According to 'secret media research' done by the geniuses at Comedy Central, at least twenty percent of all of the viewers of The Daily Show or the Colbert Report believe that people think they're cool for doing so. (We'll leave Stephen Colbert out of this because he's actually funny.)
That's right, they think that other people think they're cool for not actually doing anything but sitting there, mouths agape. There's a clinical term for this: college douchebags.
And you know what else drives up the Daily Show's ratings? The fact that it's seen as cool to watch the show, even though it's not funny. True, many college students and pseudo-hippies don't get the material, but if they laugh hard they can belong to something. Besides, they can be persuaded to vote-- even though they're clueless. You know, the best type of voters.
The problem is that many if not most of these viewers then do not watch any actual news because they've already 'been informed' by twenty seconds of a CNN clip that Stewart followed with a frowny face. They believe that since they're now endowed with almighty suave from watching Comedy Central, they can go up to people and shout at them if they don't choke down the Democratic line.
The study asked... ultimately, how important the shows and hosts are in their lives. Seriously, if a stiff like Jon Stewart is that important in your life, you should join a cult.
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3 comments:
As a college student who enjoys watching the Daily Show, finds it funny and understands the jokes, I take offense. Sure there are some people who watch it for the reasons you listed, but then again some people watch Glenn Beck. And I think that people SHOULD watch the Daily Show now and then, if only to remind them that the sources they get their news from, be it FOX, MSNBC or CNN are all biased, and are all a bunch of hypocrites who, on occasion, have been known to straight up lie.
And sometimes the Daily Show even manages to improve some things. He called Jim Cramer out, and after a little back and forth they actually sat down and talked about how Jim needs to do some hard research and fact finding instead of just reading press releases.
And even if you hate that Jon Stewart shows how the major news networks are really more in the entertainment business than the reporting business, or how a lot of the time his interviews are better and more informative than the major news network interviews, you still have to respect the fact that when he makes jokes about politics or the publics reaction to something, it is also a social commentary.
Having said all this, you obviously realize I have a high opinion of the Daily Show. And yes, sometimes I do feel like a better person for watching it, but that only happens when I turn to CNN or FOX or MSNBC and I see the same story reported three different ways on their bogus 24 hour news cycle, and I manage to pull out the facts from the spin because the Daily Show has pointed out where each news company manages to, for lack of a better word, f*ck up.
So yes, the Daily Show does make some of us feel a little superior when we see someone taking Wolf Blitzer's or Sean Hannity's words as the absolute truth, because we know that we can't really trust anything they say.
PS - Jon Stewart rips on democrats too from time to time, FOX news just makes it ridiculously easy for him to make jokes. Also, on what other show would you get such a candid talk about a controversial issue as happened between Mike Huckabee and Jon Stewart over gay marriage? Lord knows that they wouldn't do that on FOX or CNN.
Signed,
Hoping This Stays Serious
(HTSS)
Dear Anon,
You bring up an interesting point that Stewart does in fact rip Democrats. This is true. But he does so because they don't act like sufficient Leftists. That's like me saying that you should listen to Rush Limbaugh cause he can't stand John McCain or many centrist Republicans.
In other words: Limbaugh and Stewart do similar things. They take small pieces out of context in order to rile up the farther reaches of their political parties. Limbaugh says he does it. Stewart's too much of a coward (or under contract) to say he doesn't do that.
My beef with Jon Stewart is that he's not funny. I tune into a network called "Comedy Central" on a show described in the listings as 'humor' and it's just one guy doing faces and sticking his finger in his mouth. (And I know his guests are more serious, but that's why he should double down during his monologue and get at least ONE funny joke in)
And it's not the lefty bias. Colbert is as left if not more and he's funny. So's Conan O'Brien. Stewart comes across as an asshole.
However, you wrote a lot of paragraphs grammatically correct and chose to read this blog, so you are intelligent. And you watch the Daily Show. I guess you proved part of my point wrong.
Keep your eye on this blog, it might just impress you.
"Having said all this, you obviously realize I have a high opinion of the Daily Show. And yes, sometimes I do feel like a better person for watching it, but that only happens when I turn to CNN or FOX or MSNBC and I see the same story reported three different ways on their bogus 24 hour news cycle, and I manage to pull out the facts from the spin because the Daily Show has pointed out where each news company manages to, for lack of a better word, f*ck up."
Funny stuff. In fact more funny than Stewart, not that it takes much. But Stewart f^cks up more than CNN and Fox. So not only is he a poor researcher and a hypocrite, he's lazy and incompetent. To top it off, he hides behind the line, "I'm just a comedian, not a real journalist." That is completely lame and disingenuous.
Sure, you can do half-assed reporting for cheap laughs. That takes no talent. But when you are dishonest about it, like Stewart is, it's not longer just comedy, it's propaganda and disinformation.
If you were as intelligent and superiour as you claim, you would know this. You seem to think that Stewart is the one and only monitor of truth and/or watch dog of the rest of the media. This would be laughable were it not so sad.
Carry on. Hopefully, you'll get over yourself and open your eyes one day.
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