Monday 11 April 2016

Stephen Fry is an anagram of 'hypester f-'

At the risk of irritating my flat-mate and dramaturg Elliot Roberts,
why did you marry the millionaire Paul Daniels?
who correctly points out that the following opinion is a melodramatic over-statement and ignores the changes in the idea of 'public intellectual', Stephen Fry is evidence that the world is getting stupider.


Having built his reputation through an early intelligent comedy show, with Hugh Laurie, and some fine comic acting, Stephen Fry consolidated his position through a smug presence on pseudo-intellectual quiz shows, atrocious fashion choices and marrying a bloke young enough to be his son. His current routines include championing bi-polar disorder (a worthy effort, if only he wasn't doing something that that one of his old school chums sees as counter-productive), telling God off and standing up for freedom of speech.

It's lucky he's such a polymath, otherwise the rise of safe-spaces would have been ignored in the media. There's no dubiously right-wing media banging on about the regressive left anywhere else.

Of course, this is an issue that needs sensitive consideration: I abhor no-platforming, and was irritated by the attacks on gay-rights activists (like Peter Tatchell), and then annoyed by Tatchell when he turned up claiming to have been silenced in a piece by The Sunday Times. If you have access to a major newspaper, getting scolded by a student is not exactly a threat to your freedom of speech. 

Ironically, the good work Tatchell has done over the years - like challenging African dictators on their human rights' abuses - got him less publicity than when a student said they wouldn't sit on a panel with him. 

However, I need little excuse to fly into a rage at Stephen Fry. His education apparently never extended to Plato, who warned against trusting the opinions of actors. He probably doesn't know Dave Chappelle either.



Anyway, Stephen Fry has challenged the 'snowflakes' (social justice warriors, whatever):  “Self pity is the ugliest emotion in humanity. Get rid of it, because no one’s going to like you if you feel sorry for yourself. The irony is we’ll feel sorry for you, if you stop feeling sorry for yourself. Grow up.”

I think smugness is just as ugly. But as for self-pity: would that include telling The Sun that the celebrity lifestyle is making his bipolar condition worse? Would that include closing his Twitter account because he was called out on a tasteless joke? How about running away from work? 

That last one is a bit unfair, because he was suffering from bipolar at the time. But Stephen Fry is a useless ass, a man who postures as an intellectual, a man who is so full of self-pity that he is unable to allow anyone else the same. I am so glad that he has found another bandwagon to jump on, so he can keep himself in shit jackets and pay his husband not to leave him for a few more months. I really hope he does fuck off to Hollywood, because the dumb-asses that make films will love his accent and his stupidity, and tell him he is so fucking clever all day long. 

See that last bit: freedom of speech, Stephen. Is that okay? Is it? Personal abuse? Or is it just people who have been abused who don't deserve protection? 

Back to my first point: asking Stephen Fry anything other than why he stopped being funny is evidence that... oh, I'm just tired and grumpy. Who cares? Just fuck off, Stephen. 

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