Vote for Dr Jekyll and get Mr Hyde! (repost)

Clooney says women, drugs rule him out of politics

LOS ANGELES, Feb 24 2011 — Actor George Clooney will play a flawed presidential candidate in his latest movie, but he has again rejected the notion of running for politics in real life.

"I didn’t live my life the right way for politics, you know," the Oscar-winning actor told Newsweek magazine in a cover story about his humanitarian work in Sudan.

“I fucked too many chicks and did too many drugs, and that’s the truth,” said Clooney, who has twice been declared People magazine’s sexiest man alive.

Clooney, 49, said a smart political campaigner would "start from the beginning by saying, ‘I did it all. I drank the bong water. Now let’s talk about issues.’

"That’s gonna be my campaign slogan: ‘I drank the bong water.’”

Clooney, who won an Oscar in 2006 for his supporting role in Syriana, gave a similar rejoinder in 2007 to suggestions that he should run for the US Senate against Republican Mitch McConnell.

Clooney, a political liberal, was named a United Nations messenger of peace in 2008 for his efforts to draw international attention to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan.

He told Newsweek his job in the region was to "amplify the voice of the guy who lives here and is worried about his wife and children being slaughtered."

"And if he finds me and asks, ‘You got a big megaphone?’ and I say ‘Yes.’ ‘You got a decent-size mountain to yell it from?’ ‘Yeah, I got a pretty-good sized mountain.’ ‘Will you do me a favor and yell it?’ And I go ‘Absolutely.’"

Clooney is currently working on the movie The Ides of March about an idealistic staffer for a new presidential candidate who gets a crash course in dirty politics. Clooney will direct and star in the film, and he co-wrote the screenplay. ~ Reuters

George Clooney seen with hot date Sarah Larson

In the last couple of years, several people have asked me why I won't bite the bullet and get into politics. Roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty, so to speak, instead of just shooting verbal peas at what seems to be a never-ending procession of political pinheads.

When I read the Reuters piece on George Clooney, it struck me as the perfect statement on everything that has gone wrong with political reality since humans began living together in villages, then towns and cities.


Clooney comes across as a perfectly candid chap. He doesn't waste his breath on platitudes and refuses to mince his words. Indeed, a man like George Clooney is precisely the kind of public figure who will serve his community with verve, vitality and veracity.

He has made more than enough money with his enormous talent as an actor, and certainly doesn't crave celebrity status anymore after a massive overdose of it. What makes a man like George Clooney a natural-born leader is simply that he commands attention and respect, and can be trusted to be true to himself. Nobody in the habit of faking feelings and living on the surface gets to be an actor as accomplished as Clooney.

So he openly admits to enjoying a robust sex life with a multitude (or at least a series) of partners. With his screen idol looks and his urbane savoir-faire, which red-blooded woman would forego an opportunity to explore a bit of intimacy with George Clooney? While it's wonderful to believe that a guy like Clooney could remain exclusively married to his childhood sweetheart and never once succumb to temptation, it's far more realistic to accept that superstars are the closest thing humans have to a living pantheon of quasi-divine beings.


And humans possess deep cellular memories of the glory and honor of being chosen as consorts of deific beings (whether or not these beings can facilitate immaculate conception or if they are actually fallen angels can be the focus of another rambling discussion).

When presidential candidate Bill Clinton was accused of having smoked pot in college, his lame response was: "I didn't inhale." Yeah, and I suppose he didn't come in Monica's mouth either. And she didn't swallow, so it's all okay, folks. Yup, I had my hand in the till, but I didn't grab any money!

Sex, drugs and rock'n'roll are evolutionary keys. Anyone who pretends they never indulged cannot be trusted or entrusted with decision making - because they're either compulsive liars or just utterly lacking in curiosity, imagination, and the spirit of adventure. Those who never consciously break any rules must never be allowed to become lawmakers, because it's clear they take rules way too seriously and therefore haven't a clue what life is all about.


Having said this, I'm reminded that every time a prominent politician is forced to quit, it's almost always because of some sex scandal. Only occasionally do we hear of some big shot resigning because he or she was caught with bulging pockets (read offshore numbered accounts). The ones who arrest, torture and murder dissidents with impunity invariably vow to fight till their last drop of blood - and can be toppled only when at least 2/3 of the population can't stand it anymore and take to the streets.

You've heard it said that people get the government they deserve. Considering how provincial people's minds are, even in the digital era, when the pettiness and triviality of their daily preoccupations can be broadcast to all and sundry via facebook status updates, is it any wonder that we inevitably end up voting liars and hypocrites into public office? As for me, I would rather see honest men and women in administrative positions who are not ashamed of who they truly are - and who feel no need to airbrush their public images.

Being honest is a lifelong habit, folks. Once you get used to being a True One whose inner and outer personalities are aligned, you're much more inclined to deal with criticism without feeling threatened. If you realize you've made a serious mistake, you immediately apologize and take steps to rectify the problem. And if your error has massive repercussions, you slap yourself hard on the forehead and gracefully resign.


It's entirely up to us, folks. If you insist on passing negative judgment on those of us who are honest and real - who have no interest in camouflaging our private behavior with expensive public relations exercises - then you have effectively ensured that you will forever be led around by the nose like helpless beasts of burden.

In short: if you feel you deserve an honest government, get honest with yourself first!

[First posted 26 February 2011; reposted 14 November 2013]

YOU BECOME WHAT YOU HATE!

The behavioral similarities between Israel under the Likudniks and Malaysia under the Umnoputras are more than startling. In both cases, the problem seems to lie with an entrenched attitude of arrogance, conceit and compulsive denial concealing a pathological insecurity and deeply ingrained sense of victimhood. Here's what Swiss-born psychologist and philosopher Carlo Strenger has to say about the current Israeli government...

"Israel will have to decide: it cannot rebrand itself as a liberal, creative and progressive country without being one. Our business sector, our artists and academics are mostly progressive, liberal and creative. But their impact on how Israel is perceived will remain negligible as long as Israel’s politicians and emissaries keep harping on victimhood and survival and as long as its policies are repressive." ~ Carlo Strenger (Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University)

The most important positive result of the ‘Branding Israel’ project has been that during the last decades, a powerful new sub-brand of Israel has evolved: it is called Tel Aviv, it is associated with Israel’s culture, technology and joie de vivre: it is perceived as liberal in outlook, full of vitality, creativity and oriented toward the future. Hence, the study concludes, Israel must rebrand itself as creative, vital and progressive; an image that has positive resonance with the young global elites.

However, there is one major obstacle in the path to rebranding Israel. Our politicians don't seem to understand how the mechanism of rebranding works. They confuse the old concept of ‘hasbara’, which literally means ‘explanation’ with branding. Explaining and arguing has no impact whatsoever on how people experience a person or a brand. Our relationship to brands is like our relationship to human beings: it is primarily emotional.

If somebody explains to you that she is a nice person, but does so sternly and harshly, it is the tone of voice rather than the content of the message that determines the listener's emotional reaction. Moreover: if you explain that you are nice, and are then seen behaving violently, it is the behavior rather than the words that will determine the emotional reaction. We all know this: if an airline explains to you that it is friendly, but you are treated dismally by its employees, you will tell your friends that the airline is horrible, not that it is friendly. Ultimately perception of a brand hinges on actual behavior and organizational culture, not propaganda.

[Source: Haaretz.com; kindly brought to my notice by Walter Smith]

Ehud Barak's "OneIsrael" is undoubtedly the big brother of Najib Razak's "1Malaysia"!

Also worth reading: Activists on the Ship 'Rachel Corrie' Challenge Israel's Unjust Gaza Blockade and Zionist Myths by Ira Chernus