Sean Penn is crazy

Maybe we need to send him a copy of the Necronomicon. Sean Penn had this to say on Real Time with Bill Maher in regards to Hugo Chavez:

every day, this elected leader is called a dictator here, and we just accept it! And accept it. And this is mainstream media, who should – truly, there should be a bar by which one goes to prison for these kinds of lies.

I know the media often does a lousy job, but should they go to jail for saying negative things about Chavez? It turns out that the media isn't all that bad to Chavez. According to the Business and Media Institute from 1998 to 2006 his human rights record was only mentioned in 10% of the stories. Maher had some more questions:

MAHER: His image in the media is just a buffoon. You have been there. You know him. You’ve talked to him. That’s all I really know about Hugo Chavez, is what I read in the media. A dictator, took over a lot of the branches of government, wants to be president for life. What do you know that I don’t know, that I should not have such a harsh feeling about this guy?

PENN: I think that if you’re more happy with 20 percent of a population having the access to dreams, access to the feeling they have an identity and a voice. If it’s okay with the 20 percent, versus the 80 percent he gave it to, then you can criticize Hugo Chavez. You know, there are a lot of complicated issues that comes simply out of perspective. We in the United States have a difficult time putting ourselves in the shoes of what has been the history of Venezuela, the history of Latin America, and many other places.We’re very monocultural. And then we are hypnotized by the media. For example, Hugo Chavez. Who do you know here who’s gone through fourteen of the most transparent elections on the globe, and has been elected democratically, as Hugo Chavez?

I thought maybe I had Chavez all wrong and that he may have been a victim of some bad press in the US. I spent some time on a variety of left wing forums, figuring that it was more likely he would have some supporters in those places. He did, but most of the people that seemed to know anything about that part of the world didn't have much good to say about him.

Granted my research was limited, but I concluded that Chavez is not a nice guy and that Penn, while he may have good intentions, is an idiot. Human Rights Watch has a detailed look at Chavez and it is worth reading if you have the time. Amnesty International also has a good page on Venezuela.

What are your thoughts on Chavez?