Actor Matthew McConaughey claimed neither liberals nor conservatives are responsible for the political divide in the United States.
McConaughey emphasized that the “extreme left” and “extreme right” “illegitimize” the liberals and conservatives during an appearance Tuesday on “Good Morning Britain.”
‘Some liberals don’t see they’re being cannibalised by the illiberals.’ @McConaughey explains he thinks free speech and both sides of being political debate are ‘illegitimatised’ by the other side.@piersmorgan | @susannareid100 pic.twitter.com/fY5o4THqcs
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) December 15, 2020
“You need liberals,” McConaughey said. “What I don’t think we need is the illiberals. And what I don’t think that some liberals see is that they’re often being cannibalized by the illiberals.”
“Now there are extremes on both sides that I think are unfair, that I don’t think are the right place to be,” he continued. “The extreme left and the extreme right completely illegitimize the other side, the liberal and conservative side, which we need in certain places. The two extremes illgeitimze those two sides. Or they exaggerate that side’s stance into an irrational state that makes no sense and that’s not fair when either side does that.” (RELATED: Rose McGowan Joins Matthew McConaughey, Slams Hollywood As Being ‘Condescending,’ Patronizing)
McConaughey also touched on freedom of speech and cancel culture. He claimed we haven’t found the “right spot” as a society when it comes to cancel culture.
“You’ve got to have confrontation to have unity,” McConaughey said during the interview, according to Deadline. “That’s when a democracy works really well.
“I would argue we don’t have true confrontation right now, confrontation that gives some validation and legitimizes the opposing point of view,” he continued. “We don’t give a legitimacy or validation to an opposing point of view, we make it persona non grata, and that’s unconstitutional.”
McConaughey always has such a clear head when talking about politics. We could all learn something from him and his thoughts. Confrontation does have to take into account the other side, and we don’t see that much anymore.
McConaughey seems to think we can get there as a society, so I’m hopeful as well.