[lbo-talk] Saturday

[Sean Andrews]

I agree.  I also don't think it is fair to make Stewart--a
comedian--responsible for raising a radical message of anti-imperialism and
anti-capitalism.  The show before him is South Park, whose author's made the
raving pro-imperial yuk fest "Team America."  The show after him is Colbert,
who is a faux right wing pundit which makes him able to poke fun at the
right wing in ways that are a bit more critical.  But they are all on a
basic cable channel that is mostly showing old b-movies and stand up
comedians of the non-edgy kind.  Seriously, this is not where we should look
for critical journalism or even deep criticism of our social system as a
whole.  He goes a lot further in critiquing both journalism and the system,
but that really shouldn't be his role.  I would say that a few weeks ago, in
his interview with his old college pal whose now a GOP senator in VA (forget
his name) he was pretty great on talking about the need for strong labor
laws and government protection of worker's rights.  And while he might have
been civil to Obama--he's rarely confrontational in interviews--the show has
had plenty to say about the administration that could hardly be classed as
positive.

I would also note that one of the most effective things they do on that show
is to simply compile clips of politicians speaking.  The other day, they had
John McCain saying that Washington was broken, that he would need to fix
it--but they had clips of him saying almost this exact same phrase almost
every year since 1989.  They do shit like that all the time and it is very
effective at showing how ridiculous these lying bastards are.  Every other
national TV outlet has far more access to archival material like this, but
they almost never use it, basically sniffing the throne of the presentism
that pervades our ahistorical society up and down and effectively letting
the powerful get away with the open secrets everyone in that class knows.

The fact that there is little space in US culture for a critical leftist
voice is not the fault of a centrist comedian and holding him accountable
for that seems like a lame game of target practice.

As for the allure of the march, I think it is a very strange form of
satire--it was basically a big party that someone on your favorite TV show
was throwing on the pretext of it being like a political rally.  The actual
banter, what I saw of it, wasn't all that funny, but the point I would
imagine, for most people, was that they were part of something--and that it
didn't overtly color itself as an overwhelmingly ideological endeavor.  But
it was also a major media figure you see on TV having an event that usually
fits into a different genre.  And like CHuck says, there are a lot of
people--I admit, myself included--who find something refreshing about what
Stewart and Colbert do on TV.  I can obviously find much more radical things
written elsewhere, etc. but there isn't a wide variety of news or even
opinion in this format--and as Doug says most of it, with the exception of
FOX, is not all that entertaining.)  I never mistake him for being a
radical, but Maher is far more reactionary than either of them.  But for
comedians (or even anyone) who put on a major TV program, I don't think
there are many other options.  You could go the Carrol route and never turn
on the TV at all, but sometimes it's fun to not be an angry, disappointed
leftist for a few minutes a day.

s

On Sat, Oct 30, 2010 at 19:38, Chuck Munson <chuck0munson at gmail.com> wrote:


> On Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 9:09 AM, Dennis Perrin <dperrin at comcast.net>
> wrote:
> > What is the allure of Comedy Central's Farce on Washington?
> > Dennis
>
> First of all, Colbert and Stewart are brilliant comedians. They've put
> together something that speaks to their audience, which is really a
> large cross section of Americans.
>
> Many of my not-very-political friends really respond to all of this.
> They are sick and tired of the alarmism and hysteria that dominates
> the media and American political discourse. I would guess that many of
> these folks would call themselves "independents." They are upset with
> the system, but they don't buy the garbage being promoted by both
> major parties.
>
> I doubt that many people went to today's rally because they agree with
> Stewart's call for "moderation." Many went for the comedy and the good
> time. I'll bet that many wanted to show up to stick this thing in Glen
> Beck's craw. This event should go a long way to marginalize Beck,
> Limbaugh and their ilk. And I'll bet that many are upset with the
> current political system, but aren't interested in joining the Tea
> Party.
>
> My two cents.
>
> Chuck
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