Jon Stewart's political position.

Malkavian · 2011-11-30 23:25:47

It feels like he can rally for reasonable and intelligent causes but whenever someone points out the flaws in his logic he can fall into being a comedian.

Honestly it seems rather advantageous. I feel like if more political candidates and pundits would back down when shown their logical weakness more communication to improve the country would happen.

It'd also be a hell of a lot more entertaining.

RedEyedAbyss · 2011-11-30 23:29:40

"logical weakness"

The trouble is that the word "logic" itself is poisoned by political discourse (i.e. Ayn Rand). Though political debate could be 75% more productive if people did not bring up points refuted a thousand times so often.

Malkavian · 2011-11-30 23:31:46

Okay, let me rephrase that.

If people could not resort to shouting opponents down and admitting they were wrong when presented as such.

RedEyedAbyss · 2011-11-30 23:33:50

Yes, but that would actually involve listening. And political pundits know better than to listen to, say, those lowly scientists and their concrete evidence of the polar ice caps melting.

glennmagusharvey · 2011-11-30 23:43:11

I've noticed a lot of politicians who try to go for a "folksy" or "down-to-earth" persona but unfortunately make anti-intellectualism and anti-"academics"/"experts"/etc. part of their schtick.

A wise politician would combine the knowledge of specialists with the ability to make laypeople understand that knowledge.

Malkavian · 2011-11-30 23:49:48

I actually thing Obama, for all his other issues, actually managed that very well which is particularly why he captured the youth vote.

TheConductor · 2011-12-01 13:34:21

I always thought John Stewart was really liberal and easy go-

Never mind then.

saladofstones · 2011-12-01 14:03:18

I personally think the entire American political scene is so terribly rotten that anything regarding it is tainted.

Obama is basically Bush 2.0 and stayed the course and, to me, Jon Stewart is more of a propaganda piece for the Democrats than a funny comedian.

Not that I really have a stance either way, since political humor by definition tends to be nothing more than propaganda for one side against the other than any real attempt to make fun of politics.

Icalasari · 2011-12-01 14:05:15

Wasn't Jon Stewart called the most trusted news reporter a few years back?

ninjaclown · 2011-12-01 14:06:48

I find that everyone who was ever popular has their popularity decline and their reputation dip negatively no matter what. Strange how that works. That's why I can't consider those valid opinions.

saladofstones · 2011-12-01 14:43:38

He wasn't the most trusted, just a lot of people used Jon Stewart to get their news.

I don't need to explain why going to a political satirist is a bad place to get your news from, do I?

Icalasari · 2011-12-01 14:44:56

No you do not

Honestly, the states scares me sometimes

Bee · 2011-12-01 17:48:12

Relevant:

MadassAlex · 2011-12-01 18:00:04

I don't need to explain why going to a political satirist is a bad place to get your news from, do I?

I think it's more telling that so many people felt as though they needed to.

Gelzo · 2011-12-01 18:24:43

Journalistic integrity is in pretty poor condition for quite a few news sources. I don't feel especially guilty that I get the majority of my news from Stewart, Colbert, and internet forums. But if it wasn't for that, I probably wouldn't follow the news very much at all anyway.

All Nines · 2011-12-01 18:33:02

I feel that it's sad that a comedian is more sensible than certain accredited news stations that people turn to, and so I feel no shame in receiving political news from him and Colbert, especially since they're also funny about it.

Bee · 2011-12-01 18:40:26

Yeah pretty much. They're going to exaggerate to make things funnier, but they're usually pretty good about being obvious about where. I've found cursory research will disprove something unbelievable from an accredited news station more often than something I'm not quite sure if they're joking about from Stewart/Colbert. Which is, like you said, more an indictment of epically bad journalistic integrity than anything.

It doesn't help that the most outrageous bits of Stewart/Colbert are usually clips right from the horse's mouth, not even that far removed from context.

Still, it's nothing new. Shamelessly dishonest media comes in slightly longer and more subtle waves than most things and it takes people a bit longer to get fed up with it, but it's still a cycle.

MillerCross · 2011-12-01 18:58:57

From the few times I have watched Stewart's Daily Show (Its international version, which is...well, still mostly USA-news based, but with a lot more clarrity in terms of who's who), I've noticed that Stewart has no problem whatsoever in dissing the democrats as much as the republicans. Of course, he goes mostly after the republicans because, let's face it, these people are not even trying to hide the fact that their speeches is full of shit.

As for whether it's good or bad to get your news from a comedian and satirists...well, I wouldn't say it's entirely bad, provided you then go and do some research of your own rather than just think that whatever they say is entirely true. And, as it's been pointed out, they don't fabricate news, they mock them.

Which is not something you can say about most journalists these days.

Gelzo · 2011-12-01 19:09:10

Despite being about as liberal as I expect his audience to be, I find it a little satisfying when he makes them audibly uncomfortable with a cutting joke about Obama or the Democrats in general, and then responds to that with something that expresses something along the lines of "U mad?".

glennmagusharvey · 2011-12-01 19:10:59

I'm not a fan of Jon Stewart; from what I've seen of him I don't find his comments particularly entertaining.

Are they sometimes informative? Yes, sometimes. Are they funny? Not really.

MillerCross · 2011-12-01 19:16:19

It really depends on your sense of humor.

I don't mind dick jokes or shock humor, so he does amuse me.

Also, it comes across as casual. Which is something that many politicians try and fail at.

ninjaclown · 2011-12-01 19:22:21

Seeing how many Emmys the show wins, a lot of people find him funny. Including me. Stewart and Colbert are honestly some of my most favourite people on this planet. That's not even hyperbole.

glennmagusharvey · 2011-12-01 19:35:53

Yeah, I have long known that I don't really have a taste for some styles of humor that are popular. These include gross-out humor, sexual humor, shock humor, and blatantly-in-your-face-look-at-this-seriously-look-at-this-and-laugh humor.

I'm much more one for subtle humor, drive-by humor, multiple meanings and double entendres, and surreptitious snark.

Gelzo · 2011-12-01 22:37:30

The kind of nuanced humor one would find in YouTube poop.

DonZabu · 2011-12-01 22:50:45

Would I be right in thinking that you're kind of obligated to like Colbert, Stewart, and The Onion?

glennmagusharvey · 2011-12-01 22:54:31

^^ I enjoy YTP not quite because "HEY LOOK ROBOTNIK SAID PINGAS AND IT SOUNDS LIKE PENIS THAT'S SO FUNNY". If anything, I still don't like it when they do that.

What I do like in YTPs is when you have drive-by humor, where you make fun of something and then pretend as if nothing happened. In the case of YTPs, the "pretending" is already done, since the source material rarely ridicules itself, so you can just keep on rolling with the next scene after mocking the first one.

Gelzo · 2011-12-01 23:20:45

^^Obligated isn't really the right word, I'd say. More like "expected".

Malkavian · 2011-12-02 00:16:25

assumed is probably a better word.

At least among twenty-something left-leaning pseudo-intellectuals.

They have huge hatedoms among conservatives, but that shouldn't be surprising.

Gelzo · 2011-12-02 16:28:50

Hey. You guys remember when he tried growing that shitty beard? That was fun.

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Jon Stewart's political position.

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