BBC Newsnight

Jeremy Paxman spreekt met Russell Brand, een Engelse komiek die zich met politiek wil inlaten en die hier bij ons ernstig wordt genomen door bijvoorbeeld David Van Reybrouck. Het volledige interview kunt u hier zien, maar ik transcribeerde enkel een klein stukje, beginnend na 2’09”.

Mijn voorstel is om met commentaar te wachten tot we gehoord hebben wat dr. Anthony Daniels, beter bekend als Theodore Dalrymple hiervan vindt.

JP: When did you last vote?
RB: Never.
JP: You’ve never ever voted?
RB: No. Do you think that’s really bad?
JP: So you struck an attitude, what, before the age of eighteen?
RB: Well, I was busy being a drug addict at that point, ‘cause I come from the sort of social conditions that are exacerbated by an indifferent system that really just administrates for large corporations and ignores the population it was voted in to serve.
JP: You’re blaming the political class for the fact that you had a drug problem?
RB: No no no! I’m saying I was part of a social and economic class that is underserved by the current political system, and drug addiction is one of the problems it creates. When you have huge underserved, impoverished populations, people get drug problems, and also don’t feel like… they don’t want to engage with the current political system because they see that it doesn’t work for them, they see that it makes no difference, they see that they’re not served.