fall for JBP because he exploits that self-image.
I would go as far as to say that JBP is actually more intelligent than the likes of Fry precisely because he knows how to manipulate their gifted kid fragile egotism. And Peterson is a joke, academically. His theses fall apart under minimal scrutiny.
And people say he's not a real actor & has no range, but I saw him playing a simpering media personality who will do & say anything to stay in with the school bullies in power in V for Vendetta, so who's right?
Comments
He's an actor. He acts. That's literally it.
The military rejected her inventions. They asked her to sell war bonds to help the war effort instead, because she was a celebrity. Really common. Intelligence asset.
Celebrity is often a tool of power. As is the case with everyone pictured here.
"Haven't read Koran so couldn't quote chapter & verse like I can for Bible. But often say Islam greatest force for evil today."
Nevermind all the scientism.
But yep.
These guys all bank on people sympathizing with the science, the atheism, the comedy - and that's how they get people defending the shit they push that's nothing of the sort.
1/2
Also, LOL at your post
Like - how did he not recognise that Jordan Peterson was a charlatan right from the outset?
Fry is plainly very intelligent. Understanding why someone like him falls for JBP and Murray is really important in fighting these shits.
He's a fascist. These are guys who believe in Scientism, the idea that science is basically infallible magic that excuses their hateful shit.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/lawrence-krauss-the-dei-nightmare-must-be-dismantled-in-canada-and-the-u-s