![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Senior Livejournal Correspondent: me.
I've been kind of alluding to this issue in some comments lately, but I think it's high time I post about it.
Jon Stewart is the most trusted newsman of our generation.
By "our generation" I mean people who watched Mtv when it played music videos 24 hours a day. I mean people who did not have cell phones or even computers in thier rooms until after high school. I mean people who know, without the help of google, what a Muppet is.
We've been watching Jon since the late 80's on Mtv (again, back before Mtv was just one long commercial) and he was funny and smart. He was in some movies, no really good ones, but we knew he was making his way toward real fame. In fact, we might have wondered why he wasn't more famous than he was. The answer, it seems, is that he didn't want to be a big, stupid sell-out. While there are many famous actors, there are far less people who can do what he does, as well as he does it.
I, for one, was damn excited to hear that he was taking over the Daily show. And indeed, he did take it over. The tone of the show remained funny, but there was a biting sarcasm to it all that let you know that you could be a stoned slacker and still care what was going on in the world. That not only was it okay to be angry at the things you see government doing; but that it's your duty as an American to call them out on it. At the same time, he is always gracious and respectful to his guest, even those that are so full of shit you're sure the audience can catch a whiff of it. Did anyone NOT applaud Jon's Crossfire appearance? (I lost my download of that, BTW if anyone has it) So after a while, we didn't even miss "5 Questions" anymore.
As some of you know, I think what ruins network news (and now cable news too, I guess) is commercials. News is supposed to be supplied as a public service, and should be commercial free. Once you start selling ad time during news shows, they start competing for ratings and then it all goes to hell. News isn't about ratings. It isn't about who celebrities are fucking, how to lose 10 pounds by Christmas, or how cute kittens are. I would even assert that even sports isn't really news. Cable has how many fucking channels for sports? And yet, you can watch an hour of CNN or network news and still not know what the fuck is going on in the world.
I was saying the other day that maybe Jon should run for office because he is so "not full of shit". But I realized that deep down, I don't really want to know the kind of terrifying things that go on in government. I don't want to know how fucked up it all is, because I need to be able to sleep at night (Actually, I sleep during the day but you get the idea). And if Jon were in government, we'd almost certainly find out the real nitty gritty of government, with all it's bullshit and conspiracies. Plus, it would simply be too, too sad if Jon got corrupted like the rest of thost ass-hats.
My point is, that when we are all 20 years older, I want to be able to turn to Jon Stewart and whatever show/network he is running then to find out what's really going on. Kids will come in and ask why all the old people love this one particular guy so much. And we'll say "That's Jon Stewart, you can trust him" and the kids will look quizzically at us and shake thier heads and go off to play PlayStation 15 or whatever number they'll be on then. Since the first GW Bush "election" I have felt utterly powerless. I feel like the whole world is going to hell and there's almost nothing we can do about it; we can't even find out the truth without sifting thru numerous news mediums and filtering out who is in bed with whom. But Jon Stewart, we can always trust.
Plus, you know...that guy is hialrious.
In othernews, I got the new itunes download today. It looks great, not so boxy.
Jon?
Jon Stewart is the most trusted newsman of our generation.
By "our generation" I mean people who watched Mtv when it played music videos 24 hours a day. I mean people who did not have cell phones or even computers in thier rooms until after high school. I mean people who know, without the help of google, what a Muppet is.
We've been watching Jon since the late 80's on Mtv (again, back before Mtv was just one long commercial) and he was funny and smart. He was in some movies, no really good ones, but we knew he was making his way toward real fame. In fact, we might have wondered why he wasn't more famous than he was. The answer, it seems, is that he didn't want to be a big, stupid sell-out. While there are many famous actors, there are far less people who can do what he does, as well as he does it.
I, for one, was damn excited to hear that he was taking over the Daily show. And indeed, he did take it over. The tone of the show remained funny, but there was a biting sarcasm to it all that let you know that you could be a stoned slacker and still care what was going on in the world. That not only was it okay to be angry at the things you see government doing; but that it's your duty as an American to call them out on it. At the same time, he is always gracious and respectful to his guest, even those that are so full of shit you're sure the audience can catch a whiff of it. Did anyone NOT applaud Jon's Crossfire appearance? (I lost my download of that, BTW if anyone has it) So after a while, we didn't even miss "5 Questions" anymore.
As some of you know, I think what ruins network news (and now cable news too, I guess) is commercials. News is supposed to be supplied as a public service, and should be commercial free. Once you start selling ad time during news shows, they start competing for ratings and then it all goes to hell. News isn't about ratings. It isn't about who celebrities are fucking, how to lose 10 pounds by Christmas, or how cute kittens are. I would even assert that even sports isn't really news. Cable has how many fucking channels for sports? And yet, you can watch an hour of CNN or network news and still not know what the fuck is going on in the world.
I was saying the other day that maybe Jon should run for office because he is so "not full of shit". But I realized that deep down, I don't really want to know the kind of terrifying things that go on in government. I don't want to know how fucked up it all is, because I need to be able to sleep at night (Actually, I sleep during the day but you get the idea). And if Jon were in government, we'd almost certainly find out the real nitty gritty of government, with all it's bullshit and conspiracies. Plus, it would simply be too, too sad if Jon got corrupted like the rest of thost ass-hats.
My point is, that when we are all 20 years older, I want to be able to turn to Jon Stewart and whatever show/network he is running then to find out what's really going on. Kids will come in and ask why all the old people love this one particular guy so much. And we'll say "That's Jon Stewart, you can trust him" and the kids will look quizzically at us and shake thier heads and go off to play PlayStation 15 or whatever number they'll be on then. Since the first GW Bush "election" I have felt utterly powerless. I feel like the whole world is going to hell and there's almost nothing we can do about it; we can't even find out the truth without sifting thru numerous news mediums and filtering out who is in bed with whom. But Jon Stewart, we can always trust.
Plus, you know...that guy is hialrious.
In othernews, I got the new itunes download today. It looks great, not so boxy.
Jon?
no subject