Am in two minds on this really.
Firstly, without doubt Russell Brand is a fine comedian who has clearly drifted off into the YouTube sphere in recent years and dabbles with various the conspiracy theories. However, Ii would say that this is also an accusation (YouTube aside) I would throw #at George Monbiot. His back catalogue of opinion pieces is full of divisive tropes about how the government are hell bent on destroying the environment / economy/democracy etc. It's mostly bollocks and they both share the growing trait that presents extreme positions and uses very selective evidence to illustrate it. This is something that's been growing since the 2008 global crisis and the rise of social media and Covid gave it a huge shot in the arm..no pun intended..
Monbiots back catalogue here:
https://www.theguardian.com/profile/georgemonbiot
I used to like Russell Brand. I went off him when he went all Corbyny around 2015, which George Monbiot (positively) references in the article. Since then I've found him increasingly radical across the political spectrum, and for example, I just listened to his last video on YouTube (the first time I ever gave) and he's deploying left-wing tropes more than anything else really. In that sense, I do think what we are seeing is something across the spectrum and as I say I think both protagonists in this thread contribute to it. It's a general mistrust of power.
Back catalogue here:
https://m.youtube.com/@RussellBrand
In his defence, I do think there is scope for a real analysis of how quickly govts took some of our freedoms in covid and how necessary they were, and it's important we truly find out the value of masks, the effects of the vaccine and the cause of the pandemic. There is nothing wrong with doing that and we should all be finding out these questions.
Also, I do have real concerns about things like a cashless society, mental health and social fabric impacts of working from home, some aspects of the green movement etc which I do think it's important to soberly consider.
In all honesty, people like Monbiot and Brand are both cut from the same cloth for me. We can learn something from listening to them both, and both will make valid points within the volcano of information that spray out but it's better off listening to both of them or neither of them really