Maybe it says that I’m getting old, but I don’t get the point of the Jon Stewart rally.
It’s a joke right? I mean Jon Stewart is a comedian isn’t he? So what’s the point of the joke? Stewart is a favorite of the coastal elites, so I guess the joke is the rest of us. But if that’s so, then this joke is really an inside joke right? It’s a joke that only the people who would go to the rally are supposed to understand. It’s the sneering kind of joke that the cool kids in high school tell to each other about the un-cool kids; to reinforce their egos and to assure each other of their superiority.
So his rally is an attempt to regress the entire country back to high school? Maybe with the rise of the tea party the coastal elites have become so insecure that it’s exactly what they need and Stewart is just giving them that. Insecurity is the foundation of all liberalism… maybe this is all just insecurity turned in on itself. But if that’s so, why would they want to make such a public spectacle of themselves?
Well if I don't get his joke, then it's pretty clear that he certainly doesn't get the rest of us either. Stewart and the people like him clearly don’t realize that for all their sneering and condescension, we still don't see them as our superiors. And their response to that is to sneer a little more and then high five each other. Like the 'cool kids' in high scool, it's really all they've got.
Every once in a while they seem to notice that we don’t hold them in as high a regard as they do themselves, and then the story slips out that we are all too stupid to recognize their brilliance. But the truth is we are very much able to recognize the intelligence of our superiors… we simply don’t believe that designation applies to them.
But they don’t care. In their minds they are the only group that matters and the rest of us aren’t cool enough to consider. And that perspective supports all kinds of logic twisting where the people who want to smash American culture and rebuild it to match their own experimental vision are considered ‘mainstream moderates’ and the people who want to limit government based on the powers enumerated in the constitution are described as ‘radical crazies’.
I think a sense of humor is very important, and it’s especially important to be able to laugh at yourself. I think I can take a joke as well as anyone and I don’t generally take them personally. I won’t take Stewart's joke personally either if it turns out that I’m right about who he means to ridicule. After all, I’m not in high school anymore, I’m a man. I have a man’s responsibilities, a man’s sense of self. I don’t care enough about other’s opinion of me to fret over a little sneering from some high school kid.
And that's how I'll see Jon Stewart from now on. As a high school kid who thinks he's too cool to deal with the rest of us.
4 comments:
Tom,
Since I watch Stewart's show everyday, let me take a shot at explaining my understanding of his position.
He sees himself as the Bill O'Reilly of the left, not as far and conspiratorial as Glenn Beck, but a more reasonable voice, if you will.
Now, he believes that Glenn Beck from the wrong side and Bill Maher/Michael Moore from the correct side are injecting extreme conspiracies into the debate and ruining it. He wants to bring sanity to that discussion. That is the theme of the rally.
This clip from yesterday, where he debates Eric Cantor, shows how that view plays out. He argues that he is being reasonable, but at the same time discusses public financing of campaigns, which confused the heck out of me.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-october-12-2010/exclusive---eric-cantor-extended-interview-pt--2
However, I do like his show, because, at the end of the day his show is the best shot from media perspective at getting ultra liberals (since they dont watch O'Reilly) to focus on the discussion long enough to understand the irony of some arguments, as he did here
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-september-20-2010/working-stiffed
PS: Watch the bottom clip first, if you start with the first one, you may not make it to clip 2 :)
If I read you right Vishnu, you think Stewart offers a reasonable approach because he says he’s advocating some ‘middle of the road’ compromise, but I don’t see it that way at all. His outlook in my mind is premised on demonstrably false information. It’s that old joke about Chocolate Ice cream and horse manure. The percentage of manure doesn’t matter, anything more than zero and the result will be inedible.
Greater economic liberty leads to greater prosperity - especially for the poor. Less intrusion from government means greater economic liberty...therefore.... But Stewart doesn’t approve of logic like that because it contradicts his top down ‘let the expert decide’ view of the world. The net effect of his view is that he has no problem leaving people in poverty and denying them opportunity to better their lives for nothing other than the gratification of his own ego. The fact that he also recognizes the worst hypocrisy of the far left doesn’t forgive him that sin for me.
Personally, he uses his role as ‘comedian’ like a shield which he hides behind every time someone offers serious criticism of the views he supports. That strikes me personally as cowardly. I have more respect for someone who will offer their view and live with the consequences of it, but he can’t manage that. Instead he wants to be able to undermine his opposition with innuendo and inference but when they push back against him he says ‘hey … don’t be mad at me… I’m just a comedian’.
Well I agree… he is just a comedian.
The fact is that when the left is losing, their fallback position is always ‘compromise’. They don’t care how much manure is in the ice cream… so long as there is a little...for compromise’s sake. But the Tea party represents a movement based on ‘principle’ and those can’t be compromised. They like their ice cream totally free from manure. And there is no convincing them that ‘just a little’ won’t be a problem.
To put it another way, in my world (and yours) 2+2 = 4. And I’m never going to say that it’s OK to call it 4.5, just because Michael Moore wants 2+2 to equal be equal to 5. It isn’t a matter of opinion; it’s a question of right and wrong. And where economics is concerned, for the last 100 years liberals have been totally and unequivocally wrong about everything. I don’t care if Stewart can’t tell the difference between Manure and Ice Cream… I can.
I am not advocating a middle of the road compromise at all. I am just saying that Jon's show can be a medium to capture the attention span of moderate liberals to see the math/logic.
Once they see someone smart make a clear argument against Jon, it nullifies the usual "dumb conservative" narrative from main stream media. It only takes a 5% independents to swing this way to win elections, and MSM uses that narrative to sway those 5%.
That is why I like to see people like Cantor, Gingrich and CondiRice (yesterday) debate Jon on his show and articulate clearly where he is wrong.
So you're saying that a he represents the only way to get a bit of reality through to the worst, most self-delusional liberals? OK I can get behind that.
Post a Comment