Laugh, Clowns, Laugh

Musings from the Christian Science Monitor on how kids these days like to mix their political news and commentary with comedy, as per Jon Stewart's Daily Show on Comedy Central. Says the CSM:"The number of young adults turning to late-night comedy and talk shows for political insight doubled from 10 to 20 percent in the past four years, according to a recent study of some 1,500 adults by the Pew Research Center. And, say the pundits of presidential politics, this is really just a part of a deeper trend: More voters of all ages are using comic relief as a tool to cut through the media circus of modern political campaigns."

Alas, no matter how much we laugh at politicians, they refuse to slink away. They must really like the attention.

[Link via Rational Review]

Comments

[Swamp Justice]

"Washington is Hollywood for ugly people." John McCain

[thoreau]

Jon Stewart is far more insightful than any of the pundits on CNN, Fox News, or MSNBC. OK, maybe Stewart falls down sometimes, but Steven Colbert and Louis Black always pick up the slack for him.

[Fred]

This topic is more my speed. Julian's exploration into providence vs. free will in "Let's Go And Say A Prayer For A Boy Who Couldn't Run As Fast As I Could" was way too dense.All you guys who were in that thread, were you philosophy majors? And say, how's the burger biz?

Some people like to say they get their news from Fox and I quickly respond that I get my news from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

[Brad S]

The words of politicians these days are at least as carefully scripted (if not moreso) than the lines given to actors in Hollywood productions. So, I suppose one could argue, politics has become a sort of absurd theatre. Amusement and entertainment is about all the chuckleheads in both major parties are good for. They are cetainly not good at governing.

[Andrew]

We live in (probably) the most affluent country in the world, certainly the most secure, and one of the most free...and I like the cultural mix.

We are badly governed...hm, compared to who?

[Brad S]

Andrew - 1. Government has not and does not create affluence, and I would further argue that, given our trillions of dollars of debt and our $500 billion deficit for this coming fiscal year, our nation's "affluence" is something of an illusion, 2. I disagree with the point on security, I think 9/11 showed that there are holes in our national security, and much (most) of what's been done to enhance "security" since then is nothing more than window dressing, 3. We are free because of the liberties that our Founding Fathers guaranteed in the Constitution, however, the only trend I've seen in my lifetime is government continually allowing our freedoms to erode, or, in the case of the Patriot Act, government simply deciding that we don't deserve certain freedoms any longer.

[Andrew]

Brad if you're a doomster you're a fool. America is a great country and getting better every day. We make mistakes, and that isn't good, but all our mistakes are well short of the red zone-- and frankly most of them aren't worth worrying about. When you consider the mischief and malice concocted by political elites in most nations, you can't be crying about ours, unless you're a cry-baby.

This will remain true even if we make the biggish near-term mistake of electing a Democrat as our next president-- it takes a bigger rascal than Clinton, Gore or Kerry to cross us up.

[Frank]

>>The words of politicians these days are at least as carefully scripted (if not moreso) than the lines given to actors in Hollywood productions. So, I suppose one could argue, politics has become a sort of absurd theatre.

...with Karl Rove as the Phantom of the Opera?

[thoreau]

If Karl Rove is the Phantom, does that mean W is Christine?

[SteveInClearwater]

My dearest mentor - Peter McWilliams - directed me to Jon Stewart and TDS back in 1999.

And to the earlier comment, yes, politics and 'news' in general MUST be viewed with a twinkle in the eye, or your brain will prematurely explode.

Great Peter quote: "It's always funny later. So why wait?"

[dj of raleigh]

> More voters of all ages are using comic relief as a tool to cut through the media circus of modern political campaigns."

[JD Weiner]

You know, I think political satire has been popular for a long, long time...this is nothing new. IIRC, there's graffiti in Pompeii which says something like "Vote for Jovius Blovius - all the whoremongers do."

[Dan]

the only trend I've seen in my lifetime is government continually allowing our freedoms to erode, or, in the case of the Patriot Act, government simply deciding that we don't deserve certain freedoms any longer.

... which pretty much demonstrates that you aren't very old.

Are we more free now than we were in, say, 1990? Perhaps not, although I think the internet (and the boom in alternative TV networks) has yielded a *huge* net increase in our freedom of speech, religion, and the press, even *after* you factor in the Patriot Act.

But there can be no real doubt that we are, on average, a lot more free than we were in 1960 -- and, in turn, the people of that time were a lot more free than the people of 1920.

Even the worst aspects of the Patriot Act do nothing more than move the country back towards the way it was earlier in its history -- witness, for example, Lincoln's egregious violations of due process during the civil war, or the FBI's unrestricted warrant-free wiretapping during the 40s, and 50s. Hell, police didn't have to inform suspects of their rights until the second half of last century, and police torture of suspects was openly tolerated for most of that time as well.

People who think the country is going to hell in a handbasket need to read more history books. 🙂

[rst]

Political discourse reduced to ridicule and laughter.

There is plenty to ridicule about the public face of political discourse. The only thing you ever know for sure is that you're not hearing the entire story. Add to that the conflict of ideologies; college, frat, and klan alliances; and skeletons, muscle, and issues. The media then sells us that as news, so you can safely expect a bit of self-aggrandizement and hyperbole just to make sure you stay tuned. The scene begs for parody.

[dj of raleigh]

> His favorite sources of information about the candidates are the ones increasingly favored by the under-30 crowd, the comedy of Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" and "anything" from Bill Maher. "I trust these guys," says Mr. Harper. "Their stuff is funnier, but it's also truer."

[dj of raleigh]

a sample of Bill Maher quotes found at:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/b/billmaher125754.html

> Clinton left the White House with all the class of an XFL halftime show. Everything that used to be a sin is now a disease.

George Bush says, 'Gore's book needs a lot of explaining.' Of course, Bush says that about every book.

I have a high state of resentment for the conformity in this country. If you're not married and having children, it's like your life is empty or you're a communist meanie.

I mean, I think, Iraqis, I think, feel that if we drove smaller cars, maybe we wouldn't have to kill them for their oil.

Iraq now says that it will, after all, destroy its missiles. President Bush said, 'Please, I used to pull the same trick. There'd be an intervention, I'd make a big show of pouring out the liquor and then there was a case under the floorboards.'

President Bush is supporting Arnold but a lot of Republicans are not, because he is actually quite liberal. Karl Rove said if his father wasn't a Nazi, he wouldn't have any credibility with conservatives at all.

The Dalai Lama visited the White House and told the President that he could teach him to find a higher state of consciousness. Then after talking to Bush for a few minutes, he said, "You know what? Let's just grab lunch."

This has been a learning experience for me. I also thought that privacy was something we were granted in the Constitution. I have learned from this when in fact the word privacy does not appear in the Constitution.

We have the Bill of Rights. What we need is a Bill of Responsibilities.