Another “Who Do I Root For Here?” Situation
I’ve made no secret of my loathing of Pam Geller, who makes Ann Coulter look sane and rational by comparison. But her latest column leaves me in something of a conundrum. As much as I despise her and her vile political views, I don’t know that I can root against her if she’s tangling with Russell Brand, who is about as painfully unfunny to me as Dane Cook.
Early this week I got a request from Charles Davis, Russell Brand’s booker for his new show (and soon to be old show), “Brand X.” It surprised me, because clearly, this is not my usual milieu. And while I knew that it would be snarky and stupid, I was also keenly aware that this young, impressionable and brainwashed audience never gets an opportunity to hear from First Amendment activists, counter-jihadists, former Muslims, etc. And so I seized upon it. They never ever hear from the reasoned and the rational. I was prepared for a snake pit. I was prepared for a circus. But I wasn’t prepared for the pure evil that I was confronted with.
Okay, that’s probably going a bit far. Russell Brand is annoying and vapid and devoid of anything approaching a sense of humor. But evil? I reserve that kind of word for only the worst human beings, like Pol Pot. Or Pat Robertson. Or Celine Dion.
composer99:
November 4th, 2012 at 9:12 am
Pam Geller has a bright future on the stand-up circuit with gems like that.
What’s that? She’s not cracking a joke?
Oh.
democommie:
November 4th, 2012 at 9:19 am
The few times I’ve endured Russell Brand’s “humor” it was not by choice. He was attempting to be funny; he failed. OTOH, Pamajamadingdong is attempting to be sane and logical with much the same result.
Rodney Nelson:
November 4th, 2012 at 9:30 am
I wouldn’t call Ms. Dion evil. She’s execrable, atrocious and repugnant, but she isn’t good enough to descend to evil.
zmidponk:
November 4th, 2012 at 10:11 am
When Russell Brand really, really, really stretches himself to the absolute limits of his comic potential, he occasionally is mildly amusing. However, if Geller agreed to go on Brand’s show and was surprised at the way it was done and the reception she received, or, really, anything that happened there, frankly, she failed to even do a cursory check of what to expect.
In the full column, Geller does criticise Brand for not letting her answer after a rant by some guy in the audience waving a sign, and that is an accurate criticism, going by the youtube video of it, but the column also further cements Geller’s reputation as being an utterly paranoid bigot:
Pam, dear, your racism is showing. Just because the guy’s a bit dark-skinned and has a beard does NOT mean he’s a Muslim. Even if he was, him holding up a sign and calling you a racist does not make him an extremist one. (Incidentally, just because the sign was not written in marker pen does not mean this was a set-up – it is fairly easy to get a printed sign made these days.)
She then finishes this little segment with this:
So, in Pam’s head, anyone who looks a bit Muslimy and disagrees with her is probably going to pull out a knife and try to behead her.
zmidponk:
November 4th, 2012 at 10:17 am
Actually, looking a bit closer, what I thought was a beard was just down to the low res of the youtube clip. So, from what I can see, Pam thought he was a Muslim purely down to him being a bit dark-skinned.
Modusoperandi:
November 4th, 2012 at 10:26 am
Did she bring a 1st Amendment activist with her?
Ibis3, member of the Oppressed Sisterhood fanclub:
November 4th, 2012 at 10:26 am
dingojack:
November 4th, 2012 at 10:32 am
Ibis3 – “My Heart Will Go Ooooooooonnnnnnnnnnn!!!”
Does one need any more reason?
Dingo
—–
PS: Wait ’till you feel the wrath for those that bugger-up blockquotes. ;)
julian:
November 4th, 2012 at 10:34 am
Shame on her for being freaked that someone who thinks she’s an irredeemably bigoted human being and is yelling at her from only a few feet away might be dangerous.
laurentweppe:
November 4th, 2012 at 10:35 am
You’re getting it backward: for the likes of Geller, “Muslim” is a code word for Dark Skinne. Also “Western Civilization” is a code word for “White People ruling the world and fucking like Targaryens”
Modusoperandi:
November 4th, 2012 at 10:39 am
And, whenever she leaves Canada, hobos stop disappearing.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that Celine Dion is responsible for Canada’s stunningly high hobo murder rate. I’m just asking questions, that’s all.
zmidponk:
November 4th, 2012 at 10:45 am
julian #9:
Reading comprehension isn’t your strong suit – she jumped to the conclusion that because someone’s dark-skinned, he’s a Muslim, and that, because he’s Muslim, he’s dangerous.
And you actually got that wrong – he wasn’t yelling at her from a few feet away – he was yelling at her when he was in the audience, but, when brought over beside her, actually calmed down and talked quite calmly, if somewhat intensely, about what he was yelling about.
democommie:
November 4th, 2012 at 11:35 am
If Pam Gellar WERE beheaded would her body continue to twitch, like other beheaded snakes, until sundown*? Or would she just run around the yard, like a headless chicken, doing more sensible things than she did when her brainstem was still intact?
* Drat! This says it’s bunkum!!
janiceintoronto:
November 4th, 2012 at 11:57 am
MS. Dion is simply Canada’s revenge on the U.S.
If she was truly evil, she would have applied for U.S. citizenship.
At least she’s polite…
MarkNS:
November 4th, 2012 at 12:08 pm
By giving you Americans Justin Beiber and Celine Dion we have raised the average talent level of both countries. Win/win.
velociraptor:
November 4th, 2012 at 1:06 pm
@15
Enjoy your shiny new Internet.
BTW, you owe me a new keyboard.
andrewjohnston:
November 4th, 2012 at 1:27 pm
@Ibis3: I believe Ed was employing the arcane formula known as the “Rule of Threes,” wherein the third item in a list is wholly unlike the two before it, thus generating that mysterious force known as “humor.”
In other words, it’s a gag. People mock Celine Dion because she’s imminently mockable.
andrewjohnston:
November 4th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
@zmidponk: Actually, there’s a concept among “anti-Jihad” bloggers that they call the “stealth Muslim,” meaning that the nice Caucasian Southern Baptist who disagrees with you is probably one of them. I’m not sure if Geller’s ever played that trump, but Schlussel does.
davem:
November 4th, 2012 at 1:48 pm
Russell Brand has crossed the pond? Maybe he was in search of an audience that might laugh at his jokes. Since you guys actually laughed at the talentless Ricky Gervais, I guess he thought that it might work… Like Ricky, he is his own biggest fan.
brianwestley:
November 4th, 2012 at 2:31 pm
Nonstampcollector linked to a video with this great line: “You might ask whether I mean ‘Ha-Ha’ funny or Dane Cook funny.”
revjimbob:
November 4th, 2012 at 2:37 pm
I think she has every reason to be upset about the show. I wouldn’t be happy if some exited angry stranger shouting at me, instead of being escorted away by security, was invited to sit down beside me and given a platform and a microphone to rant at me.
I don’t think she is unreasonable to feel unsafe in these circumstances.
Incidentally – Brand can be a tosser, but he is nowhere near as bad as Dane Fucking Cook.
dan4:
November 4th, 2012 at 3:35 pm
@21: “…instead of being escorted away by security…”
Geller says that it was “an obvious setup,” so, if she was right about that, the guy obviously wouldn’t be “escorted away by security.”
kemist, Dark Lord of the Sith:
November 4th, 2012 at 6:31 pm
At least you don’t get to hear her sing in french.
We do.
Consider yourselves very lucky.
slc1:
November 4th, 2012 at 7:09 pm
According to Wikipedia, Mr. Brand has a rather sordid past, being a former heroin addict, an alcoholic, a sex addict, and has been arrested 12 times, mainly for assault. Not a very nice man to say the least.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Brand
John Phillips, FCD:
November 5th, 2012 at 6:37 am
Dear US,
please keep Russell Brand, preferably forever.
yours sincerely and in gratitude,
the UK.
dingojack:
November 5th, 2012 at 7:03 am
Yep and the US exported Jim Carey and Adam Sandler*.
Is there section in the Geneva Convention about so-called ‘comics’**?
Dingo
—–
* Together these two just about make Brand hilarious by comparison.
** On the other hand Australia has given the world… hmmm maybe ‘comic crimes against humanity’ isn’t such a good idea after all. :)
Nick Gotts (formerly KG):
November 5th, 2012 at 7:43 am
True – but at least he’s not an advocate of genocide.
slc1:
November 5th, 2012 at 7:51 am
Re dingojack @ #26
Ah, but Australia has very kindly contributed Ken Ham to the US. Not something to be proud of.
Re Nick Gotts @ #27
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
dingojack:
November 5th, 2012 at 8:04 am
And bloody Rolf Harris, Kylie Minogue and … oh all the rest.
Dingo
eamick:
November 5th, 2012 at 10:11 am
Jim Carrey was born in Canada. We do have to take the rap for Adam Sandler, though.
Blondin:
November 5th, 2012 at 10:24 am
Slightly off topic but, I ventured into a Wal-Mart yesterday (something I rarely do) to pick up a hardware item and I saw “Justin Bieber Duct Tape”. Google it if you think I’m lying. Maybe I’m just an out-of-touch old fart but I can’t for the life me figure out who would want such a thing and for what purpose.
Modusoperandi:
November 5th, 2012 at 10:48 am
Blondin, I have to assume you’ve never had a leaky Justin Bieber Duct, then.
coryat:
November 6th, 2012 at 7:44 am
I don’t know how aware the US is about Mr Brand; do you all know about the Sachs affair? He and Jonathan Ross took it upon themselves to phone the guy who played Manuel in faulty towers and brag about having sex with his grandaughter. And then release that on national radio. Link with transcript:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7694989.stm
Brand is a vile misogynist in my book, and yet we included him in the Olympics closing ceremony. Argh.
slc1:
November 6th, 2012 at 8:28 am
Re dingojack @ #29
What’s the matter with Rolf Harris? He seems like a pretty talented guy.
dingojack:
November 6th, 2012 at 9:24 am
SLC – Remebemer You asked for it!!
:) Dingo
slc1:
November 6th, 2012 at 9:48 am
Re dingojack @ #35
Well, I kind of liked Tie Me Kangaroo Down and The Court of King Caractacus.
dingojack:
November 6th, 2012 at 10:01 am
He does a mean cover of Stairway to Heaven.
Dingo
—–
PS: Covers of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ was a running gag on the Australian TV show ‘The Money or the Gun’. There are plenty more, look ‘em on YouTube.