Sheldon Richman on Jon Stewart's Sterile Satire
Political satire has a long and honorable history: Aristophanes, William Shakespeare, Jonathan Swift; W.S. Gilbert; George Orwell; Lenny Bruce; Dick Gregory; Tom Lehrer, David Frost, and That Was the Week That Was; George Carlin; Spitting Image, Yes, Minister; the Smothers Brothers; the early Saturday Night Live, Dave Barry, The Onion, South Park, Family Guy, and so many more. And then, writes Sheldon Richman, there's Jon Stewart, who is probably regarded as America's premier political satirist but felt it necessary to recant after making a weak joke about not voting, an indication, perhaps, that Americans just don't get satire.