Russell Brand's relentless paranoia

Andrew Huberman offers cover for his latest paranoid assault

Russell Brand wants you to know THEY’RE coming for Andrew Huberman.

One glaring omission in this 10-minute video is the feelings of the women Huberman is accused of cheating on, which makes sense given Brand’s view on the topic. (Brand equates himself to Huberman as being the “target” of a “plan,” which is not surprising given the general conspiratorial tone of his show.)

What begins as a diatribe against establishment media quickly devolves into an assault against processed foods. In this sense, Huberman is a mere stepping stone to what effectively becomes a promotional video for RFK Jr.

The set-up: mainstream media hates being healthy, evidenced by its obvious relationship with Big Pharma and Big Food; Andrew Huberman promotes healthy living, backed by science (often not the case, which Brand doesn’t mention); therefore, the media and government are conspiring to keep us all sick and tired so that we don’t rise up and rebel.

This reductive take highlights Brand’s brand: pure emotion accompanied by generic aspersions cast upon institutions with no actual research. If Brand bothered to check out the problems with the research on processed foods (which informs the clip of RFK), he might offer a more nuanced take on a complex topic.

While recent research on processed food was overhyped via media clickbait, whole foods remain a superior form of nutrition. Brand ignores the social determinants of health, a driving factor in why people eat a lot of processed foods to begin with. This inconvenient truth would force him to question the forms of wellness espoused by the people he champions, all millionaires who can afford expensive supplements and organic foods, have time to vigorously exercise, and, when needed, pay for their healthcare costs.

Instead, Brand relies on emotive storytelling in his usual Gish gallop. Let’s break down his train of thought:

People that operate inside the male wellness space appear to be subject to a good many attacks. 

There are millions of people operating inside of this industry. Most are never attacked. Brand seems to be insinuating that top-tier figures are vulnerable to criticism, which in some regard is true: the more people know your work, the more likely criticisms will follow. The problem with this argument is that there are plenty of people not being attacked because they’re sharing verifiable information and not grifting supplements.

This opening sentence prepares the listeners for the conspiratorial tone that will follow, however.

Could this be because figures like Joe Rogan and Andrew Huberman recommend a kind of empowering lifestyle, personal autonomy, fitness, strength—some would argue perhaps a return to some traditional male values, although these values I would argue would be great values for anyone male or female to pursue?

“Traditional male values” does a lot of heavy lifting here, especially in its ambiguity, as he never unpacks what that means. But it does signal the left-right conservative slide we’ve long identified in Conspirituality spaces.

Moving on…

Andrew Huberman has been subject to an astonishing hit piece from a legacy media outfit that seems to have its core little more to offer than he is a man he is not married, he sleeps with multiple people, and we've turned this into the most negative disastrous appraisal of a person imaginable.

The reporting on Brand’s accusations of sexual abuse is a far greater negative appraisal of the depths a man can sink in his own vanity and delusions of grandeur. Notice the reduction of the charges, however: oh, he sleeps around, big deal.

In reality, this wasn’t a “hit piece,” but investigative reporting into the claims of five women, one of whom Huberman lived with and was actively trying to have a baby with. You can claim this is “no issue” if the women consented to this setup, but the piece that Brand and every other defender overlooks is the fact that they did not.

Brand brushes it aside with a “boys will be boys” aside before the Gish galloping begins.