Now look, I like The Daily Show as much as the next left-leaning middle class American and I think Jon Stewart is genius - but I've harbored this reservation for a while and, with the reviving of this blog, I have a place to put it out there.
This train of thought returned to me today because a friend sent me a link to Jon Stewarts' coverage of the NYPD's excessive use of force and pepper spray on OccupyWallSt protesters.
See the video of the abuse here.
And see The Daily Show segment here.
My question is this:
Is it okay to laugh at everything?
I've heard, and probably given before, the response that laughter is way to make it through the day and, more so, that Jon Stewart is bringing important information to people who would otherwise not hear it. This is valid and true, especially the second part. But... when that video of the girls being pepper sprayed went viral - people got angry. Regular Americans (what I mean is: not just activists) got out of their couches - they at least got as far as their wallets to donate money and supplies to OccupyWallStreet, but thousands got out of their houses and went to Libery Plaza. But when the Jon Stewart segment aired on it - people laughed. They didn't laugh at the protesters in pain, nor at the NYPD's excessive use of force - but they laughed at a joke Steward made about the incident.
To give the counter argument:
"His media is a comedy show, so he jokes - but he told millions of Americans about this incident, that has got to be worth something."
And it is - its worth a lot. I'm not making the argument that he should not report or that he should not make jokes - he's a political satirist and humor is his tool or weapon here. I understand all this.
But... there are some issues should really garner more extreme reactions - aren't there? In Europe and the Middle East, tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of people will go into the streets when their government enacts bad financial regulations or laws. In America, if there is something ironic about it - Jon Stewart will report on it and we'll chuckle. If no one involved has a name that sounds like a type of meat, then most Americans probably won't hear about it.
And here is where the really effective, but ultimately depressing, counter argument comes in: if Jon Stewart stopped being funny, expressed his outrage about something or moved his show off of a network for Comedians - people would probably stop watching. He might be angry as hell about the pepper spraying of these girls but he knows that if he can't make it funny - his message will be lost also because people probably won't listen.*
And that is not Jon Stewart's fault, it's ours.
*In this wide world of the internet, if I could actually get a response on this from Jon Stewart - I would love to hear what he thinks about this because I have a lot of respect for him and I'm sure he's thought a lot about this.
1 comment:
Yes . . . it is OK that we laugh at this . . . for all the reasons you mention, most especially that it brings attention to it . . . but also because it highlights what a moron that officer was and makes it clear that this is NOT OK, in very clear terms. Look, if G-d forbid, it had been you getting pepper sprayed, I would still think this was funny and OK to do, and, in fact, helpful. Could he have done something more biting, more condemning, than just making fun of one cop and his goofy name? Yes. But I think it's clear that while Stewart admires the courage and gumption of the protesters, it's not clear that he thinks their message is clear . . . nor is he likely to condemn police in general. So he focused on this one guy and made fun of his name . .
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