There's an op-ed in the Boston Globe today by someone named Michael Kalin, titled "Why Jon Stewart Isn't Funny." Why isn't he? It's hard to navigate through the argument, but it seems to have something to do with the way he makes a mockery of politics, and thus is in some way responsible for "the decline of progressive thought in America."
As an example, Kalin tells us about "Joshua Goldberg," a fictional college achiever who gets good grades, becomes a political activist, and through it all gets the majority of his political news from Stewart. And as a result Goldberg... goes to work on Wall Street. Kalin blames this (fictional) situation on Stewart, for so mocking politics that Kalin's student feels he'd be better off working for The Man than going into politics himself.
The most wrongheaded part of Kalin's argument is that he blames the mockery of politics on Stewart. Wrong. Politicians mock politics themselves, before "The Daily Show" even gets to it. What Stewart and his writers have done is provide a commentary on this mockery, in a hilarious and entertaining way, that is loved by millions of fans. I'm sure Michael Kalin would prefer Stewart anchor a half-hour of rote, straight-faced Bush-bashing. But I wouldn't watch that, and I can't imagine most "Daily Show" fans would either.
No, I don't get it either. This shoddy piece seems to take the generally discredited position that the role of pop culture is not to entertain but rather to push "social justice." Stewart, Kalin says, "undermines any remaining earnestness that liberals in America might still possess." Please. I'll take Stewart's snark over the snore-enducing earnestness of The Nation any day of the week.
Posted by Stephen Silver at March 3, 2006 05:40 PMI like your take on Jon Stewart. His approach could even encourage people to go in for politics -- either to improve it, or to be featured on a Stewart show.
Posted by: POP-POP at March 3, 2006 05:49 PMI like your take on Jon Stewart. His approach could even encourage people to go in for politics -- either to improve it, or to be featured on a Stewart show.
Posted by: POP-POP at March 3, 2006 07:07 PMI like the Daily Show as just a break from everything else, and like you says, it uses natural material (politicians mocking themselves) for entertain. The only downside with the show, is sometimes I think they sell themselves short in the humor department.
Posted by: jaws at March 3, 2006 08:18 PMI also read the Boston Globe piece. Oh, yes, heaven forbid that our young people develop a sceptism and sense of humor about our political system and the media that laps its feet.
What Stewart does for young people is make politics interesting enough to care about... and Jon Stewart very clearly does care about the repercusions of what our elected officials do. He also makes it clear that caring doesn't do anything if your caring acts are clueless, impotent, or incompetent. It's hardly a mark against him that--unlike many other tiresome celebrities any of us could mention--he never, ever forgets that he's a comedian, and not the Messiah from Comedy Central.
Posted by: Barb Bryan at March 30, 2006 08:40 PM