[Xantar]

Originally Posted by Professor S

3) For someone who says its all a joke, Stewart sure does like to take himself incredibly seriously. His appearance on CNN's Crossfire is a perfect example of this. While he is a comedian, he did enough damage to the show to have it cancelled by just saying that it was a bad show and blind-siding that poor bow-tied idiot Tucker Carlson. That doesn;t sound like a funny joke to me. It sounds like someone who wields an enormous amount of political power and influence over public opinion.

Jon Stewart wasn't on Crossfire as a comedian. Obviously, his excuse for being there was to plug his book, but it became abundantly clear that he wasn't joking. As you know, it's possible to be joking sometimes and not joking other times.

4) The Daily Show manipulates the news. They show clips severely out of context to form a joke with an agenda, and also tend to do so to one specific poltical party over the other. Yes, the democrats are crtiticized from time to time, but it is rare. They don't just manipulate the news for jokes, they attempt to re-write it for them, and they send messages to the polulace that reinforces ignorant opinion.

Of course it's clear that the Daily Show has an agenda. Any comedy show that deals with politics is going to. That said, I want to point out that the Republicans have control of all three branches of government. They're the ones taking action right now while the Democrats basically sit on the side and make objections. So which party do you think is going to provide more material for the Daily Show to make fun of?

Actually, I'm genuinely interested to see what happens to the show when a Democrat becomes president.

The bottom line is that The Daily Show is a comedy with an aganda, and they excuse that agends through their comedy. Its the best of both worlds. They can say whatever they want and take no responsibility for the fatc that intended or not, people take the themes and tone of their jokes seriously. Through the mask of humor, Jon Stewart and his crew can excuse themselves from any form of social and yes, even journalistic, responsibility.

Is that an indictment of the Daily Show or the sad state of all other media? After all, if the real news were considered reliable, then people wouldn't think of the Daily Show as the most trustworthy news source, right?

That said, I still watch the show and find it hilarious when its not being overtly biased or stretching the truth.

I find the fact that you don't find it hilarious when it's being overtly biased or stretching the truth hilarious.