Radical Centrist: Jon Stewart and False Equivalency

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• published: 22 Sep 2010
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*10/31/10* The Phantom Left by Chris Hedges "The phantom left took a central role on the mall this weekend in Washington. It had performed admirably for Glenn Beck, who used it in his own rally as a lightning rod to instill anger and fear. And the phantom left proved equally useful for the comics Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, who spoke to the crowd wearing red-white-and-blue costumes. The two comics evoked the phantom left, as the liberal class always does, in defense of moderation, which might better be described as apathy. If the right wing is crazy and if the left wing is crazy, the argument goes, then we moderates will be reasonable. We will be nice. Exxon and Goldman Sachs, along with predatory banks and the arms industry, may be ripping the guts out of the country, our rights—including habeas corpus—may have been revoked, but don't get mad. Don't be shrill. Don't be like the crazies on the left." http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_phantom_left_20101031/ *10/25/10* The World Liberal Opportunists Made by Chris Hedges http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_world_liberal_opportunists_made_20101025/ *10/5/10* March to Nowhere By Chris Hedges http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/march_to_nowhere_20101005/ *10/27/10* Obama Turns to Jon Stewart's 'Daily Show' To Rally Support For Fake Democrats: President Barack Obama will reach out to the 'Daily Show' audiences to encourage young voters to get out and support Fake Democrats *9/16/10* Daily Show Rally to Restore Sanity Announcement http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-september-16-2010/rally-to-restore-sanity *9/16/10* Daily Show guest: Guest Fake Democrat Bill Clinton http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-september-16-2010/bill-clinton-pt-1 *9/19/10* The Court Jester and 9/11 Truth Some have noted that Stewart's routine of mocking political leaders while seeming to lull his audience into a state of further complacency resembles the historical role of the court jester... "It is apropos in this respect that the early court jesters were assigned the role of protecting the king against the chaotic and uncontrolled forces in the universe. The jesters were considered to be qualified for such a role because their foolish strangeness and deviance intimated who they were in contact with, and could potentially influence, analogous outlandish phenomena. Paradoxically, even as the funny ones soothe and protect, they also provoke. They go out of their way to conjure up images of threatening, forbidden stuff (variously relating to sex, death, anality, and hypocrisy). But each provocation is bathed in humor and the reassurance that there is nothing to fear from the threatening theme because it is, after all, only one more example of something ridiculous and absurd." There is something distinctly distasteful about making jokes about mass murder and destruction when they are happening in the here and now, which is what Stewart and Colbert do on a nightly basis. Defenders will argue that if we don't laugh we cry; it's a form of catharsis. There is more "truthiness" in Stewart than in the nightly news. Yet these programs also reassure us, subconsciously, that all is well in the world. And there are lines that they will not cross. When it comes to the interviews of *controversial* figures, ie politicians/mass murderers -- 9 times out of 10 they throw softballs, giggle together, shake hands, and proceed with the commercials." http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20100923063643695 The Perils Of False Equivalencies and Self-Proclaimed Centrism http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/09/19/stewart