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Westminster Fear & Media Bias Shafted Scotland: Russell Brand The Trews (E150)

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    [in a sadsack scottish accent] Hulllohhhh...
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    welcome to the troooooz...
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    troooz uz nooz uff nooz wurr troo
    thus is tha trooo...
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    [back to his english accent]
    WHA' APPENED THERE THEN??
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    [laughing]
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    It's a bit disappointing, isn't it?
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    because, uh, well, people go
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    "No! pthtsniffnff..."
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    "This proves democracy DOES work!"
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    "Because there was an 80% turnout!"
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    That shows you what ain't worth voting for,
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    like, y'know, independence.
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    People will vote.
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    But because it seemed like
    a lot of people might vote "yes",
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    the media went into overdrive
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    to push people towards that "no" vote.
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    The brilliant George Monbiot...
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    i hope i said that right, you...
    it's a hard word to read,
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    i read his stuff all the time,
    George Monbiot,
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    he wrote this excellent article that you should
    check out for yourselves in the Guardian,
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    pointing out how there was not one newspaper,
    other than the Sunday Herald,
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    at a local, national or international level,
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    that supported scottish independence.
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    Check out this.
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    In the Spectator, Monbiot points out
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    that Simon Heffer (journalist) maintains that
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    "the Scots are addicted to welfare,
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    and embrace the something-for-nothing society"
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    That's takin' the piss, isn't it?
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    How do you feel now?
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    Now you're stuck with the people,
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    you've let them people win!
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    Democracy exists within certain conditions.
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    If people don't have access to proper information,
    then what value does their vote have?
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    I mean, like, Westminster politics,
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    we've seen time and time again
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    what narrow parameters it exists within.
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    All 3 main parties, and, y'know,
    the dodgy racist geezer,
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    they all went up there
    to say the same thing, didn't they?
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    I saw a brilliant tweet this morning,
    cant remember who it was,
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    says that, like,
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    when there's more options that Wanker A,
    Wanker B, Wanker C, and Racist Wanker,
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    you get an 80% turnout.
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    We don't normally get
    those kind of options down here.
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    Let's have a look at a little bit
    of news coverage of the event
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    as we attempt to understand this, and
    attempt to understand the world we live in.
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    [reporter] ...and that means...
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    that we are approaching the moment
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    where we can say exactly what's happened
    in this referendum.
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    And that is it, Scotland has voted no
    in this referendum on independence,
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    the result in Fife has
    taken the no campaign over the line
    ,
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    *and the official result of this referendum is a no."
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    Hugh looks like he's been cryin his eyes out,
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    hey, where's he from, he's Welsh, isn't he?
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    [welsh accent] "well there it is... oh... blast... we're
    all doomed, there's no chance for Wales now."
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    Um, yeah i must admit, i'm sort of...
    i'm sort of amazed
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    that in any election where people can go
    "Do you want to fuck david cameron off or not?"
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    people went "No!" [laughing loudly]
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    How do we get there???
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    The only way you can get there
    is through terror and dread.
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    Surely... that's why i tweeted that thing...
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    "Fear is more powerful than faith"
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    i didn't necessarily mean religious faith,
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    i mean faith that we as human beings can change,
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    faith that we as human beings
    can build a different society.
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    The yes vote posed so many questions...
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    oh god so much uncertainty,
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    [Scots accent] "what'll happen to trident [missiles]?!"
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    "What'll happen to this? What'll happen to..."
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    Y'know, that people were able
    to play on those fears.
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    That's why we tolerate this society,
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    because there's so much fear of change.
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    [Alex Salmond] "...Scotland has by majority
    decided not, at this stage,
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    to become an independent country.
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    Thank you to scotland, for 1.6 million votes
    for scottish independence.
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    [loud cheers]
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    I feel a bit like crying when i listen to that.
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    I'm not even Scottish or anyfing.
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    It's really affected me...
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    because... i suppose...
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    part of me thinks maybe democracy CAN work,
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    maybe people WILL vote for whats best for them,
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    but we can't because we don't have access
    to the proper information,
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    and not enough people felt hopeful
    that things could be different for them.
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    There's no one can convince me
    that that "no" vote was like
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    "NO! Let's definitely stay in the union!! It's going fantastic!! We love it!!*
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    We love david cameron!!
    We love what's happening to the NHS!!
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    We love being on the brink of another war in the middle east to represent corporate interests!!
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    We vote for that!!!
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    We vote for that!!!
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    It's fear, isn't it?
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    Alright well let's have a look at what our leader
    -and people of Scotland, YOUR leader-
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    david cameron, has to say on the subject.
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    [david cameron] The people of Scotland
    have spoken.
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    and it is a clear result.
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    They have kept our country
    of 4 nations together.
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    And like millions of other people, i am delighted.
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    As i said during the campaign,
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    it would have broken my heart to see
    our united kingdom come to an end.
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    I hate the fact that one of the smuggest people,
    ever to have lived as far as I can work out,
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    has got an opportunity to be smug.
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    [snooty English accent] As I've said
    all along,
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    whilst i was at Eton as a little boy,
    wearing a top hat -
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    something a little boy should never be wearing,
    unless he's Lord Snooty-
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    what i say is right.
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    And even if it isn't right,
    we'll make it right
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    by throwing money and fear at it.
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    [cameron] So now it is time for our united kingdom
    to come together and to move forward.
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    A vital part of that will be a balanced settlement,
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    fair to people in Scotland, & importantly, to everyone
    in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as well.
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    This fellah here, he's just a rich bloke,
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    he's a rich bloke representing other rich people.
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    Poor people in scotland voted yes,
    rich people in scotland voted no.
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    Actually not just rich people.
    Rich and scared people.
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    Cause this is scary, it is scary.
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    ISIS is scary, poverty is scary,
    there's loads and loads of reasons to be scared.
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    It's hard... [big breath]
    it's hard to be optimistic these days.
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    So I suppose if you're looking for optimism,
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    one of the things we can feel optimism about
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    is that 1.6 million people voted yes.
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    And I think... look... on the bright side...
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    I don't reckon it would've been a
    government that was totally ... y'know...
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    it's not gonna be a utopian government,
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    but like, the [Rupert] Murdoch press
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    said that they didn't back
    the Scottish independence campaign
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    because they feared that there'd be too much
    welfare, too much interest in the environment,
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    I mean, exactly the kind of policies that we need.
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    I'm not suggesting that Alex Salmond
    is some sort of political messiah,
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    I'm just saying that those sound like better pledges
    than the shit that we're gonna get stuck with.
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    [cameron] I am a passionate believer
    in our united kingdom,
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    and i wanted more than anything for
    our united kingdom to stay together,
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    but i am also a democrat,
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    and it was right that we respected
    the SNP's majority in Holyrood,
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    and gave the Scottish people
    their right to have their say.
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    Interestingly on this day,
    it's kind of micro-cosmic,
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    but there's been a campaign on the Southbank
    to change the famous skateboard park there.
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    That wasn't saved democratically.
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    That was saved by non-compliance,
    disobedience, and activism.
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    That's what I'm telling you.
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    When I'm saying "don't vote",
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    I'm not saying [in a crotchety English accent]
    Don't vote!
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    Sit indoors and have a wank
    over your xbox...
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    I'm saying "don't vote", "disobey", "disobey!"
    "do not comply!"
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    Scotland, USE this energy!
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    I know in you, every one of you
    that voted yes, you're now thinking
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    "Oh no! It didn't work! We got shafted!"
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    Remember that feeling.
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    My opinion is that this result shows you the power
    of the media and the limitations of democracy.
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    As long as people live in a state of fear,
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    it's very difficult for them to have faith
    in a brighter future.
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    The media, the financial industry,
    and our governments
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    keep us in a constant state of fear,
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    so we are limited in our freedom.
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    When it comes to the ballot box,
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    what's the point?
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    What power have we got?
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    We're making uninformed decisions within
    very narrowly defined and confined parameters.
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    That's why I said that thing before...
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    it ain't worth voting, cause you don't get
    to vote for things that are worth while.
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    Look at the results of activism, and disobedience,
    that's where results will come from.
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    That is the troooooz!!!
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    So-o-o-o-rry scotland...
Title:
Westminster Fear & Media Bias Shafted Scotland: Russell Brand The Trews (E150)
Description:

Russell Brand The Trews (E150).
Reaction to the referendum in which Scotland votes to stay in the United Kingdom. But were the odds stacked against independence?
Subscribe Here Now: http://tinyurl.com/opragcg and send links to video news items of topical stories that you'd like me to analyse.

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Captions by the Radical Access Mapping Project, 2014

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Video Language:
English
Duration:
08:04

English subtitles

Revisions

  • Revision 2 Edited (legacy editor)
    Radical Access Mapping Project