Russell Brand is a polarizing figure.

When he appears in the media he tends to make fun of everyone he encounters, including the audience, viewers and other celebrities.

From his appearances on MTV, Newsnight and Morning Joe, he’s constantly calling people out and running the show. Many interpret his behavior as ridicule and immaturity, but they fail to look more closely.

Russell Brand should be taken seriously as one of the smartest, wittiest, most profound and socio-politically aware Renaissance men of today.

On Oct. 23, Brand continued his tradition of being opinionated and knowledgeable in an interview with Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight. Paxman questioned Brand’s qualifications as a guest editor for political magazine The New Statesman. In addition to editing, his 4,500 word piece, “Revolution of Consciousness” was published the morning after the interview.

His criticisms didn’t simply apply to Britain but were tied together with universality. In “Revolution of Consciousness,” he writes, “The price of privilege is poverty.”

During Newsnight, Brand provided many details to preface his article. He said that political apathy didn’t lie with the public, but rather with politicians, whose interests lie in maintaining the status quo and subjugating the lower classes.

Despite Brand’s numerous examples and statistics, Paxman called him both “trivial” and “facetious” in the course of a 10-minute news segment. While Paxman kept questioning Brand’s credentials, Brand broke through his dismissals with statements like, “The planet is being destroyed, we are creating an underclass, exploiting poor people all over the world, and the genuine legitimate problems of the world are not being addressed by our political parties.”

The power struggle between Paxman and Brand in this short piece is a perfect metaphor for the subjugation issues that Brand would like to rise against. Paxman characterizes Brand as a one trick pony. This limits Brand’s perceived capacity for issues outside his acting and ignoring Brand’s ability to cross boundaries: Brand has proved that he’s much more than a comedian with silly hair.

Stars usually aren’t taken seriously and are often perceived as stupid, and stirring up trouble.

Brand contends that stirring up trouble is exactly what needs to happen. Brand has the credentials, he has lived at both extreme ends of the economic spectrum, lived through addiction and has even testified as a witness in a British House of Common’s hearing on addiction.

He told Jeremy Paxman that being an actor, or a poor person, should have no reflection on whether he has a right to take action and to be taken seriously. Stars who speak out in the media are painted as attention seeking and trivial. So far, the only person who seems to think that Brand is trivial is Jeremy Paxman.

Fortunately, many media outlets, organizations and individuals seem to be on Brand’s side. After the interview aired, NPR and other news sources expressed sympathies with the revolution that Brand wants to start. Time magazine’s website called him “The World’s Greatest Thinker.”

A star was able to discuss an important topic at length, using rhetoric, rather than making a spectacle of himself — a rare quality in entertainment news today.

Brand is one of a few celebrities who are calling on their fans to start taking life a bit more seriously. Kanye West told people they need to start giving themselves credit and stop using false humility because that’s what the powers that be tell them to do. Russell Brand is doing something similar. He’s telling his fans to stop being subjugated by a system’s traditions that are doing no good.

People should take time to listen to Russell Brand and determine how his philosophies apply to their lives. Whether he realizes it or not, Brand has the platform to inspire revolutions both big and small.

Cassie-lee Grimaldi is a senior television, radio and film major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at [email protected] and reached on Twitter @cassiegrimaldi.

Published on October 28, 2013 at 1:03 am