Althouse: Matt Damon pledges not to go to the bathroom...

February 13, 2013

Matt Damon pledges not to go to the bathroom...

... until there is a toilet for everyone in the world:

70 comments:

Tibore said...: This looks more like one of those Funny or Die skit stunts than anything else.; 2/13/13, 8:24 AM
TosaGuy said...: Time for the standard Matt Damon Team America: World Police clip.; 2/13/13, 8:25 AM
AHL said...: His kidneys may have something to say about that.; 2/13/13, 8:25 AM
rhhardin said...: Garde loo.; 2/13/13, 8:33 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: If all it takes is money... somebody needs to tell him that money is debt.

Just borrow the money Matt.; 2/13/13, 8:35 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Don't tell him about the cruise ship Obama.; 2/13/13, 8:35 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: The notion that twenty five dollars alone can solve sanitation problems in the Third World is pretty naive.

My late wife, Myrna, may well have contracted cancer as a result of a childhood in the slums of Manila.

Poor sanitation is thought to play a role in the proliferation of human papillomavirus, a pre-cursor to many forms of cancer.

Myrna was quite aware of this. She worked for years in volunteer organizations attempting to improve sanitation in remote villages in the Philippines.

Money alone is not the answer. Political corruption is a mammoth roadblock to getting anything done in the Philippines. Foreign aid money tends to just end up in the bank accounts of the politically connected. And, technology has to be sized and suited to the local culture or it will not be successfully adopted.

It's a lot tougher problem than just forking over money. Money helps, but it's just a start.; 2/13/13, 8:37 AM
Elle said...: I wonder what Ben thinks.; 2/13/13, 8:38 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Wealthy celebrities don't want to use their wealth to help the poor, they want to use your money. And yes, 99 times out of 100 the money ends up in the hands of the corrupt leftwing government.; 2/13/13, 8:42 AM
Farmer said...: I wonder why videos made for the Internet are never funny.; 2/13/13, 8:43 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: Toilet day is the day I celebrate having decided not listening to one single goddamn thing Matt Damon has to say. Urgently. Press conference. Toilet day. Woohoo piss off Matt Damon, what day is that, you ask? Today! Everyday is toilet day.; 2/13/13, 8:44 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: On the other hand, I thought the humorous approach was a good PR tactic for a charitable organization.

Check out the water.org website. They are aware of the political and social roadblocks.

I think you'd have to do some independent verification to ascertain whether they are effective.; 2/13/13, 8:45 AM
traditionalguy said...: This is really a simple minded meme of "there are too many people." Damon asserts that we have no solutions and need a collective guilt response until we courageously cull the surplus numbers.

That sounds caring as a collective activity. But it most resembles the Nazi's original Lebensraum battle to exterminate surplus world population and incidentally steal their stuff off of the dead bodies. The urge to loot never changes, it just gets dressed in new clothes.; 2/13/13, 8:45 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: As you know, you go to deadpan with the celebrity you have, not the celebrity you might want or wish to have at a later time.; 2/13/13, 8:46 AM
Colonel Angus said...: How did he get to be such a star? The man can't act for shit.; 2/13/13, 8:47 AM
bagoh20 said...: I applaud his efforts on clean water, but wouldn't Damon accomplish more by calling out the people who suck up all the money before it does any good. I think he would get more press and probably make some real progress if he would publicly name the officials in those countries that are stealing the money. It would make news, and those people would be in some hot water locally, which could really make a difference.

Today after decades of aid to Africa, many of us who want to help, see it as a waste, if not a poison to the people we want to help.; 2/13/13, 8:48 AM
Wince said...: He's already full of shit.

He didn't need to take a drink of water during his remarks.

Was the reporter with the beard supposed to look like Ben Affleck?

I like it when Damon pretends silly and mocks himself, because when he's serious, he's god-awful.; 2/13/13, 8:49 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Folks, it was an attempt at humor!

Structuring appeals for a charitable group is tough sledding. I know, because I've done it. I'm a media guy.

Sorry, but you guys are wrong this time. I applaud Damon for giving his time.

These sort of appeals are the only way that a charitable organization can appeal for funding, besides going the usual foundation route.

Damon, as this post illustrates, succeeded in bringing PR to the organization. And, that's all he was trying to do.; 2/13/13, 8:49 AM
KCFleming said...: He's dumb as a post. Not unintelligent, just stupid. Can't learn to see what's in front of his nose.

I figure any organization he does PR for is just as dumb or more likely leftist and corrupt, so it's a reliable signal who shouldn't get any support.; 2/13/13, 8:55 AM
furious_a said...: It's a lot tougher problem than just forking over money. Money helps, but it's just a start.

[insert road-trip-with-family joke here]...but it's still amazing the bang-for-the-buck some of these charities achieve (cleft-palate surgeries, basic nutrition, clean water, vaccinations) vs. the profligacy of compulsory shovel-ready
taxpayer charity.

Too bad Matt Damon drank all that coffee, but good on him for giving a rip.; 2/13/13, 8:56 AM
Larry J said...: "Matt Damon pledges not to go to the bathroom..."

Does that mean he's going to be even more full of shit than normal?; 2/13/13, 9:01 AM
david7134 said...: We have a number of "stars" who pass through my little town, due to the tax breaks they get. As a result, we get to see their stupidity, elitism, and their personal habits. Many do not take baths, Uma chews tobacco, and most would believe they have to power not to use the bathroom, of course, some to the big names actually go outside. These are true observations and not made up.; 2/13/13, 9:04 AM
furious_a said...: the profligacy of compulsory shovel-ready taxpayer charity.

...disaster-relief operations of the U.S. Navy being an exception; 2/13/13, 9:06 AM
Curious George said...: Speaking of toilets, I just dropped a Matt Damon in mine. Eerie.; 2/13/13, 9:06 AM
Paul said...: So is he gonna go piss outside till we have all these potties?

I know he is a good friend of Loony Cooney, but still he has to make an idiot out of himself.

Goes to show you that most actors and actresses may say good lines on the movies but in real life don't know shit.; 2/13/13, 9:09 AM
Brian Brown said...: How about Matt Damon shuts up until everyone in the world is as rich as he is?; 2/13/13, 9:11 AM
rhhardin said...: It's bedpan humor.; 2/13/13, 9:13 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: There's a well-established and highly sophisticated system that assigns celebrities to charitable causes according to their status which explains why Princess Diana got landmines and Camille Grammer got irritable bowel syndrome.; 2/13/13, 9:20 AM
lgv said...: It was hilarious. Nothing wrong with having a worthy cause.

He did another hilarious parody of himself on the last episode of House of Lies.

Lighten up people.; 2/13/13, 9:21 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: Mr. Damon, I served with Bob Newhart. I knew Bob Newhart. Bob Newhart was a friend of mine. Mr. Damon, you're no Bob Newhart.; 2/13/13, 9:24 AM
prairie wind said...: bedpan humor

Now, that's funny.; 2/13/13, 9:31 AM
Anonymous said...: Damon asserts that we have no solutions and need a collective guilt response until we courageously cull the surplus numbers.

Can you provide a link to the video or statements where Damon asserts this? Because it sure isn't apparent in the video Althouse posted.; 2/13/13, 9:37 AM
Tibore said...: Yipes. I fear a few commenters here missed the joke. Again: It's in the vein of Funny or Die skits, it just happens to be for something real this time.

Seriously, folks... I'm on board with ripping on self absorption and self importance, but this particular stunt was just an attempt to be light hearted. I think some of you all here are being a bit too grouchy about this. There will be plenty of completely unaware celebrity gaffes in the future to rip on, but doing so for this one just makes it look like we all missed the joke.; 2/13/13, 9:41 AM
Jeff Gee said...: Jesus. It's a joke. He's making fun of celebrities who say stuff like this. Since he IS a celebrity who says stuff like this, good for him.; 2/13/13, 9:53 AM
Seeing Red said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/13/13, 9:56 AM
edutcher said...: I hope he enjoys his catheter.; 2/13/13, 9:57 AM
Seeing Red said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/13/13, 9:59 AM
Seeing Red said...: A few years ago we went to Arizona for vacation and visited their science museum.

We took in the IMAX show, it was about water & overpopulation.

Being conservative, I giggled during the entire show.

A documentary about overpopulation sponsored by The Kennedys, and one of the experts who was also very concerned about overpopulation had children.

I think Robert Redford, he of the exclusive mountaintop hideaway for the beautiful people & greedy capitalist promoting a very expensive sport for the privileged, was the talking head.

Crisis, not enough water to supply overpopulated areas of the world and showed.....I believe Africans.
The heart-tugging story of the indigenous Native Americans whose way of life living in the rocks was stamped out because they dammed up the river. All they want to do is go back to their simple way of life!

Subliminal message - get rid of the dam. Of course, what would happen to the population of the greater Phoenix area if they did get rid of the dam so the few Native Americans could Dance with the Wolves?; 2/13/13, 10:02 AM
KCFleming said...: "Yipes. I fear a few commenters here missed the joke."

Damon damaged his brand long ago, so I don't care if he's funny or serious or acting or sincere.

Lighten up? My business is dying because of morons like him and other Obamaphiles. Nothing funny about it that I can see. So a leftist does a funny video. Hoo fucking rah.; 2/13/13, 10:07 AM
campy said...: Where's Titus when a thread actually needs him?; 2/13/13, 10:16 AM
Dante said...: Clean water has to be up there with anti-malaria drugs and programs, and penicillin. So yes, it's the right way of thinking about a problem.

But here's the thing. Obamaphones cost $1.6B. If the math is right, that's about 64M lives if we rerouted the $ to sanitation.; 2/13/13, 10:19 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I hope people are actually watching the video. It was really well done, funny, and included some nice satirizing of journalists.; 2/13/13, 10:22 AM
Pastafarian said...: The video was shit, Althouse. You're quite easily amused.

Too bad this water.org chose a piece of shit as their spokesperson; their cause seemed worthy. Based on their choice of spokesperson, I'm forced to conclude that they're either incompetent, or hard-left lunatics, or both.

So instead of a donation, they'll get shit from me. In fact, I'm going to drop a deuce right now, just to make up for the idiot Damon and his anal retentiveness.; 2/13/13, 10:32 AM
Unknown said...: It's funny. It's also a little old. We do get tired of listening to liberal actors admonishing us even when they do it with humor.; 2/13/13, 10:34 AM
cubanbob said...: He can volunteer his mouth as a urinal for third world gays.; 2/13/13, 10:43 AM
Tregonsee said...: You can tell he is flushed with pride for his stand.; 2/13/13, 10:49 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Folks, this was an appeal to charity, not an appeal for tax dollars.

Most of you are way off base on this.

Damon did the right thing here.; 2/13/13, 10:53 AM
Pastafarian said...: Yes, Thomas, it was an appeal to charity, and as their spokesperson, they chose someone upon whom I would not piss, were he ablaze.

I would have contributed, and now I won't. Any organization that would choose to be fronted by this asshole isn't to be trusted with my money.; 2/13/13, 10:58 AM
Chip S. said...: It's surprising that a video that ends w/ "Reporters are dicks" isn't getting better notices here.; 2/13/13, 11:07 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: It's surprising that a video that ends w/ "Reporters are dicks" isn't getting better notices here.

Amen.; 2/13/13, 11:21 AM
Sam L. said...: Will Matt take dumps in the woods? On his lawn? Inquiring minds want to know!; 2/13/13, 11:22 AM
furious_a said...: Matt Damon pledges not to go to the bathroom...

"Wait 'til you taste this!"; 2/13/13, 11:24 AM
William said...: I just hope that Matt Damon and all the other movie stars someday get to live in the kind of world they deserve.....I think that someone should attempt a biopic on John Wilkes Booth. He was the first activist movie star. He literally upstaged Abraham Lincoln in his efforts to call attention to his own moral grandeur. But he should have tried self deprecating humor after the assassination. "Sic semper" was a little grandiose. Matt would have said "Wow, I really broke a leg", and the world would remembered him fondly.; 2/13/13, 11:41 AM
Chip S. said...: So you equate improved sanitation w/ presidential assassination?

Jebus.; 2/13/13, 11:50 AM
traditionalguy said...: So it was an Onion type spoof and not serious. Sorry, I only watched the first minute and gave up.; 2/13/13, 12:47 PM
KCFleming said...: @Chip

I think William meant that the use of humor obscures leftist activism, and its use should not absolve them.

Like John Lennon's Imagine, a pretty song that lauded a great evil.

Sometimes a hoot is just a hoot, but sometimes it provides cover for bad ideas, as here.; 2/13/13, 12:48 PM
Clyde said...: Matt Damon is full of shit.

But we already knew that!

Maybe he should get choppered in to that dead-in-the-water cruise ship down in the Gulf of Mexico so he can hang with his fellow sufferers.; 2/13/13, 1:31 PM
William said...: For the cost of staging this phony press conferencee Matt Damon could have constructed one hundred outhouses in Chad. How many third world children die of respiratory illness caused by Matt Damon's frequent travels by private jet?; 2/13/13, 1:36 PM
Chip S. said...: @Pogo, I can understand why people don't like Damon in general, but I disagree strongly w/ the notion that private charities to help develop poor countries are "leftist".

ST @ 8:37 made some excellent points. Yes, it's a dumb idea to just give money to crappy governments. It does get siphoned off. But there's also evidence that direct action (the donor organization delivers the services itself) can be effective.

I think conservatives miss a huge opportunity to get rid of the "party of the rich" label by being more prominently active in organizations like this one. After all, they do make more charitable donations than liberals do. Why not get some political mileage out of it?

I don't think it helps at all to just slam Damon reflexively, ignoring the specific message.; 2/13/13, 1:40 PM
Strelnikov said...: Did his movie solve the fracking problems already?; 2/13/13, 1:53 PM
KCFleming said...: @Chip

Much of what you say it true. But I have great difficulty listening to people in the entertainment industry who support Obama and then get into charity work, because it makes me suspect the charity is either leftist or poorly run.

For example, I won't even watch the video just because Damon is involved.; 2/13/13, 2:05 PM
KCFleming said...: I have limited time and limited money.

I use Hollywood support as shorthand for "don't bother."; 2/13/13, 2:07 PM
Caroline said...: We see in this thread an example of the "shut up and sing" conditioned response. Due to their incessant political hectoring over the past decade or more, celebrities may have completely spent their good will capital with the public. They apparently never heard the expression "familiarity breeds contempt".; 2/13/13, 2:17 PM
Lydia said...: Chip S. said...
I think conservatives miss a huge opportunity to get rid of the "party of the rich" label by being more prominently active in organizations like this one. After all, they do make more charitable donations than liberals do. Why not get some political mileage out of it?

Conservatives are active in organizations just like the one Damon is pushing, for example, The Water Project.

Problem is, though, that it's a Christian-backed group. As are many of the groups doing work in the third world. Not great for political mileage.; 2/13/13, 2:43 PM
Methadras said...: The Onion did this right? RIGHT?; 2/13/13, 2:45 PM
Tibore said...: Whoa, waitaminute Pogo (he's a guy I like and respect in this forum), I wasn't saying "don't say F*** you Hollywood". I'm every bit as sick and tired of self-centered sanctimony posing as "social awareness" as anyone else. And yes, I do hate the fact that they're driving the medical profession into the gutter with socialism-speak disguised as "progress". So I'm with you all the way on that.

All I was saying was that there are plenty of times to where celeb types preach and earn the scorn they've got coming to them to where it's not a good battle to gnash them when they're being self-deprecating. It's more that hitting them when they do this comes off negatively as missing a joke instead of highlighting a perfectly legitimate point about sanctimoniousness. That's what I was getting at.; 2/13/13, 4:17 PM
KCFleming said...: @ Tibore

You're quite right. My reaction was a bit excessive.; 2/13/13, 4:30 PM
Anonymous said...: I think William meant that the use of humor obscures leftist activism

Are you so devoid of empathy and concern that you seriously consider campaigning for improved sanitation and clean drinking water is "leftist activism"?

You must be one miserable S.O.B. (not to mention an awful physician).; 2/13/13, 4:52 PM
Anonymous said...: Conservatives are active in organizations just like the one Damon is pushing, for example, The Water Project.

Why do you assume that the Water Project is run by conservatives. Because it calls itself a Christian organization? You do realize that Christian does not automatically mean conservative, don't you. Oxfam, which was vilified on this site just a short time ago, is a Christian organization (founded by English Quakers).; 2/13/13, 5:03 PM
KCFleming said...: "you seriously consider campaigning for improved sanitation and clean drinking water is "leftist activism""

If Matt Damon is fronting for them, yes, that idea has to be a serious consideration.

If a useful idiot is your spokesman, it suggests your program is (1) run by useless idiots, or (2) leftist activism. Or both.; 2/13/13, 6:25 PM