Actor Matthew McConaughey has accused political ‘illiberals’ of’ completely ‘illegitimizing the other side’ – saying that liberals are ‘often cannibalized’ by hardliners of the left and right.
The Oscar winner, touted as a possible candidate for Texas governor in the future, said there is “no room for any consensus” and accused both sides of “exaggerating” each other’s positions into an “irrational state.”
In his speech on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he did not identify with Democrats or Republicans – saying that ‘there are extremes on both sides that I think are unfair’ – although he was previously described as ‘center-right’.
“You need liberals, what I don’t think we need are the illiberals and what I think some liberals don’t see is that they are often cannibalized by the illiberals,” he said.
Actor Matthew McConaughey (pictured) has accused political ‘illiberals’ of’ completely ‘illegitimizing the other side’
Asked by Piers Morgan about his views on freedom of speech, McConaughey said that “the extreme left and the extreme right are making the other side, the liberal and conservative side that we need in certain places completely illegal.”
“The two extremes make those two parties illegal, or they exaggerate that party’s attitude to an irrational state that makes no sense – and that’s not fair if either side does that,” he said.
‘Where the waterline will land on this freedom of speech, and what we allow and what we don’t do and where this culture lifts, where that waterline lands, is a very interesting place that we now engage in as a society because we have the have not found the right place. ‘
McConaughey, 51, added, ‘You have to have a confrontation to have unity, I think we can all agree on that, and that’s when a democracy works really well.
“I would say we don’t even have a real showdown right now. Real confrontation in any case confirms the opposite view, or legitimizes the opposite view.
‘At the moment we have no real confrontation because we don’t even give legitimacy to an opposing point of view, we don’t confirm it, we make that vision persona non grata. In a way, it’s a bit unconstitutional. ‘
Speaking of ‘fake news’, McConaughey said,’ Who knows what to believe? Who knows who to listen to? Where is that consensus? Which leaders do we trust? Which media outlets do we trust?
‘There is so much mistrust right now and when you start to mistrust everyone in the world … you start to mistrust yourself. We know this leads to some really tough places.
“The truth right now, facts, they’re real, they’re pretty radical now.”
McConaughey, in the photo, has been touted as a possible candidate for governor of Texas and did not reject the idea when it was presented to him in October.
While McConaughey’s party membership is unclear, he raised no objection when he was described as “center-right” by radio host Hugh Hewitt in an October interview.
In that interview, Hewitt asked if McConaughey would ever run for governor of Texas, where he was born and raised.
McConaughey did not dismiss the suggestion, replying, “I don’t know. I mean, it wouldn’t be me. It would be more up to people than me.
‘I would say this. Look, politics seems like a broken business right now. And if politics redefine its purpose, I could be much more interested. ‘
Asked how he would bring people together, he said, “I want to get behind personal values to restore our social contracts with each other as Americans, as human beings.”
But he added, “I still wonder how much you can really do in politics, and I don’t know if politics is my way of getting what I might be able to do best.”
McConaughey appeared on GMB to promote his memoir ‘Greenlights’, which he describes as a ‘playbook based on adventures in my life’.
When asked how he had dealt with the 2020 turmoil, he said his family was ‘doing quite well’ and ‘looking forward to what 2021 could be.’
“ It didn’t prompt me to reassess, but it made me double down on some of the things I knew were important to me, but I now know they’re even more important to me, ” he said.
As a father, that is the most reverent position I know in the world. You become a parent, you become immortal.
‘Our kids are legacy investments and they will tell our stories when we’re gone. My greatest hope and value would be to work with their mother Camila to do my very best to bring out three autonomous and confident young people. ‘