There are three things I can change: my attitude, my behavior, and my sobriety date. That’s about it.
Only proves stewart to be as egocentric as beck in his desire to have a hundred thousand people applauding for every other word he speaks. And in the end, what minds are either of them really changing? The right will still polarize around beck, the left around stewart. The middle believes neither has a market on the truth.
burma shave
This should be a pretty funny day.
Um…except Stewart is a comedian. Beck is…well, many things I can think of, but I’ll leave it at “provocateur”.
With people running to swear an oath to defend the Constitution, and yet soooo very ignorant of it (exhibit one: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miwSljJAzqg&feature=player_embedded[/youtube] )…I’d say that we should rally to restore some sanity in our political process.
“The Secret News” by George Carlin
"Sshh.
Here’s the secret news:
All people are afraid.
No one knows what they’re doing.
Everything is getting worse.
Some people deserve to die.
Your money is worthless.
No one is properly dressed.
At least one of your children will disappoint you.
The system is rigged.
Your house will never be completely clean.
All teachers are incompetent.
There are people who really dislike you.
Nothing is as good as it seems.
Things don’t last.
No one is paying attention.
The country is dying.
God doesn’t care.
Sshhhhhh…"
The rally is on now and all I can say so far is WTF is this a roots john legend concert? over 1/6 th of the show is just them lol.
ok mythbusters this is change I can get behind. 
ONE HOUR IN and now stewart is on the stage… maybe the previous hour was a pregame of sorts
Cat Stevens/Ozzy duel 
stewart’s speech is something to hear for sure. finally a message that spoke for me. not too left not too right. it was right on the fricken nose
I thought it was pretty right on, actually…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXmbzLI3pnk[/youtube]
Not a bad speech don’t get me wrong…but isn’t he part of the “cable news” although in a satirical and comedic manner.
Sadly for some the Daily Show and Colbert Report is the only place where they hear current events. They effectively mock the news and it’s highly entertaining. However when President Obama makes an appearance on The Daily Show before a show like Meet the Press I think that shows the impact this show has on younger viewers.
and that’s bad?
I say he’s more critical of people like that then meet the press or any of those shows, Stewart despite his obvious liberal leanings made obama squirm
Yes it’s bad…he is a comedian. Be funny. Be the guy in Half Baked looking at a $20 bill saying, “Have you ever seen a $20 bill on weed…Red Team Go.”
If the Daily Show is the only place where some get their news then it’s really bad. I didn’t see the Obama interview…so I can’t comment to that…and I don’t doubt he made Obama squirm as I’m sure he was very much prepared for the interview. With that being said at the end of the day the guy seemingly takes current events a little too lightly. Not everything is a joke. Laughter is good medicine, but it doesn’t cure all ail.
That’s the opposite of my problem with Jon Stewart. He takes himself so damn seriously. Colbert is actually funny, he just spoofs the shit out of everything. But Stewart is really trying to be a huge influence on society, seemingly for the sake of fame, and it’s kinda ridiculous. I don’t know, I don’t really have a problem with Jon Stewart other than the fact that his show is incredibly NOT funny. It’s supposed to be a comedy show, but it’s extremely rare that I actually laugh while watching it. Usually I just can’t get over how pretentious Jon Stewart is. I don’t even disagree with all of his views; I just find him pompous as shit.
politics = a joke.
^^^ here’s the funny part I prefer stewart in terms of laughs and information then colbert…hmmm diffrent strokes I guess
“But Stewart is really trying to be a huge influence on society, seemingly for the sake of fame, and it’s kinda ridiculous.”
I couldn’t disagree more. I don’t get at all the Stewart is a self-promoter. I don’t see him really, ever talk about himself…on his show, or anyone else’s. He has a couple of books out that are also topical satire, not personal stories, or reflections. His criticisms, to me, never parade behind an ego, and come across as very genuine and populist. I think that’s why he stands as a huge contrast to Colbert that is completely playing the self-absorbed ego-maniac that directly mocks the talking head, assholes on the right.
THAT is where the influence comes from. Most thinking people see right through the cult of personality and fear-mongering built around ‘news’ networks. Sadly many people do not, the networks know this and cater to it. More important to have loyal zombies than an educated electorate. Jefferson warned against this turn of events.
Most thinking people recognize the damage, threat, and lowest qualities that ‘infotainment’ has on our discourse and government. Somehow we are ALWAYS in campaign-mode…always a crisis. That wears on people.
The Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh types are hugely popular. But they are not reliable sources of news. The left is also caught up in the rat race of running news media/journalism as a profitable business, so copy the “successful” boombastic model. So, they’re profit is society’s loss.
Stewart/Colbert’s ability to expose this resonates with many, many people. These are people that do not rely on Comedy Central for news. These are people that gather information from many sources and consider it. They just happen to appreciate that someone is calling BS on the hucksters and snake-oil salesmen.