Up until I saw my fellow countrymen (including many I respected) fawning like chimps at a tea party during that whole "jubilee" thing I might have agreed. There seems to be a huge cognitive dissonance for most people when it comes to the royals.

On the one hand most don't really take it very seriously, on the other many (maybe even most) appear to have a sub-conscious desire/need to submit to their natural betters. Our whole national identity is built on the myths of Kings and failed rebellions and I fear for many the Monarchy represents a kind of bizarre political security blanket. We claim to not really care but deep down I think many of us secretly fear loosing our mythical matriarch.

One might liken it to celebrity worship backed by 100's & 1000's of years of religious mythology. The Royal's aren't really human to us, they are more like some closely related parent species born to a life we could only dream of. I realise that when asked directly most people would consciously acknowledge that was silly, but most would also respond the same to say Christian sexual repression. They know sex and nakedness when considered rationally are nothing to be ashamed of, but they still continue to treat their own urges as somehow sinful when they do not fall within rigidly defined social parameters.

We still haven't gotten over such Judeo-Christian self policing because the social structures built up around it are still with us (even if we fool ourselves into thinking we are beyond the reach of such sub-conscious influences). I don't think we will ever get over our master-slave culture while class and unearned privilege are still built into the fabric of our society. Having a Royal family, no matter how symbolic, is the very living embodiment of this kind of backwards ideology.

It's like trying to quit heroin while locked in a room with a big bag of the stuff.

It's true to say most don't take the whole thing very seriously but that to me is almost as concerning. Most people when asked don't believe advertising has a significant effect on their psyche but Coke-a-cola still feels like spending about 3 billion a year on it is worthwhile. One of them is clearly mistaken!

Our royal family here, is to me working in the same way as coke's advertising. It's a focal point for a lot of sub-conscious concepts we are bombarded with our whole lives. Naturally there are many sides to this and it wouldn't work without heavy media manipulation, state indoctrination etc. but it's an intrinsic part of the coercive myth none the less. Monarch's, Emperors and wealthy Dynasties are all poisons to me. No matter the pragmatic details, the sub-conscious effect seems significant and cumulative.

"Dead" symbolisms IMHO can often be the most dangerous. At least one is consciously aware of the devils we see. No one is watching the one's we have forgotten.....

The above is reason enough for me but I have bog all better to do this aft so I'll dive into the rabbithole a bit.....

(We do very quickly start getting into conspiracy theory territory hare so I'll try to keep it as uncontroversial as I can.)

A. The UK is truly ruled by financial elites not political ones IMHO. "The city" says jump, Whitehall says how high. The Royal family being among the wealthiest landowners and investors in the world (let alone UK) presumably can exert the same kind of influence. Naturally this occurs behind closed doors, but when the ownership class puts it's foot down the government ignores them to their extreme detriment. (It's hard to argue with people who own your economy de-facto and can make or break your career)

B. The queen herself sits on the council on foreign relations & Bilderberg group and she was actually the chairwoman of the "committee of 300" for several years. (and that's not even starting on club of Rome, shares in Goldman Sachs etc.)

C. SIS the uk's intelligence services (MI5/6 etc.), which have been proven to on occasion operate without civilian oversight in the past, are sworn to the crown. This is always going to be a most contentious point as it's incredibly difficult to prove wrongdoings, but I have very strong suspicions based on various incidents (David Kelly, James Andanson, Jill Dando etc.), that if they wanted/needed you dead/threatened that would not be especially difficult to arrange.

D. Jimmy Saville. This one really is tin foil hat territory, but it's no secret he was close to the Royal family. I am of the opinion this is because he was a top level procurer of "things", for which I feel there is a great deal of evidence, but I can't expect people to just go along with that idea. However given the latest "paedogeddon" scandal involving a extremely high level abuse ring (cabinet members, mi5/6, bankers etc.) it certainly would come as little surprise to find royal family members involved.

Points A&B I would stand behind firmly. C&D are drifting into conjecture but still potentially relevant I feel.

But even if we ignore all of them, our culture is built from the ground up upon the idea of privilege of birth. That there are some people born better or more deserving than the rest of us. When I refer to symbolism this is what I mean. Obviously the buck does not stop with the monarchy, England is hopelessly stratified by class all the way through, but the royal family exemplify this to absurd extremes.

At best I feel this hopelessly distorts and corrupts our collective sense of identity on a sub-conscious level. At worst....Well you must have some idea now how paranoid I'm capable of being about the way the world is run. (Not that I necessarily believe it all wholeheartedly, but I'm open to the possibility and inclined to suggest it more likely than the mainstream narrative)


On a pragmatic note: Tourism would be fine without them I think, we still have the history and the castles and the soldiers with silly hats etc. And I think the palaces would make great hotels and museums. They make great zoo exhibits I agree, just maybe not let them continue to own half the zoo and bribe the zoo keepers?


Anyway much love as always. You responded with considered points which is always worthy of respect, regardless of whether I agree with it all.

I am conflicted. On one hand, John Oliver is awesome.

On the other hand, everyone in this video who's not John Oliver is a festering sore on the arsehole of humanity.

Fuck TMZ and the vapid, celebrity worshiping excuse for a culture they promote.

Fuck this guys political viewpoint. He was shilling for Obama before the obamabots finally discovered he's just another piece of shit politician. He thought the government was just fine 6 months ago. He was on the Tavis Smiley show saying we need to stop asking so many questions an give a little more of ourselves to the glorious Republic. Now the guy thinks we need to tear down government structures. If you thought USA was fanFUCKINGtastic before Snowden then you have no standing to talk about the future of American Government. I have drawn more inspiration from a hangover induced diarrhea shit. He should just start wearing a rainbow afro wig and some big red shoes so that no one will be confused that this guy is a fucking joke of a human being.

Also, stop your god damned celebrity worship its a disgusting trait that should only be reserved for 12 year old girls.

Read some more Chompsky, drink your 12 pack, and go back to sleep.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Dave Chappelle, ja rule' to 'Dave Chappelle, ja rule, 9 11, celebrity worship' - edited by xxovercastxx

^Really though, you can't expect stimulus to last much longer. You run the risk of spreading so many bubbles through the system that the next time it crashes it is insurmountable. Moreover, once price inflation starts to show its ugly face it will be much much worse for everyday ordinary people who have saving left from this first crash. I know my parents lost about 40% of their savings from the stock market plummet, but what would be even worse is the value of their savings being eroded away as it sits there in computers year after heartbreaking year. I am sad to think that our truly hardest times still lay ahead, but I actually have hope that if the system does come a tumbling down that it really was time for it. Ideologically our country seems to of lost its way. We need a revolution of mind and hard work instead of celebrity worship and recreation...trying to retire before we hit midlife. Then again...maybe I am just getting old.

Absolutely, 100%, NO DOUBTS, helpful.

It is fucking funny, on top of the fact that it:

exposes the mentalities, intolerence and reality in the world surrounding the situation.

some themes exposed by the film that might go over some people's heads:


the uninformed, manipulation prone talk show mentality of citizens
celebrity worship set against third world realities
the ridiculous policies regarding homosexuals in the US military
sexual deviation among straight people
the "ultimate fighting" culture, the unnecessary, 'unnatural' killing of animals.
the irony of the common prejudice against homosexuals by larger groups that hate each other


it is god damn genius and cohen is a hero. he really could have gotten killed.

the scene where he makes the karate master show him how to defend against a tri-dildo attack is still making me laugh.


(ps boot legs are out. just saying. i dont think we'll get this movie in the single, two screen theater in my town.. so i watched a cam)

Good call on the Johnny Depp link, I was going to put that as well. The Japanese really know how to take celebrity worship to new, weird levels.

Cafferty calls a spade a spade - good stuff. Celebrity worship is out of effing control.

Interesting that a woman who has a website that forms its basis on Celebrity Worship is on Jimmy Kimmel saying that she is in favour of knocking celebrities off of their pedestals.

Fuck celebrities.

... especially Winona Ryder and Halle Berry, I'd be all for that.

You ain't kidding! I would hope a 3-part HBO miniseries is in the works to fully delve into the issue until no pube has been left unturned!

Celebrity teeth, while extremely interesting and worthy of a *great* deal of speculation and analysis, pale in comparison with body parts closer to where the food actually exits the specimen in question! Speaking of questions: when will someone have the journalistic integrity to shove an endoscope up Bowie's ass to find out how he *really* digests his meals and infuses them with his precious bodily fluids? I really wanna know and I won't sleep well until I find out, dammit.

A veritable polyp of celebrity-worship cancer, if ever I've seen one.

Kinda silly, kinda interesting, kinda semi-clever.
Although I generally eschew celebrity worship, I'll confide in all of you, my videosift family, that I sometimes secretly like watching clips of celebrities in real life, just to see who the person is when they're not performing.