This is supposed to be a reality-based community. This is supposed to be — as best as we are able given that we’re only human - a fact or at least fact-ish based community. We spend an inordinate amount of time railing against gotcha journalism, poor news reporting, misinformation, and disinformation. So you’ll have to color me surprised to see what in my opinion construes as very false framing regarding an interview with Matthew McConaughey.
You can watch the Instagram interview here:
www.instagram.com/…
First things first. McConaughey had an interview with Russell Brand. For anyone familiar with Brand’s interviews you know that he doesn’t sit around having dumb conversations. He is heavy on the political, the philosophical, the polemical. So this is not ‘some dumb actor shares his durr durr opinions’. It’s a lengthy interview about McConaughey’s new book and the much publicized bit about him ‘attacking the left’ is just an excerpt of a lengthy discussion on politics.
Why am I even bothering? Because the interview is actually GOOD. He is smart, he is articulate, and even if you don’t really buy into his viewpoint you can clearly see he is not saying anything most of us here haven’t said.
Because he’s essentially iterating Biden’s entire campaign approach to winning the election, plain and simple. If you have a problem with McConaughey, you have a problem with Biden
Here is my transcript of parts of the interview. If there are typos, too bad. I shouldn’t have to be doing this anyway:
RB: Once you’re a famous person think that’s all you ever are, that’s all you’ve ever known.…I have sensed a lot of criticism of what I might describe as ordinary working people. A kind of offhandedness of like, oh, they’re dumb, I don’t like it and I don’t like to hear it because of my own experiences…
How do you feel about like that kind of judgement? When you talk about these values you were describing earlier, do you feel that there is a way of meshing together these apparently disparate groups now, these liberal professional classes and these what you might describe as working class people of any color or variety?
Note that it is Brand who is setting up the framing here. The question is about regular folks and ‘values’, regardless of race etc. NOT Trump or McConnell or politicians etc.
MM: That’s my hope…The work I’ve gotta do is defining the science behind why they’re valuable, the science behind why they work, the science behind why that doesn’t mean you have to now come over, and it doesn’t mean that you’re coming over to the proverbial “other side”. I say I’ll meet you in the middle. I actually think that’s more of a dare right now more than it’s ever been. That spot again, it’s not like “oh no, not going there”.
Somebody said to me the other day, “Oh yeah meet you in the middle, you know what’s in the middle of the road McConaughey, yellow lines and dead armadillos”. I said let me tell you something bud, I’m walking down the yellow line right nowe and the armadillos are running free having a great time.
I said you know why? I said the other two sides, the two vehicles on either side of the political aisle are so far apart their f*cking tires aren’t even on the pavement anymore. So trust me it’s free over here, there’s plenty of room. I almost fee like it a move to say let’s get aggressively centric. I DARE you.
It’s not a recession, it’s an aggressive move. And if it’s framed like that: 1. I think that can relate to a lot of people on the right, of going, oh you dare me? You know it’s like this COVID thing. It’s like, had to go whoa, this enemy doesn’t want hand to hand combat. Don’t run out on the street with your gun and knives to try and fight this one. That what he wants. You know what I mean? It’s actually an aggressive move to actually stay home. But it had to be reframed in a little bit.
People will of course lock onto the loaded word centric, but in the context of the metaphor he’s not talking Third Way, he’s talking plain ‘ol meeting in the middle. Whoa. Crazy. Note that he’s started off by discussing the RIGHT, not the left here and… rightly so.
MM: On the other side, on the far left, who do, there is a lot on that illiberal left that absolutely condescend, patronize or are arrogant towards the other 50%. Many people who are in, I’m sure you saw it in our industry when Trump was voted in four years ago. They were in denial that it was real.
Now you’ve got the right that’s in denial cause their side has fake news... So their putting down their last bastion of defense…
This is where the left misses it for me just as far as being a marketeer, of a political side. When you say hey we want people to be able to vote, we’re gonna do a campaign to let people vote, I’m like100%. Is there anyone who would say no to that? And then they can’t help themselves. At the very end of it they go “so we don’t let those criminal bastards back in office!”
You’re going whoa, don’t say the last part! (shhh gesture). You lost 50% of you audience. And that’s why so much of that 50% looks at us in Hollywood as like “oh yeah another celebrity over there and the west coasters. Cause even from a sales point of view don’t tab that gotcha on the end… The left is gonna have to understand the science of the values and the meet you in the middle.Neurologically, scientifically.
OMG, is Matthew McConaughey criticizing Dems over...messaging? Hmmm, where have I heard that before? Oh, right. The Left. So here’s McConaughey more or less agreeing that messaging is a problem. Oh wow. What a dummy.
The rest of the interview delves into research and polling and stuff but since he’s a big movie dum dum and it wouldn’t be “patronizing, condescending, or arrogant” to say we can’t POSSIBLY be interested in what he has to say, sniff.
Now I could care less what McConaughey’s political views are, but I don’t believe that it does anyone credit — particularly those most vocal about misrepresenting his comments — to deliberately frame his statements out of context.
Watch the interview, it’s good, it’s interesting.