Letters to the Editor
-
Satire doesn't work
While it can give us a good laugh or two, the kind of satire used by the Daily Show and the Colbert Report will not be able to contribute to real political change.
Take a look at Berlin in the 1920s. Colbert, Stewert, and Maher are small time clowns compared to the kind of biting satire seen in Berlin's cabarets of that era (anyone with doubts should read Kurt Tucholsky - try www.kurttucholsky.blogspot.com). But it was ultimately unable to stop the rise of the Nazis because it reaches too small a segment of society and the social and economic forces it would need to overcome are too great.
I'm not claiming that the current political threat we face is comparable, but if satire could not work in such an extreme case, what hope does it have today?
-
schools and Helen Thomas
@ Christopher1988
Jon Stewart went to my school, The College of William and Mary--a virginia state school, albeit a quite nice one--not Yale. No skull and bones there, only Phi Beta Kappa. I was fortunate to see him come back and give a commencement address there several years ago: brilliant and surprisingly inspirational.
Not too long ago I had the chance to meet Helen Thomas and asked her opinion regarding the fact that so many young folks have abandoned the traditional media and get the bulk of their news from Stewart & Colbert. She thought it was probably a good thing considering the current state of the press today, an interesting opinion considering her long credentials in that format.
-
America is about 5 years away from being too dumb for satire
I disagree..
Americans are rather dumb on the whole, but satire is becoming increasingly difficult to do because the front page of the Washington Post and the front Page of the Onion are becoming remarkably similar.
What I'm trying to say is that yesterday's satirical Onion lead is tomorrow's deadly serious Washington Post lead.
I mean you had John Ashcroft calling Obama, "Osama" just today.
How many times do you have to hear "I don't recall" before you seriously start to wonder how these mighty heroes remember to inhale and exhale often enough to remain conscious?
-
@ salon letter
I already responded to a previous letter writer. I was mistaken.
-
Fair and Balanced
I do sometimes see and wonder about accusations about Stewart and the other being "just as biased" for the other side. Could they be valid?
No. What Fox and their ilk spew on an hourly basis is frequently, demonstratibly, blatantly and flagrantly false. Same with CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, Time Magazine, etc. What Stewart and Colbert do is (1) comedy, and therefor editorial, and (2) has a firmer basis in truth than the 6 O'clock news.
Bias? Yes. There is bias. Bias toward reality, something that the news has a real problem with.
-
still all white boy all the time
Christopher1988, no actually, sadly, Jon Stewart doesn't have a lot of female reporters. He has one, Samantha Bee, who is on perhaps one time per month. Bill Maher has one, and only one female on per show, except when he has no women on his show. I think his dick would fall off if he had two women on his panel at one time. This "cutting edge"comedy where we get our real news is still all white boy. And don't tell me this is irony,and a send up of the mainstream media- it isn't, it is just more of the same. Why does Salon have a women's section for Christsakes, when Joan Walsh is the editor?. We are still in the Fu*%ing ghetto.
-
@karenfinan
What is your point? Women are weak victims and need to be protected by affirmative action? Tell that to Tina Fey, or for that matter Rachel Maddow, an almost daily guest on Countdown and perhaps one of the sharpest political minds around today.
I wish there were more Tina Feys, (and I wish Sarah Silverman were funnier, but that's another matter). Hopefully, though, 30-Rock, the Sarah Silverman Show are a vanguard of a new resurgence of the female comic (whose golden era was the 1970s).
-
Can America even BE saved?
My answer is different than it might have been a couple of hours ago. I just got back from a screening of "Taxi to the Dark Side."
Can Colbert save America? His performance at the White House press dinner dripped acid on Bush and the media enablers. He was absolutely brilliant; If that performance wasn't enough to shame the press corp into action, nothing ever will. Obviously, they are still lazy enablers.
After seeing "Dark Side," I'm not sure that anything can save America. I'm not even sure there is even anything to save.
-
In Response to "Stewart's pretty biased himself" - Christopher1988
I think you're wrong on a number of points here, as both Obama and McCain get a substantial amount of ribbing on the Daily Show, although Obama I think gets less than anyone else. McCain has been blasted numerous times, to the point where he comments about Stewart "turning on him" in interviews. Also, I'm not sure if you're referring to Limbaugh or Stewart when saying they went to Yale, but neither of them did. Stewart went to William and Mary, and Limbaugh is a college drop-out. I also don't believe that Stewart even goes for an everyman persona, he comes off as highly intellectual, urbane, and jewey, which is pretty much how his audience wants him.
And yes, Stewart DOES have an agenda. But it's less manipulative or vitriolic than that of Fox news or the righty-talking heads in that he does actually give analysis, even through humor. This stimulates interest and involvement and even understanding to a better degree than the comically corporate and weak coverage of the 24-Hour news networks. Case in point - the Obama race speech, wherein he states that "someone is finally talking to americans about race like adults". A challenging comment that in and of itself is smarter and more realistic than any of this "he threw his grandmother under the bus" garbage.
-
@ achilleselbow RE: South Park
You are entirely right, I just sent your comment on to someone else as part of my constant argument that they always are driving towards a moronic and simplistic point that doesn't actually challenge people. They also seem to think they're smarter than they actually are, like a high school kid who just read atlas shrugged. Or Ayn Rand.