Last week brought an end to an era of news reporting in this
country. While Jon Stewart fervently maintained
that his job was primarily entertainment, the vast majority of people my age
would regularly get their news (and opinions) from the analytical work he and
his team unearthed. News to no one,
politics is a dirty business, and The Daily Show routinely showed how dirty it
was by demonstrating the hypocrisy of political process. While criticisms were made on both sides of
the isle, the show’s “leftist” leanings provided a counterbalance to the
unscientific and unethical “crusades” made by the far right.
The beauty about the Daily Show was the fact that they did the
paying attention for us. They
synthesized about 18hrs of news media into a half hour show, thereby allowing
us to pay less (or little to no) attention to the stupid shit people say in the
news and in our government. It was so
easy to tune in, get frustrated, and then have a visceral reaction which
sometimes led to increased political action…or at least awareness. Who’s going to watch Fox News all day to
catch them calling out President Obama for holding a latte while saluting even
though President Bush, during his term, had a Scottish terrier under arm while
trying to “respect our servicemen while disembarking?” Who is going to point out the fact that
politicians routinely talk out of one side of their mouth while voting in the
complete opposite direction? Who’s going
to cover Trump?
Luckily, the Daily Show spawned three “spin-off” shows who
will hopefully carry the torch. Stephen
Colbert will be taking the helm of Late Night, and I’m sure, while Comedy
Central owns that pseudo-right-wing persona, will continue with his
observations about how broken politics is in this country. John Oliver is already killing it HBO by
covering big social issues, one at a time.
Evidence of that comes via the multitude of shares on FaceBook about his
rants. And, while less popular, Larry
Wilmore is carrying the torch on Comedy Central, and will continue to do so
after Trevor Noah, with his own views on daily news. While Wilmore doesn’t have the bombastic
personality of his predecessor, he certainly has the wit and the “machine” behind
the facts. And, then there’s the
aforementioned Trevor Noah, who will, hopefully, continue in Stewart’s established
format, and continue to bring us the day’s political Cliff Notes.
Will it be the same?
No. Should we continue watching
anyway, yes. The adage of “if you’re not
angry, you’re not paying attention” still holds true. Stories about increased violence about blacks
in this country need to be told. The
woman who was raped at Virginia Wesleyan and is suing the University for its inaction
(and/or indifference), now has to defend herself against their request for a
list of all her past and present romantic interests to establish her
credibility. What? Wait, what?
Or, what about the “traditional marriage” Tea Party Michigan state
Representative who tried to spread a hoax that he had sex with a man to hide
the fact that he cheated on his wife…with another Tea Party state Rep?!? Who will bring this important (ha!) news to
the forefront so that the veil of lies that hides the hypocritical bull shit
will be occasionally lifted? And, I ask
this question because we need to know what’s going on. We need to keep paying attention, and
therefore, keep being angry. Because, when
we are complacent in our ignorance, we lose…and Trump wins. What’s scarier than that?
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