Sean Penn is a twat

Well, he is isn't he? Not for his grand-standing leftist politics - he's an actor, and as we know it's the job of an actor to read the newspaper and the say what they read as if it's their own opinion. No, what really classifies him as a grade-A dickwad is stuff like this:

This is not a cause of leftist flamboyance nor significantly a centuries-old literary dispute. But rather a modern one, that is perhaps unveiled most legitimately through the raconteurism of Patagonian fishermen.

I've tried, but I just can't read that sentence without wanting to give the author a slap, and tell him that he's not as clever as he thinks he is. Incidentally, for those who want to know just what it is that those piscine fabulists are talking about, I'm afraid that's their final mention. As for this:

Let's recap: the UK was indeed engaged in diplomatic resolution discussions with Argentina until the Argentinian people were themselves betrayed by their own leadership's diversion, and the UK's unfaltering support of a dictator who had live rats inserted into female genitalia and electric probes placed on the testicles of men in Chile simply because they had elected for a life, identity, and leadership of their own choosing.

So... General Pinochet invaded the Falkland Islands? Or, did he force Argentina to invade the Falkland Islands? Or was it the UK's support for Pinochet that made Argentian invade the Falkland Islands? Or is it, in fact, that Pinochet has very little to do with this debate, and is being crow-barred into it because he's nasty? See for instance here:

The UK and General Augusto Pinochet (with ultimately timid support from the US) along with the diversionary invasion by the former Argentinian regime, did a fine job of leaving little room for that argument on today's world stage.

Along with? And what is this obsession with Pinochet? Chile's assistance to the UK was definitely welcome, but it was limited to support for reconnaissance aircraft. Penn is asserting moral equivalence (and that's if you're being generous) to the invading forces of a dictatorship and the military response of a democratic nation.

I think the main problem Matt Stone and Trey Parker had was that it's virtually impossible to satirise the self-satisfied idiocy of actors. After all, Penn's article is basically an extended version of this:

Last year I went to Iraq. Before Team America showed up, it was a happy place. They had flowery meadows and rainbow skies, and rivers made of chocolate, where the children danced and laughed and played with gumdrop smiles.

UPDATE: Alex Massie makes the same point with considerably more finesse here.