Who knew Jeremy Irons was an idiot? Gay marriage

[BainsBane]

I saw this on the Colbert show and thought it was a parody. I had no idea Jeremy Irons thought this way. It's pretty bad when in real life you may just be no more evolved than a 15th century character you play on TV!

Academy Award winning actor Jeremy Irons said Wednesday that while he doesn't have much of a strong opinion either way on same-sex marriage, he believes it poses interesting questions, including whether allowing same-sex marriage would open the door for interfamilial relationships.

"Could a father not marry his son?" Irons asked HuffPost Live host Josh Zepps. Irons argued that "it's not incest between men" because "incest is there to protect us from inbreeding, but men don't breed," and wondered whether same-sex marriage might allow fathers to pass on their estates to their sons without being taxed.

"It seems to me that now they're fighting for the name," Irons said of advocates for same-sex marriage as opposed to civil unions. "I worry that it means somehow we debase, or we change, what marriage is. I just worry about that."

Irons reiterated that he "[doesn't] have a strong feeling either way" on same-sex marriage, and said that he "[wishes] everybody who's living with one other person the best of luck in the world, because it's fantastic."

"Living with another animal, whether it be a husband or a dog, is great," he said. "It's lovely to have someone to love. I don't think sex matters at all. What it's called doesn't matter at all."

Video at link
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/03/jeremy-irons-on-gay-marri_n_3009495.html

[MrSlayer]

1. Yeah, that was quite odd.

Some people just don't seem to get it. Irons is a brilliant actor, too bad that's where his brilliance ends.

It's kind of funny though that the baddest character on the Borgias show, Michelletto the assassin, is gay.

[BainsBane]

3. Michelletto is interesting

The guy who plays him is fantastic.

I always figured an actor as good as Irons had to be smart. I'm not sure what his problem is, and the examples he gave about dogs and marrying his son were outrageous. Really strange.

[MrSlayer]

4. Yeah, he's my favorite character.

Well he and Cesare anyway.

I don't get it with Irons either. Maybe he was trying to drum up publicity or something. Though that's kind of an odd way to do it. Maybe he's just a dick.

[BainsBane]

5. new season next week!

I'm psyched! Jerk or not, I love the show.

Michelletto may be my favorite too. It's kind of hard to say because all are so nefarious. Cesare Borgia is said to have been the inspiration for Machiavelli's The Prince. The history blogs keep asking when Leonardo will appear. Hopefully this season. Alexander VI was his principal patron, I believe.

[LittleBlue]

10. Same. I love the show

Michelletto is indeed badass. Truth be told, Irons is superb despite his views.

But for me, Caterina Sforza stole the show last season.

[BainsBane]

11. oh, yes. Caterina Sforza is awesome

and apparently was fierce in real life as well.

[LittleBlue]

14. Yes.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Tigress-Forli-Renaissance-Courageous/dp/0547844166

I'd recommend it if you haven't read it.

[BainsBane]

16. Thanks!

I'll look into it!

[BainsBane]

33. I ordered the book

I was going to look for it at the library, but I had to order something else from Amazon so picked it up to qualify for free shipping. I'm looking forward to reading it.

[LittleBlue]

34. I think you'll enjoy it

She was one of those great Renaissance personalities who are overlooked.

Let me know whether you enjoy it!

[MrSlayer]

15. Yeah, I'm psyched.

Especially since Shameless just finished up tonight.

I'm dying to see what happens with the poisoning aftermath.

[HiPointDem]

8. i think it demonstrates that he *is* smart. his thought patterns don't travel in well-worn grooves.

[BainsBane]

9. what do you mean by "well-worn grooves"?

Even setting aside the justice of the issue, someone in the public eye who wants to oppose gay marriage without wrecking his career should figure out a better way of framing the issue.

[HiPointDem]

12. i don't think he was opposing gay marriage. i think he was talking without explicitly stating all

the pieces in his train of thought. that's why it sounds disjointed.

maybe i'm wrong, but i don't think he's anti-gay marriage. theater people usually aren't homophobic. i think he was honestly rambling along about different angles and it just came out odd.

just my opinion. i know nothing about jeremy irons, it just came off to me as a sort of absent-minded professor type monologue. maybe it would feel different if i saw him saying it in person. maybe he said it snidely or whatever.

but i'm just reacting to the words on the screen.

by well-worn grooves, i mean the media narrative. either/or, black/white, bigot/progressive. unnuanced, no room for sidetracks.

[BainsBane]

19. It certainly sounded like rambling

I suppose there is a reason they do best with scripts.

[kestrel91316]

13. Living in Los Angeles I have noted more than once that

people can be quite good actors and yet be absolute morons in the other parts of their lives. Sometimes breathtakingly stupid.

[BainsBane]

18. I did not understand that

I knew that was the case with a lot of mediocre to poor actors, but somehow I thought really good acting required intelligence. I'm not saying Irons is entirely stupid, but this public presentation certainly was.

[MrSlayer]

21. It's like that all over I guess.

I find that some of the smartest people I knew as a kid are teabaggers today. It's quite bizarre.

[BainsBane]

24. I'm not sure I know an actual teabagger

My sister's mother-in-law is a wack job Republican. She believes whatever Fox news tells her. Whether she's a teabagger, I don't know. I avoid all discussion of politics with her, under threat from my sister.

[Summer Hathaway]

2. Kudos on bringing this important news to the forefront.

I cannot imagine a more pressing issue than this one.

I also cannot remember a day that someone, somewhere, didn't inquire as to what Jeremy Irons had to say on a particular issue - as everyone within earshot stopped in their tracks and held their breath awaiting the answer.

You know the old adage: As Jeremy Irons goes, so goes the World.

[tkmorris]

6. Well that was nasty

Having a bad day?

[Summer Hathaway]

7. Actually, I am having a GREAT day!

And thanks for asking!

[tkmorris]

17. Some people call being REALLY shitty to others a "good" day

And some people... don't.

[abelenkpe]

22. Only decent people have a problem

With trolls like summer.

[Summer Hathaway]

28. I can fully understand

why an Obama-supporter would be considered a 'troll' on DemocraticUnderground these days.

I should have expressed my utter outrage at what a British actor had to say about something - just so as to blend in with those discussing the important issues of the day.

[demwing]

32. Excuse us, dear queen Summer

for our unapproved conversations.
Amen.

Now kindly piss right off.

[MrSlayer]

29. So, Irons is not the E.F. Hutton of actors.

http://m.

&feature=related

Personally I do worship Jeremy Irons as a god. I interpret his rambling gibberish and plan my days accordingly.

I'm offended by your blaspheming against my religion.

[Summer Hathaway]

30. I apologize for insulting your faith

I had NO idea that Rambling Gibberish was considered sacred text by some.

[MrSlayer]

31. Indeed it is. We all get Gibbering Mouthers as prophets.

It's a fascinating religion.



All hail Simon Gruber and the gullibility of the NYPD!!!!

[longship]

20. He's an actor.

What more can one say?

Just because a person can pretend to be somebody else, doesn't mean that they're intelligent.

I like cinema -- a lot, and I like many actors -- but working in cinema might give a person fame, but it does not give a person my respect. There are many who have been so-called great actors for whom I have great respect (Gregory Peck, Barbara Stanwick, etc.) and there are those who, although they can act, I despise their utter ignorance (Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Shirley MacLain, Oprah Winfrey, Jenny McCarthy, etc.).

One can use ones fame for good, or for evil. I have clear demarcations on these matters. Being an actor, or being famous, has nothing to do with my judgement on these matters.

I may have liked Tom Cruise as an actor, but since he jumped the couch about Scientology on Oprah's show, I have not watched a single Cruise flick. He uses his fame to promote bullshitza.

Jenny McCarthy. If picking boogers on MTV didn't do her in, I cannot see why anybody would take her, or her lap dog Jim Carrey, serious. They are prominent in the anti-vaccine movement -- she claims that vaccines cause autism, in spite of the fact that all the science says otherwise. Of course, before she discovered vaccines, she claimed that her son was an Indigo child. Look it up. She's a real wacko.

So, I will never be surprised by what any actor says on any issue. After all, they're trained to pretend and they are not trained in logic or reason.

[BainsBane]

23. there is a world of difference between Tom Cruise

Jenny McCarthy, and Jeremy Irons in terms of acting ability. Movie stars and starlets rarely surprise me, but I thought someone with Irons' ability would have to be smarter. Obviously I was wrong.

[longship]

25. Yup!

Just because somebody can play pretend, doesn't mean they are intelligent.

As I said in my previous post, there are many actors who I respect. But it isn't merely for their ability to pretend to be other people, although as an actor that's pretty important.

Rather, if somebody is going to try to leverage their fame in one fairly narrow domain -- pretending to be somebody else -- I do not automagically presume that they are competent in other domains, for instance, understanding how vaccines work. Or that homosexuality may not be a choice. Or that evolution may be correct. Etc.

I am a pretty fierce defender of science where, although we applaud many notable scientists, we do not put any authority in an individual. Nature is the final arbiter, no matter what Einstein said. Or Curie. Or Darwin. Or Feynman. Or, Wilczek? Those people made great advances to our understanding of nature. But their authority rests solely in the extent that their models represent what nature tells us.

That takes a discipline that an actor just doesn't have. I love cinema. But actors are just actors. I love their art, but they have zero credibility for me in other fields.

Fame does not trump education.

[BainsBane]

26. very true

though some actors read a lot and are able to speak cogently on many issues.

[longship]

27. But they are no scienticians!