{"id":2285,"date":"2008-03-19T05:40:01","date_gmt":"2008-03-19T10:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=2285"},"modified":"2008-03-19T05:40:01","modified_gmt":"2008-03-19T10:40:01","slug":"cloud-of-smug-seen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=2285","title":{"rendered":"Cloud of Smug Seen"},"content":{"rendered":"

George Clooney leaps into action over Tibet<\/a>:<\/p>\n

If his previous form is anything to go by, the Tibetans should soon be able to count on the support of Hollywood star George Clooney in their struggle for freedom. After all, the man anointed by the media as the \u201cheartthrob with a conscience\u201d must have been pretty outspoken about China\u2019s indirect responsibility for the on-going genocide in Darfur, right?<\/p>\n

Well, not really. Here\u2019s Clooney\u2019s latest attack on China<\/a> regarding Darfur delivered in his capacity as \u201cambassador\u201d for Olympic partner and official timekeeper Omega:<\/p>\n

\u201cI have talked with Omega (about China) for over a year and will continue to talk to Omega,\u201d Clooney told BBC Sport.\u201cI have and will go to the places I and China do business and ask for help.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You hear that, President Hu? Not so brave now, are we, People\u2019s Liberation Army? Gorgeous George is going to \u201ccontinue to talk to Omega.\u201d He\u2019s going to \u201cgo to places\u201d and \u201cask for help.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve yet to hear from Clooney on the specific issue of Tibet, but he\u2019ll surely take an even stronger stance than he has over Darfur, given that this time Chinese are doing the shooting themselves, rather than merely supplying the ammunition.<\/p>\n

We can perhaps hope for something along the lines of the blistering attack<\/a> Clooney launched on Nestle last year, when it was politely pointed out that his commercial activities on behalf of a company that\u2019s been criticised for its policies in the third world didn\u2019t sit well with his self-appointed role as global crusader for the oppressed.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the full, unedited transcript:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to apologize to you for trying to make a living every once in a while. I find that an irritating question.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Okay, it wasn\u2019t that blistering. However, Clooney has on other occasions been genuinely outspoken in his condemnation of perceived injustices \u2014 namely those he feels have been committed by the United States, and specifically by the Bush administration<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Not that this is anything new – or even confined to the past eight years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

George Clooney leaps into action over Tibet: If his previous form is anything to go by, the Tibetans should soon be able to count on the support of Hollywood star George Clooney in their struggle for freedom. After all, the man anointed by the media as the \u201cheartthrob with a conscience\u201d must have been pretty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liberty","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}