"Perhaps I am just too impressed with the exchange itself to think objectively or just up too late on a Friday night to not be overwhelmed by the otherwise mundane, but this was seems something that has struck a chord--and it seems a unique way that television is functioning via the internet. How many of these clips, I wonder, were authorized by the network from which they were taken? I am rarely up goofing around online like this and also find it amazing that all of these people have been staying up, commenting, and diligently trying to exchange this clip like some sort of totem. Does anyone else find this unique in the response and practices surrounding it or do I just happen to have more time on my hands this evening to notice? Just wondering..."
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the answer my friend, is blowin' in the wind . . .
seriously, i downloaded the mp4 of the whole exchange and plan to show it to classes, particularly my ethics (and possibly logic) classes next term, because it's the distillation of everything i'm always bitching about in american political discourse. and for jon stewart to go into the belly of the beast, crossfire itself, and say what he said so directly about what they're doing, was really satisfying. i especially enjoyed that begala and carlson wound up in the same corner fighting him. it demonstrated for all to see who's on whose side. and here we are with the satirists as the ones telling it like it is.
i do fear that, despite the buzz around it, we will forget about it soon, since nothing will change. but maybe not. certainly something has to turn things around.
in response to joanna: what are you talking about? :-) he spanked them. he made fools out of them. examples? crossfire IS the example. the site kevin linked to has some amazing comments. clearly the crossfire appearance struck a chord. was stewart "speaking truth to power"? yeah, sort of, but the main thing he did was refuse to participate in the crossfire theater discourse of partisan hackery, a kind of pseudo-political discourse. remember the x-files and mulder's "military-industrial-entertainment complex"? the entertainment part includes crossfire and hannity&colmes and all those shows. carlson tried hard to force stewart into the discourse, and stewart refused to play by the rules.
it was a plea for something approximating genuine (dare i say . . . "authentic"? ;-) political discourse. it was outstanding.
imho.
j
ps -- AND he called carlson a dick. on his own show.