Monday, October 11, 2004

The Ignorance of Sean Penn

By Glorious Revolutionary Federation

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Posted 10/11 | Add a Comment

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  1. Yo, get off Penn’s back. He’s down. The guy has put his celebrity in service of vital causes. He was brave in speaking out against the Iraq war when it was still popular with all the jingoists.  And when some ass-grabbers like the South Park guys increase the ignorance, he’s got a right to slap ‘em down. Why are you giving him so much shit? He’s one of the good guys.

    Posted by Dan from Cairo  on  10/11  at  06:03 PM

  2. I actually prefer Mr. Penn’s misplaced stridency to the apolitcial, vapid South Park crowd - at least he appears geniunely bothered, and he’s certainly less of a diletante than the rest of the hollywood liberals. I’ve certainly seen nothing from Mr. Stone or Mr. Parker to suggest they are for “moving beyond a myopic electoral focus” as they seem perfectely content in smugly wallowing in self-satisfied ‘ireverence’ and offering little more than bawdy satire and a cheap laugh…

    Unless one is engaged in the ‘non-voting’ as a form political protest, I don’t think apolitical apathy should be celebrated…

    Posted by CK from  on  10/11  at  06:04 PM

  3. If you think Southpark is apolitical, you haven’t watched it very much.  But it’s not conservative.  If anything, it’s libertarian...which makes sense coming from at least one Libertarian co-creator.

    Posted by Kevin Parker from  on  10/11  at  09:17 PM

  4. dan from cairo and this “ck” guy are just as ignorant as sean penn. why don’t they use some more political jargon to make themselves seem even more important and self righteous for voting. i will never participate in voting, and i will never bother anyone who chooses to do so. i’m sure these people who support sean penn have absolutely no idea how our voting system works, or how effective it really is. they just like to run their mouths like mr. penn......... because their “opinions” are the correct ones. they need to wake up and realize their “opinions” on voting are opinions and opinions only.

    Posted by matt from  on  10/11  at  11:18 PM

  5. Sorry to say, but you don’t have a show TV show that’s popular with your ‘average’ American college frat boy by offering any more than mildly subversive material. That South Park or any of this duos’ other work has expressed any real urgency in its political commentary is frankly laughable. This is not to condemn it, or say it is incapapble of amusement and or insight, but rather to not overstate its importance…

    Being a Libertarian or a simply ‘non-voter’ does not make one exempt from political responsability. It’s you absolute right not to vote of course - I agree it is often meaningless and worse yet a distraction (and many have made the case here and elsewhere). If mister Parker or Mister Stone had offered any salient insight as to their ‘non-voting’ advocacy I would in fact defend them - but they haven’t done so and instead simply offered a smug celebration of irreverence apathy and ignorance - they are offering nothing in its place and seem quite content sticking to their goofball realm while the world is dying…

    Posted by CK from  on  10/12  at  12:10 AM

  6. Trey Parker and Matt Stone have admitted they feel qualified mocking Bush because they in fact “voted for him.” They are ass kissers of that jingoistic fascist Dennis Miller and have often hawked their wares on his show.  They openely mocked the anti-war movement (and not from healthy ‘critical’ perspective) as being whiny and annoying. I wish the ‘shock-value’ twits of the Glorious Revolutionary Federation would find better uses for their time than defending these assholes…

    Posted by RzG from  on  10/12  at  12:49 AM

  7. What a dick Sean Penn is. So, you’ve been to Iraq, did he have a rifle in hand? Was he anywhere near rebel forces? Dude, you’re an actor, voicing your opinion is as valid as two cartoonists. Or even better as valid as some poster on an internet site. As a fan of Matt and Trey, I cry bullshit. Guess what Mr. Penn? You bitching proves what you’re portrayed as in the movie.

    Posted by George Dorm from Somewhere out there and world wide on the internet  on  10/12  at  12:26 PM

  8. Sean Penn has done more for progressive politics in this country than any of you lot. If you are such ‘Glorious Revolutionaries’, how come no-one outside of your campus (except maybe your mothers) has ever heard of you? Go join the weather underground, go raise some money and have your political views expressed to the public, go do ANYTHING constructive as opposed to sitting in your asses, drinking beer in the student uni, and slagging off other people who are clearly against this outrageous administration (which, by the way, champions anti gay legislation, illegalising abortion, pro active war strikes, the patriot act etc… duh..... ).

    So go DO SOMETHING or change your name to ‘Glorious slackers that like to bitch but haven’t really done anything newsworthy like the great activist Sean Penn...’

    Posted by louise from Venice Beach  on  10/12  at  12:27 PM

  9. So I guess voting is not important to you guys because - ??? - people aren’t informed and there is no real choice anyway?
    Should we just declare a monarchy and give up?
    It’s pretty obvious that voting Democrat or Republican will very obviously get us closer to one type or America over another. For instance you want an Administration that won’t do a pre-emtive strike? Vote Democrat. You want gay marriage as an option one day? Vote Democrat.

    Sean Penn is a celebrity [with attitude] yes but he has a point. Voting matters. Parker and Stone have a point too; people are uninformed. However, their solution doesn’t enourage people to become informed. Penn does.

    Posted by Matt from Los Angeles  on  10/12  at  01:00 PM

  10. As some have pointed out, it matters who is telling one NOT TO VOTE.  If it’s the creators of the abominable South Park stuff...who intend to just make the statement...and then feel righteous in their easy chairs on the slopes, that speaks for itself.  The electoral process is too dead worldwide, especially here, to make the kind of difference that Sean suggests exists...with or without “violent” language. However, my gripe w Sean Penn has more to do with stuff that he actively gets involved with...which is counterproductive respecting pursuing many of the values he says he holds dear.  My review of his role in the recent Clintwood movie (which you can locate on this site...punching in my name...and bringing up the CLINTSTONES PART I piece) is a case in point. Permit me to recommend that --for serious, atypical commentary re the electoral process on these shores-- an article I expect to be posted on this site within 24 hours...BOTOX, BOSOX AND INDIGENOUS BLOCKS; in other pieces here I’ve criticized the process more directly.

    Posted by Richard Oxman from  on  10/12  at  04:42 PM

  11. matt from los angeles is correct, some of us DON’T CARE ABOUT VOTING. the government is going to do what they are going to do. to be a politician is to be a liar. like any political figure is going to tell his party what they don’t want to hear??? the people who want to worry about us apolitical types are going to die of heart attacks soon from stressing over things they have no control over in every aspect of their lives. some say to do “something is better than doing nothing”, well what if i happen to vote for someone who leads our country down the wrong path???? should i then feel bad because i did ‘something”????? it’s like argueing over which religion is the “correct” one. you people who have all the asnwers tell me that, and tell me everything else i should know/do/feel/say/think while you’re at it since you know so much. sean penn needs to get off his high-horse about this. oh, and to respond to “louise” about how come no one has ever heard of us “slackers”. you probably will never understand how ignorant that comment sounded. are you saying i have to be famous to get heard? my point is that it’s easy to be heard when you’re a celebrity, and that’s just it: EASY. and most of us slackers don’t really complain as much as you think, we leave that for you stressed out wrecks who think they can change the world. i can’t wait for this election to be over and done with so everybody will stop acting so self-righteous.........

    Posted by mark from  on  10/12  at  05:03 PM

  12. You might want to distinguish between doing something via the electoral process and doing something outside of it...in a way that the people in power (who are screwing with everyone and everything) can’t control...keep you from doing.

    Posted by Richard Oxman from  on  10/12  at  11:29 PM

  13. “conservative South Park co-creators”
    ????

    These two are anything BUT conservative.

    Posted by Keith from  on  10/12  at  11:47 PM

  14. The labels regarding the South Park people are not important.  What’s important is that the product they put out --their new movie is an example, judging from the ads-- contributes to values which are abominable, not helping anyone.  Going for “the easy laugh” --as they do-- is too often being socially irresponsible.  Unnecessarily so...on top of the disgusting this or that in and of itself.  They help to compound ignorance with ignorance...giving the impression that all that’s important to them is coming off as “cool...and can’t be bothered...in keeping with the times.” Ox

    Posted by Richard Oxman from  on  10/13  at  09:59 AM

  15. I’m surprised that Stone and Parker, who made a brilliant comedy about Mormon porn stars, are moving to the right, espectially since they satiried the Bush administration, and even the Iraq war, so well on their very funny cartoon, making me think they were lefties.  But this new film is a disgusting cartoon, apparently, with abjectly racist portrayals of Arabs and others, and Jingoism.

    Posted by j cummings from  on  10/13  at  10:43 AM

  16. Stone and Parker are more Libertarian than Conservative. Libertarians belittle religion, have no problem with drugs or sexuality and can be rather wild in their beliefs and actions. So, yes, they don’t meet eye to eye with Conservatives but they are in the same camp - so to speak. It’s the same with Anarchists and Democrats.

    Posted by Matt from Los Angeles  on  10/13  at  12:53 PM

  17. It’s easy --quite the no-brainer-- to be funny in criticizing Bush and the Iraq WAR.  It’s hard, however (apparently), to make note of the racism (among other probs) running throughout the South Park stuff. I look forward to the day when we can cease taking such great satisfaction in making soporific distinctions between Dems and Conservatives (to cite just one example)...and get down with just exactly what both groups are doing to perpetuate anguish among all of us.

    Posted by Richard Oxman from  on  10/13  at  01:29 PM

  18. It’s a fucking movie meant to enterating - whiny libs need to get over themselves.

    One of the reasons Kerry will lose this election is because of the annoying self-importance of liberals.  Every single one believes that their political opinion is the absolute truth and anyone who doesn’t agree with them is stupid.  The hyperbole of this being “the most imortant election in the history of mankind” is the type of extremism of which people are tiring.

    Sean Penn is a perfect example of this self-indulgent, self-important behavior.  It’s a movie Sean, it’s meant to entertain - not everything has to be fuckin Shakespeare.  Sean, you barely have a high school education - your thought and logic process are deficient at best.  You’ve done some good acting work - but understand, the work we like is when writers put words into your mouth.  When you use your own words, you sound like a moron.

    Posted by Furter from San Diego  on  10/17  at  05:33 PM

  19. Penn is brilliant in “The Assassination of Richard Nixon” which is out in France now and comes out December 29 in L.A. and NY and then goes national in the USA in January.  I saw this film in Boston—it is easily the best film of the year...gripping, compelling, humorous and tragic...Amazing, amazing, amazing.  The South Parks guys stuff is child’s play compared to the depth of Penn’s work.

    Posted by Nick Westhaver from  on  11/03  at  03:32 AM

  20. Isn’t Penn a convicted felon?  If he is, he may have lost his right to vote.

    Posted by Ron Black from Tempe AZ  on  11/12  at  04:50 AM

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