Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Jon Stewart Watch: In the Mainstream Media
Apparently, the MSM (Mainstream Media, for the non-pot-smoking, pants wearing crowd) has decided to latch on to the Jon Stewart v. Crossfire thing like they did the Dan Rather thing - only this is way more intersting than the plausibility of raised "th"s ever were. Which is why you can almost hear the columnists giggling as they type this story. (Read this story - they include the part when last year, the Daily Show awared Robert Novak the "Congressional Medal of Douche Bag" for outing Valerie Plum. I remember that, I laughed my ass off, as I have long disliked Robert Novak myself.)
But again, the MSM misses the main message, which in this case, is that partisan yelling does not promote democracy, and instead they focus on how Jon called Tucker Carlson a dick (random aside: I'm not against thoughtful debate, that would be totally out of character and stupid. I'm against debate without thought and does not promote understanding. That's just a waste of time.)
And it's true, he did call Tucker a dick, but it was almost lost in the actual exchange (Watch it, if you haven't. I've seen it three times already. It really is awesome.), and it's not even the best part. The best part is when he tells them that they are hurting democracy. (Or when they complain that he's not being funny, and Jon Stewart says, "I'm not your monkey." I expect the usage of that phrase to become common. "Get me a beer." "I'm not your monkey!") The Slate says that the Daily Show might lose/has lost viewers over this issue. I seriously doubt it. It was ballsy, but brazenly brilliant - in other words, the kind of the thing that we have come to expect from the Daily Show. Only this time, instead of the box next to his head, Jon Stewart talked to the actual people involved. And made him the coolest "news" guy ever.
Message to the Establishment: It is a bad idea to give humor publications and TV shows awards. They will use it as leverage to mock you, and the peasants will rejoice.
It's kind of like how the Slant put a picture of Gee with boobs on the cover after they got VSC funding. The peasants rejoiced then, too.
But again, the MSM misses the main message, which in this case, is that partisan yelling does not promote democracy, and instead they focus on how Jon called Tucker Carlson a dick (random aside: I'm not against thoughtful debate, that would be totally out of character and stupid. I'm against debate without thought and does not promote understanding. That's just a waste of time.)
And it's true, he did call Tucker a dick, but it was almost lost in the actual exchange (Watch it, if you haven't. I've seen it three times already. It really is awesome.), and it's not even the best part. The best part is when he tells them that they are hurting democracy. (Or when they complain that he's not being funny, and Jon Stewart says, "I'm not your monkey." I expect the usage of that phrase to become common. "Get me a beer." "I'm not your monkey!") The Slate says that the Daily Show might lose/has lost viewers over this issue. I seriously doubt it. It was ballsy, but brazenly brilliant - in other words, the kind of the thing that we have come to expect from the Daily Show. Only this time, instead of the box next to his head, Jon Stewart talked to the actual people involved. And made him the coolest "news" guy ever.
Message to the Establishment: It is a bad idea to give humor publications and TV shows awards. They will use it as leverage to mock you, and the peasants will rejoice.
It's kind of like how the Slant put a picture of Gee with boobs on the cover after they got VSC funding. The peasants rejoiced then, too.
