See Taranto,
Best of the Web, "
Rally to Restore Authority":
The "sanity" for which Stewart claims to long is the authority of the old mainstream media--their ability to set the boundaries of newsworthiness and respectable debate, claiming to be above politics while actually skewing leftward--though not so far or so intensely leftward as, say, MSNBC ranter Keith Olbermann.
Stewart mimics this authority by insisting that he is nonpartisan and nonideological. In truth, he is no more above politics than were Walter Cronkite or Dan Rather. But he's clever enough to know that a Ratheresque assertion of authority would make him look ridiculous. So instead he makes an appeal to antiauthority, escaping scrutiny by insisting he's just a comedian. "If you want to compare your show to a comedy show, you're more than welcome to," he smirked at Tucker Carlson on "Crossfire," back in 2004.
The kind of "sanity" for which Stewart claims to be nostalgic is a thing of the past. Its last redoubt is National Public Radio, which by firing Juan Williams has made itself look more like the Radio Moscow of a half century ago than the CBS.
Not that anyone
should take Stewart seriously, but others do. Also,
he did a good number on Olbermann once.
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ReplyDeleteThe "sanity" for which Stewart claims to long is the authority of the old mainstream media--
ReplyDeleteActually, morfi, I agree to an extent with this, but for different reasons (i.e., correct ones) than the usual libertarian nutbag. The DINOcrats who considered Stewart's Rally to be some deeep, important event (Jon-Stock!) should not be mistaken for authentic progressives. Stewart and Colbert ( Colbert's at least funny once in a while) represent the corporate liberals--the petite-bourgeois in Marxy Marx terms--, not...the working class, skilled labor, or greens, marxists etc.
That said, Stewart's superior to the likes of Beck, Palin, and, Osiris forbid, Rev Hagee, yet....Stewart hisself ordered the rally-lemmings not to be hating on those misunderstood Teabaggers, etc. Bland corporate product--that's StewartCo, like Starbucks, or Apple, or Sony, so forth. It's just that the usual hipster-crat (or wannabe hipster) never understood class struggle, or even the division of labor for that matter. (Really, they're even sort of pathetic compared to old gonzo demos, ala Hunter S Thompson, Kesey, etc--not that any seem to mind) IN short, they "lack theoretical understanding," as VI Lenin once said about Upton Sinclair (then,even Sinclair somewhat authentic compared to Stewart, or the usual US Dinkocrat). :]
Heyy, "petite-bourgeois", "working class", "class struggle" -- a trip down memory lane, J! The youth today don't know what they're missing, do they? Why, back in those days, lots of us had "theoretical understanding", right? Except of course for the Bosses, and their running dog lackeys. Know what I'm sayin? Now, they've all just turned into academics or greenies or both, but either way they're corporate -- watch for Walmart to buy out Harvard and turn it into a Mormon temple. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteWhy, back in those days, lots of us had "theoretical understanding", right?
ReplyDeleteAn empirical question, isn't it Morfita--there were many romantic leftists and "marxists" but few authentic marxist-hegelians--and really much political debate still revolves around those chestnuts--class struggle, nationalism, the role of unions, racism, division of labor.. etc. Or maybe Paris Hilton's just objectively superior to a hispanic RN, eh, just because...she's prettier and has 10,000 times the wealth!
Marxism has flaws (and some historical bad joss). So does capitalism, not to say...judeo-christianity. You often suggest that libertarianism ( what your long-winded rants boil down to) offers some new, original political spin, but really its just the same ol' sh*t--Reagan supply side, german industrialists, robber baron capitalism, etc. And Walmart may very well buy out some universities
Marxism has flaws (and some historical bad joss). So does capitalism, not to say...judeo-christianity.
ReplyDeleteNot to say, oh, whaddaya got? Yeah, we're human, and human systems have flaws. But put capitalism's performance up against anything else that's come along anywhere, and it blows them away. The 20th century reactionary movements of socialism and fascism have both failed, the latter with a bang, the former with a whimper. And now we see Germany, France, Sweden, and Britain drifting, albeit slowly, back to free markets as well.
Baloney. The EU's primarily socialist, tho with some market aspects. The high standard of living in Germany and Sweden is due mostly to the govt. planning (including education, and govt. health care, far more statist than anything in the US. Even the UK, while not as statist offers govt. health care.). That's one of yr convenient ...prevarications---use like the USSR as the socialist example, and the US as good old free enterprise--then draw bogus generalizations. The Tea Party usual, as with the hicks screaming for lower taxes, unaware that taxes are still low, historically speaking--Obama hasn't even brought them back to Clinton level (then, many narcissocrats aka Demos who don't know Galbraith from Lil G make similar generalizations--the US Demos are primarily pro-business moderates)
ReplyDeleteThe high standard of living in Germany and Sweden is due mostly to the govt. planning
ReplyDeleteAfraid not -- the money for education, health care, etc. only comes from German, Swedish, British, French, etc. businesses that produce goods and services that people want. And -- slowly, as I say, but surely -- the people of those countries and around the world are coming to that realization, as we see in recent elections, including the recent American one.
Nope. It's primarily statist (tho a few rich people can opt out, and get private H-C), as is the govt. education--yr just lying as usual morfi.
ReplyDeleteThis election means little or nothing--about like going to a hardware store in Dallas and holding a straw poll. Thats the TP--Vox Populi. That said, I am more than willing to grant the Demos Inc campaigns depend on pretty much similar principles, ie, no principles (except win, baybe, win). But a few Demos understand the need for efficient govt. planning (which shouldn't equal...placate any and all unions)