inkbluesky

When Fake Is More Real: Of Fools, Parody, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Like McKain and Stott, Paul Lewis is interested in the extent to which comedy can effect political change. In his 2006 book, Cracking Up, Lewis offers his readership a serious look at American comedy shows of the last thirty years, giving special attention to post-9/11 comedy. He is particularly concerned with the success of rightwing political humorists and points out that comedians, such as Jay Leno, who deliver more impartial (or at least more bipartisan) political jokes have little effect on their voting public. Using Rush Limbaugh as the forefather of how humor is deployed by rightwing commentators, namely Bill O’Reilly, Lewis distinguishes mean spirited humor (killing jokes) from healing laughter, which is an important distinction to make because satire itself knows no restraint. There is a difference between Limbaugh and Stewart that is not based on party affiliation. Lewis asks: “In not addressing and seeking to alleviate human suffering by holding those responsible up to ridicule, does it serve Freddy-like 1. ends, leaving abuses unmocked, unexposed, and unimpeded?” (158). Therefore, like McKain, Lewis positions TDS as exposing abuse by those with power, rather than protecting those with power and attacking those without. Limbaugh’s humor is not only mean-spirited, it is often used to distract from his numerous distortions of facts. Lewis surveys all the research done on how factually incorrect Limbaugh is, and nevertheless remains popular: “It’s interesting to note how many of these might actually have been intended as comic exaggeration…‘I was only kidding’ is a defense strategy deployed by Limbaugh when his accuracy is challenged” (167).

An odd and rare observation of The Daily Show is that it is simply a liberal version of what hate-shock jocks on the Right do thus the large clip pertaining to Limbaugh. No one that cares to be intellectually honest can see Stewart as the derisive ignorant O’Reilly’s, Savages etc. My take on Stewards claim that he is just a comedian is his way of deflecting whatever power he has back to his viewers where he thinks it belongs.

There is also a nice snippet of the history of satire and social change within the same article.

tall grass and blue skies wallpaper

 Is Bigfoot really Cain? 

Here’s a Bigfoot theory I haven’t heard before. Apparently there are some in the Mormon church who hypothesize that Bigfoot may actually be Cain, condemned to walk the earth forever. Matt Bowman provides some scholarly elaboration on this theory on the Mormon Mentality blog.

That’s the thing with believing one absurd thing it leaves the door open for more.