10 Things That Make Me Angry: Number 5
5. The Daily Show. I am going to be burned at the stake or tarred-and-feathered for writing this, but I’ve assumed for quite a while that one of those is my fate. Some of my friends have been telling me lately that I’m becoming too political, speaking my mind too much, offending them with my ideas and comments. Personally, I enjoy hearing them say that in some weird [perverse? I hope not] sort of way. Many of these are the same friends I’ve heard say horrible things about George W. Bush and the Republican Party at large for eight years, usually without me saying anything in reply. I sat like a conservative little mouse afraid of being swallowed by a big liberal cat—during parties, classroom sessions, after-school activities, you name it. Well, those days are over. I intend to be civil and respectful (if that’s even possible where politics are involved), but I need to unload the weight on my mind and chest about a very tangential, yet in many ways important, issue; namely, The Daily Show.
I’ll be honest…I think the program is awful. Not because of my own political views, although I will admit that I am human (surprise, surprise) and that, like any other human being, my opinions and ideas about life and society color my reaction to certain entertainment. But not always. I have always enjoyed Saturday Night Live’s political satire, which is characterized primarily by lambasting Republicans a la Sarah Palin (Tina Fey) and the first President Bush (Dana Carvey). I have found myself actually liking some of The Colbert Report from time to time, which in its own strange fashion has an underlying quasi-antagonistic affection for conservatism as much as the show tries to ridicule it. On top of all that, two of my favorite comedies, Seinfeld and The Office, are written from incredibly liberal worldviews. Not only that, the star of The Office is a longtime Daily Show cast member, none other than Steve Carell.
No, my real problem is Stewart and his show. I don’t deny that he’s a smart man, or a clever man, or even a man with some good insights into the current political and social mess in our nation. On the contrary, what really frustrates me about TDS is that it ridicules the problems it helps create. The show lampoons the incompetence or idiocy of the leaders on Capitol Hill—OK, fair enough—but then feeds such one-sided comic propaganda to its viewers. If you’ll recall, Jon Stewart lashed out at Tucker Carlson and company on CNN’s Crossfire a number of years ago for being partisan hacks and was praised throughout the press as a newfangled bulwark of moderation and objectivity. (How they reached that conclusion I’ll never know. The gent hosts a half-hour fake cable news show that uses constant vulgarity and crudeness. Maybe I’m just narrow-minded.) Yet, we watched night after night after night…after night…after night…of Bush-bashing, Cheney-chomping, Rice-rending. After a while, it became embarrassing to watch. Was there no one else to ridicule? What about David Obey, the gravelly voiced Wisconsin Democrat who saw to it that his own son got a lucrative government contract and almost started a fistfight with Republican Tom Delay over some miniscule issue on the House floor? No joke there? Or what about Robert Byrd, the former Ku Klux Klan member who just happens to be the oldest Democrat in the Senate? No need to ridicule the hypocrisy there? Republicans are excoriated if they get caught shopping in the same department store as a racist, but it seems fine for one of the Blameless Party of Diversity’s senior leaders to be an ex-cross burner. Such consistency.
Anyway, my main purpose in writing this particular post was that of addressing Stewart’s February 10 program. In a segment “reporting” (I hate to use that word to describe what it is that he and his cronies do) on President Obama’s recent trip to Elkhart, Indiana, to discuss the government’s economic stimulus package, Stewart had this to say:
“Wow, the RV Capital of the World. You think your town’s got troubles? Imagine your main industry combines the slowdown of auto manufacturing with the plunging values of the housing sector. Figure out how to put a bank in the trunk; maybe the whole town disappears.”
I was flabbergasted…well, not especially. I am used to the New Left’s petty sarcasm, condescending humor, and ridicule of those everyday American workers, women, and minorities it claims to serve. Several thoughts ran through my head after I heard this: first of all, why on Earth is Fox News broadcasting this as a lighthearted end to one of their news programs when they have a perfect opportunity to expose Stewart for the charlatan that he really is?; secondly, when did it become OK for liberal comedians to make fun of the bad economy and those suffering because of it, especially in the town that has had the highest rate of unemployment in the entire U.S. during this “recession”?; and thirdly, how does Jon Stewart have the lack of shame to put down an industry that has provided thousands of jobs, an entire city’s well-being, endless amounts of joy to American families for decades, and a rigorous, vigorous work ethic that has epitomized the U.S. since its inception? I guess he wouldn’t know anything about that; I’m asking an awful lot from a comedian with poor comic delivery, endlessly clichéd put-downs of the opposing political party, and no sense of what constitutes real news. Oh, and he would certainly have no sense of what compromises actual work. Apparently in his mind making mindless jokes for a silly 30-minute TV program (more like 22 minutes, really) about the daily events in our nation is more respectable labor than working on an assembly line drowning in sweat and grease for 9 or 10 hours every day. Sound logic.
Not only that, Elkhart, despite being a heavily unionized urban manufacturing center, is located in a state that voted for George W. Bush twice, so they’re probably not worthy in Stewart’s eyes of fair treatment. Sorry, Jon, I was expecting too much of you and your long-overdue-for-an-unrenewed-contract “news program.” The scariest thing of all is that so many young collegians and high school students watch The Daily Show and truly believe it is hard news. These are the same people who call Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity devilish propagandists; never mind the fact that those men actually have guests with diametrically different viewpoints. What sad times we are living in. Do me a favor, Stewart…next time you feel obligated to put down a little American town that’s done quite well for its size, pick one that isn’t half an hour down the road from where I grew up. That way at least it won’t have the added personal poison that compels me to write these long, rambling diatribes. If I'm wrong--if in fact The Daily Show has made fun of Democrats or treated them with a fair amount of derision--then please inform me. Feel free to mention some concrete examples. But at this point, I'm rather convinced that they have no intention of being "objective" comics (something I'm not sure is possible) and every intention of being quasi-funny partisan hacks.
I’ll be honest…I think the program is awful. Not because of my own political views, although I will admit that I am human (surprise, surprise) and that, like any other human being, my opinions and ideas about life and society color my reaction to certain entertainment. But not always. I have always enjoyed Saturday Night Live’s political satire, which is characterized primarily by lambasting Republicans a la Sarah Palin (Tina Fey) and the first President Bush (Dana Carvey). I have found myself actually liking some of The Colbert Report from time to time, which in its own strange fashion has an underlying quasi-antagonistic affection for conservatism as much as the show tries to ridicule it. On top of all that, two of my favorite comedies, Seinfeld and The Office, are written from incredibly liberal worldviews. Not only that, the star of The Office is a longtime Daily Show cast member, none other than Steve Carell.
No, my real problem is Stewart and his show. I don’t deny that he’s a smart man, or a clever man, or even a man with some good insights into the current political and social mess in our nation. On the contrary, what really frustrates me about TDS is that it ridicules the problems it helps create. The show lampoons the incompetence or idiocy of the leaders on Capitol Hill—OK, fair enough—but then feeds such one-sided comic propaganda to its viewers. If you’ll recall, Jon Stewart lashed out at Tucker Carlson and company on CNN’s Crossfire a number of years ago for being partisan hacks and was praised throughout the press as a newfangled bulwark of moderation and objectivity. (How they reached that conclusion I’ll never know. The gent hosts a half-hour fake cable news show that uses constant vulgarity and crudeness. Maybe I’m just narrow-minded.) Yet, we watched night after night after night…after night…after night…of Bush-bashing, Cheney-chomping, Rice-rending. After a while, it became embarrassing to watch. Was there no one else to ridicule? What about David Obey, the gravelly voiced Wisconsin Democrat who saw to it that his own son got a lucrative government contract and almost started a fistfight with Republican Tom Delay over some miniscule issue on the House floor? No joke there? Or what about Robert Byrd, the former Ku Klux Klan member who just happens to be the oldest Democrat in the Senate? No need to ridicule the hypocrisy there? Republicans are excoriated if they get caught shopping in the same department store as a racist, but it seems fine for one of the Blameless Party of Diversity’s senior leaders to be an ex-cross burner. Such consistency.
Anyway, my main purpose in writing this particular post was that of addressing Stewart’s February 10 program. In a segment “reporting” (I hate to use that word to describe what it is that he and his cronies do) on President Obama’s recent trip to Elkhart, Indiana, to discuss the government’s economic stimulus package, Stewart had this to say:
“Wow, the RV Capital of the World. You think your town’s got troubles? Imagine your main industry combines the slowdown of auto manufacturing with the plunging values of the housing sector. Figure out how to put a bank in the trunk; maybe the whole town disappears.”
I was flabbergasted…well, not especially. I am used to the New Left’s petty sarcasm, condescending humor, and ridicule of those everyday American workers, women, and minorities it claims to serve. Several thoughts ran through my head after I heard this: first of all, why on Earth is Fox News broadcasting this as a lighthearted end to one of their news programs when they have a perfect opportunity to expose Stewart for the charlatan that he really is?; secondly, when did it become OK for liberal comedians to make fun of the bad economy and those suffering because of it, especially in the town that has had the highest rate of unemployment in the entire U.S. during this “recession”?; and thirdly, how does Jon Stewart have the lack of shame to put down an industry that has provided thousands of jobs, an entire city’s well-being, endless amounts of joy to American families for decades, and a rigorous, vigorous work ethic that has epitomized the U.S. since its inception? I guess he wouldn’t know anything about that; I’m asking an awful lot from a comedian with poor comic delivery, endlessly clichéd put-downs of the opposing political party, and no sense of what constitutes real news. Oh, and he would certainly have no sense of what compromises actual work. Apparently in his mind making mindless jokes for a silly 30-minute TV program (more like 22 minutes, really) about the daily events in our nation is more respectable labor than working on an assembly line drowning in sweat and grease for 9 or 10 hours every day. Sound logic.
Not only that, Elkhart, despite being a heavily unionized urban manufacturing center, is located in a state that voted for George W. Bush twice, so they’re probably not worthy in Stewart’s eyes of fair treatment. Sorry, Jon, I was expecting too much of you and your long-overdue-for-an-unrenewed-contract “news program.” The scariest thing of all is that so many young collegians and high school students watch The Daily Show and truly believe it is hard news. These are the same people who call Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity devilish propagandists; never mind the fact that those men actually have guests with diametrically different viewpoints. What sad times we are living in. Do me a favor, Stewart…next time you feel obligated to put down a little American town that’s done quite well for its size, pick one that isn’t half an hour down the road from where I grew up. That way at least it won’t have the added personal poison that compels me to write these long, rambling diatribes. If I'm wrong--if in fact The Daily Show has made fun of Democrats or treated them with a fair amount of derision--then please inform me. Feel free to mention some concrete examples. But at this point, I'm rather convinced that they have no intention of being "objective" comics (something I'm not sure is possible) and every intention of being quasi-funny partisan hacks.
posted by Douglas Schrock at 9:02 PM
4 Comments:
To be fair, SNL makes fun of EVERYONE. When Bill Clinton was in power they made fun of him and Al Gore, when Jimmy Carter was in power they made fun of him. It just so happpens that in the 34 years that SNL has been on, a Republican was in office for 22 of them. The President is the most visible man in the world, and by virtue of that the easiest to make fun of, because everyone can relate to it. The rest of the country can't relate to some no name Congressman who used to be a Klansman, because they don't know who he is.
Also, John Kerry got BLASTED by TDS as well as Al Gore. Some of the funnier bits of the TDS 2004 election coverage was the lampooning of John Kerry. Just a few weeks ago, the TDS made fun of the Obama administration for sounding just like every other administration before it in it's first few weeks in office.
Finally, you can't blame it on Jon Stewart that the Bush administration was so easy to make fun of. When you combine Bush's fumbling of words, low approval rating, Dick Cheney shooting people in the face and looking like an evil old man, it makes for a field day for comedians.
Good points. Thanks for stopping by. Yes, it is true that SNL has been around in a primarily Republican era of American political history, so I guess that's a fair defense. And I have to hand it to them for making fun of Obama so much in the primary--those skits were priceless (until they decided to put their energies into bashing Palin). As for TDS, I will have to go back and watch some of the anti-Kerry slams. In all fairness, I think Mad TV is the most egalitarian of all bashers. They were equally nasty and satirical towards Republicans and Democrats until, sadly, they went off the air. Sometimes they bordered on the ridiculous or irrelevant, but they were clever nonetheless.
Yeah, but in all honesty who is easier to make fun of Barack Obama or Sarah Palin?
Uh, they're equally easy to make fun of in my estimation. Barack Obama has plenty of things that can be made fun of--big ears, cartoonishly exaggerated smile, endless repetition of the words "hope" and "change," immeasurable amount of being impressed with his own importance, having connections to Ayers...and Wright...and Pflegel--and those are just a start. Come on now. I'll grant you, Sarah is easy to lampoon, but don't be one of these people who says, "I can't think of anything to make fun of." That's just downright hero worship.
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