Actor Tim Robbins spoke to a crowded room last night as part of the Kent State Stark Featured Speaker series. His lecture dealt mainly with views of the war and the leadership of America, which he also performed songs about. Afterward, Robbins took questi

Credit: DKS Editors

Tim Robbins isn’t naming names, but when asked who he would vote for in the upcoming election, he said he would vote for the candidate who won both the peace prize and an Oscar.

The actor spoke last night to a group of about 900 people at the Kent State Stark campus as the first guest in its Featured Speaker Series. Only one man fits the well-known political activist’s description of his ideal presidential candidate – Al Gore. Gore recently won the Nobel Peace Prize for his environmental work and an Oscar for his movie, An Inconvenient Truth.

Robbins has been called everything from a traitor and Saddam-lover to a terrorist supporter for his idealistic views. But he still voices his opinion.

“We are living in a world where we’re being asked to believe that black is white, day is night and that ignorance is strength,” he said. “We are being asked to accept the idea of parental war with a constant unbeatable enemy.”

Robbins said people are watching his back even if they don’t agree with him. People understand they live in a free society and that he has a right to his opinion, he said.

The nation can choose to go down a number of different paths, Robbins said. It’s the choices its people make and the actions they take that will determine what path is traveled.

As for the war in Iraq, Robbins said it has been a collective effort from many different media sources to convince the American people that this war was a good idea. But the truth is, he said, they were lying.

“The American people are much more rational and much more compassionate than the image that this talk-radio society gives out,” he said.

Contact regional campuses reporter Michelle Moore at [email protected].