Just popped on to pop up about the Rally, and I read Mudge's dyspeptic missive below. Mudge (short for "curmudgeon" for those who don't know) was clearly not a fan of the Jon Stewart Rally, but I'm a little more accepting of what I saw.
First though, let's get the obvious out of the way. It was a SEA of WHITE FACES. Is there anything wrong with that? No. Not at all. But it has to be said.
Second, I was switching between the rally and the UVA/Miami game, so I may have missed parts that Mudge found objectionable. I however, found nothing objectionable about what I saw, and I did find much of it to my liking.
Third, there really are two Jon Stewarts. There's the reliably left of center guy who makes no bones about his ideology and politics. It comes through loud and clear on his show, but it isn't over the top, and it isn't original by a long shot. The second is the Jon Stewart I prefer, the one who can effectively skewer the inconsistency and/or pomposity of any side of any argument. I saw more of the latter than the former today.
What IS unbalanced and a bit problematic about what I saw (and the Stewart/Colbert pairing in general) is the fact that Stewart--reliably left of center and NOT ACTING--is presented as the reasonable, the intellectual, the Just Plain Right Guy. Colbert on the other hand--is the parody, the clown, and the guy most often putting forth the Conservative view (albeit some weird, Colber-ized version of it). Message? Left right, right stupid.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
6 comments:
spot on, on the Stewart is left and not a parody, and Colbert is left but a parody of right. I like neither. The semi love fest the other night with Obama shows Stewart's bias. Saying that, I watched the whole thing, and was very pleasantly surprised that it was politically ambiguous. Until, until, they did the news montages, it was so far a right bashing show, they showed foxnews 10 to 1 over msnbc, and they both lean to their respective sides. They should have shown more clips of Stewart's show, that leans left all the time. I do agree with you, over all it was good. I also think that, let me pull a number out of my ARSE, %78 if not more of the people in attendance voted for hope and change, were planning on voting Democrat next week, and are unchanged in theirs views after the rally. I think it changed nothing, but maybe solidified some wavering self proclaimed independents who really should be called un-practicing Democrats to get out and vote next week, but not in big enough numbers to tilt the scales. Sorry for the ramble, but I guess all this sanity, just has my head spinning...
I don't think Steven Colbert portrays the Right as stupid as much as he portrays what is stupid about the Right. And here, "Right" generally means the extreme Right.
But it is parody nonetheless. Steward plays it straight, the right is parodied.
That's ok, but it isn't straight up.
Whoops--Stewart.
Apologies for repeating myself, but it's funny how it's lost on the attendees that just this week a Muslim was arrested for planning to bomb the very Metro stations they used to get to the event. And yesterday bombs are discovered on jets coming to America from the Middle East. Yet the Republicans and conservatives are mocked for being fearmongers?
I don't recall saying I found it objectionable. What I recall saying was that I was clearly not the target audience. My real point was precisely your point--that among the many cards played when people disagree with those on the left (including, and perhaps especially Stewart and Colbert) is the intellect card. They do it more subtly than those who throw race (et al) cards but they do it nevertheless. This show was not for me. I didn't say it was poor quality, that there might not have been some good entertainment value. I just had better things to do that day than to spend more time watching something made for an entirely different demographic than my own that was designed to diminish the standing of my own. That's all. I'm sure it was a lovely show overall. Just lovely. But hey, what would I know. I can barely spell "intellect."
Post a Comment