Interpreting Robert Downey Jr.

Robert Downey Jr. is my favorite actor, and so I was intrigued when I read the following in his interview with David Carr:

“I have a really interesting political point of view, and it’s not always something I say too loud at dinner tables here, but you can’t go from a $2,000-a-night suite at La Mirage to a penitentiary and really understand it and come out a liberal. You can’t. I wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone else, but it was very, very, very educational for me and has informed my proclivities and politics every since.”

(Suffice it to say he is not one of the Hollywood types who weeps over innocents trapped behind bars.)

Can you figure out exactly what he means? I’m not sure I can. I do suspect, however, that Robert Downey Jr. is some kind of genius. He’s certainly very thoughtful.