Quote:
Originally Posted by Typhoid
The Daily Show and the Colbert Report are entertainment.
Don't go into it with the idea you're going to get facts and news - it's all supposed to be entertaining, in a tounge-in-cheek fashion, or sometimes a smack-in-the-face blatent fashion.
They even say they aren't news shows. Stewert often refers to it as a "fake news" show. And right there, that should easily tip you off that it's not intending to give people real news. Because it's not real news. It's a comedic spin on current events.
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And right there is what I believe is the dishonesty. As long as both shows adamantly brand themselves as "entertainment", they can make whatever statements they like with whatever bias they like without ever having to be responsible for their content. Yet, Stewart and his ilk want to be taken seriously when they see fit. If your looking for specifics as to why I feel so strongly about this, listen to the jokes on the next Daily Show. Each joke uses "real news" as the set-up, followed by the punchline. Often times, the writers misstate, omit info or openly lie in the "real news" set-up. Also, their interviews with political figures are hilariously bad. Democrat or left leaning guests are essentially fawned over, while Stewart almost verbally attacks those on the right with disingenuous questions, and then to top it off his interviews with right wing guests are almost ALWAYS heavily edited, especially the one with Jonah Goldberg just recently.
Michael Moore has played at this game for years. "Hey, its just comedy, but I'm deadly serious." Whenever they are taken to task, its just comedy. But they are to be taken as serious intellectuals and opinion makers as well.
The worst part is that Sterwart's show isn't even funny. He tells more "applause jokes", also called pandering, than "funny jokes". Like Bill Maher, he'd rather get applause than laughs, being the lord of the reighteous satire. There is a dropping, palpable arrogance to those like Colbert, Stewart and Maher. I call it megalomaniacal comedy.
Another liberal comedian, Lewis Black, manages to actually be funny, and he's funny even moreso because of his intellectual honesty and lack of arrogance. Me? I'd rather laugh, so I'll watch Black.