Mark Ruffalo makes a better Hulk than a commencement speaker.
The Oscar nominee best known for his role in The Avengers, Shutter Island, and Spotlight, addressed this year’s graduates from Ringling College of Art and Design yesterday.
In his rambling speech, he charged the graduates to go out and change the world through art. Specifically, to spread the ideas of acceptance of all different sexual identities and the dangers of global warming. “We have a chance to spread this human morality to the rest of the world,” he said. So driving a Prius and participating in gay pride parades are now considered part of the “human morality” that the whole world needs to adopt? What happened to the progressive belief that morality was subjective?
To prove his point about the power of art, Ruffalo brought up his 2010 movie The Kids Are Alright, a flick about a lesbian married couple raising kids. The movie supposedly shows “a marriage that look[s] just like every other marriage.” Because every marriage has to deal with their teenage kids setting out to locate the sperm donor that produced them, and then introduce him to the family. Totally normal. Ruffalo preened, “this movie helped educate us, to be less afraid of this new human morality,” and that the 2016 Ringling graduates have a responsibility to also produce art that educates. Or indoctrinates, same thing.
Ruffalo has a history of making typical bone-headed liberal statements. Recently, he’s been busy on the campaign trail, stumping for the “charming” Bernie Sanders. He’s also claimed that the 2nd amendment wasn’t meant for individuals, and that anyone who attacks climate change advocates is “a coward.”
Unfortunately, liberal commencement speakers are common fare at colleges today. The Young America’s Foundation found that among the top 100 colleges and universities, 53% of commencement speakers slated for 2016 are liberals and only 14% are conservatives. These speakers include Secretary of State John Kerry, former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Spike Lee, and Matt Damon.
With advice like Ruffalo’s ending charge to “just follow your heart’s contentment,” it’s no wonder that despite shelling out thousands of dollars, college graduates are pampered princesses completely unprepared for real life.