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Dear Jon, Sane People Protest Crazy Wars
When Jon Stewart was on Larry King's show talking about his Rally to Restore Sanity, he likened himself to Alice in Wonderland and the rally as the Mad Hatter Tea Party. But is Jon Stewart really Alice, trying to find sanity in an upside-down world? Or is he the March Hare, the ultimate "slacktivist" who thinks it's always teatime -- time to sit back and jibberjabber?
The 10-30-10 rally on the capital's mall is looking more and more like a celebration of "slacktivism." Stewart is courting people who do not want to open their window and yell, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" As he says in the Rally for Sanity website, he's looking for the people who've been "too busy to go to rallies, who actually have lives and families and jobs (or are looking for jobs)."
So let's get this straight: people who were so horrified when the U.S. invaded Iraq that they joined millions of others to protest are not sane? We shouldn't speak out against Wall Street bankers whose greed led to millions of Americans losing their jobs and homes? It's irrational to be angry when you see the Gulf of Mexico covered in oil because BP cut corners on safety? Don't get upset when the Supreme Court rules that corporations are people and can pour unlimited funds into our elections?
Stewart often roasts the warmakers and corporate fatcats on his show, but he seems to think that his viewers should be content to take out their frustrations with a good belly laugh.
When Jon Stewart announced the Rally to Restore Sanity, he included CODEPINK among the "loud folks" getting in the way of civil discourse. He also equated progressives calling George Bush a war criminal with right-wingers calling Obama Hitler.
So we started a facebook page asking Jon Stewart to invite us on the show to set the record straight. Beware of what you ask for. We did, indeed, get a call from the producers but it was not for a live interview with Jon Stewart. No, it was for a taped session with myself, a Tea Party organizer and a tear-gas dodging, anti-globalization anarchist "giving advice" to Daily Show's Samantha Bee about how to organize a good rally. It was clear they wanted to portray us as the crazy folks who should not come to their rally for reasonableness.
I consulted with my CODEPINK colleagues. Some said, "Don't do it. It's a trap and will only further marginalize us." We'd already been ridiculed several times on the show, like when we stood up to question General Petraeus at a Congressional hearing or when we organized protests at the Marine Recruiting Center in Berkeley. But the majority of my colleagues thought it would be crazy to decline the chance to get an anti-war message out to millions of viewers.
The producers told us to come to the New York studio "in costume." The anarchist, Legba Carrefour, was all in black, including a black bandanna covering his face. The Tea Partier, Jeffrey Weingarten, came in patriotic red, white and blue. I decided to "go professional," with a CODEPINK t-shirt and a gray suit. The producers were disappointed. They had wanted me to appear in one of the wild outfits we have worn in Congress -- like a hand-lettered pink slip accessorized with a hot-pink boa and a glittery "no war" tiara.
But my attempt to look professional was thwarted by the fourth guest who suddenly appeared and was positioned right behind me: A huge, scary puppet head of Iranian President Ahmadinejad.
So there we were, four "crazies" being quizzed by Samantha Bee for over two hours. She started out with softballs -- what did we stand for, what activities did we engage in. Then the questions and the antics got sillier and sillier. By the end we found ourselves spinning a blind-folded Samantha Bee around, then watching her swing a baseball bat at Ahmadinejad's head to see if it was really a pinata.
I'm sure that with over two hours of tape, there will be plenty of footage to turn into a four-minute segment showing us as a bunch of nutcases. After all, it is a comedy show.
But it's too bad that Jon Stewart, the liberal comedian, is putting anti-war activists, tea partiers and black bloc anarchists in the same bag. And it's sad that he's telling his audience -- many of whom are young progressive thinkers -- that activism is crazy.
An anonymous assistant on the Daily Show's blog chastized CODEPINK on line. "Dipping hands in fake blood or screaming over everyone just makes you look crazy and then the rest of the country ignores you." He said that we should, instead, focus on solutions.
CODEPINK has been proposing solutions since the day we started. We risked our lives meeting with UN weapons inspectors in Iraq right before the U.S. invaded to see if war could be avoided. We have repeatedly traveled to Afghanistan to push for reconciliation. For the past eight years we have been posing solutions about how to deal with terrorism, how to extricate ourselves from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, how to make us safer at home. Whether under Bush or Obama, our voices of sanity have been drowned out by a war machine that makes billions selling weapons and hiring mercenaries.
Meanwhile, we've witnessed the agony of mothers who have lost their sons in these senseless wars, the unspeakable suffering of our friends in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the lavish spending on war while our schools and hospitals are gutted.
It was because of this insanity that we began to interrupt the war criminals during their public appearances, shouting -- yes, shouting -- for an end to the madness. It was because of this insanity that we put fake blood on our hands to represent the hundreds of thousands of innocents who died as result of their lies. In our post-9/11 24/7 news cycle, we learned that the more audacious and outrageous the action, the more likely we were to get our anti-war message into the national conversation.
For this the Daily Show calls us crazy!
Don't get me wrong. CODEPINK women love to laugh and we try not to take ourselves too seriously. But we do feel that it's the sane people who protest crazy wars, who cry out against the dangers of global warming, who rail against big money in politics, who implore our politicians to spend our resources rebuilding America, not bombing people overseas.
So let's celebrate the people who walk the talk. Slacktivism did not end slavery, activism did. Slacktivism did not get women our rights. Activism did. Slacktivism won't end war or global warming. But activism just might.
Jon Stewart says he wants to restore sanity to Washington; so do we. We'll see you out on the mall, Jon.
- Posted in
131 Comments so far
Show AllThanks, CODEPINK.
.
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNgiWU9LY7A
Don't miss it!
-- Trylon
Trylon - thanks for the video link...it was priceless!
If the rest of the country was ignoring the blood-stained hands of CODE PINK as the anonymous Comedy Central grunt alleges, do you think the Democrats would be preparing for a bloodbath at the polls on November 2. The Democrats are not losing because so many voters are voting Republican. Democrats are losing because so many among their base and so many swing voters are voting third party or not voting.
Left of center Americans clinging to civil discourse since the end of the Viet Nam era has enabled the rapid growth of US fascism. In the interim we have learned that civil discourse plus two bucks buys a good cup of coffee (three bucks in the high rent districts).
During the Viet Nam era we were constantly reminded that if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. There is no gray area.
Comedy Central is part of the problem and Code Pink is part of the solution.
"The Democrats are not losing because so many voters are voting Republican. Democrats are losing because so many among their base and so many swing voters are voting third party or not voting."
The Democrats are losing for several reasons in fact. For example, they are losing because they have moved to the right of their natural constituency, right even of center. The Democrats are losing because the propaganda machine of the right controls the airwaves, the print media ( to a rather large degree), and the conversation. There is not one single Democrat with a national audience who knows what to say, how to say it or even when to speak up. The Democrats are also losing because these last two years of a Democratic administration has been a continuation of the Bush years in far too many respects. Most people are not aware that the TARP was began by and payments begun by the Bush administration. In fact, much of the criticism of Obama is for things begun under Bush, caused by Bush and things continued by Obama. The Democrats are also losing, in part, because the natural political cycle seems to mandate that the in party loses during the mid-term election.
Obviously there are other reasons, both more blatant and more nuanced. But the real issue is that, whether Democrat or Republican has the majority, or the White House for that matter, things do not change, the progressive agenda does not get a hearing and corporations win again.
As to Medea and Jon, I find them both working for change, one in her way one in his. This particular instance sounds rather stupid in fact, and, as a regular watcher of Stewart's show, I find he has much of relevance to say, and has for a rather long time. I wonder how many caught his interview by Terry Gross on NPR's 'Fresh Air' recently . I did and I found him knowledgeable, fascinating and agreed with him on a great many issues.
doubledee wrote: "I wonder how many caught his interview by Terry Gross on NPR's 'Fresh Air' recently . I did and I found him knowledgeable, fascinating and agreed with him on a great many issues."
I listened to the interviews. I laughed several times. It was very entertaining. Stewart can be disarmingly charming. Stewart also (it should be noted) said not one thing that actually matters.
Here's the rundown: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130704771
What was covered? Glenn Beck, Christine O'Donnell and Barbi dolls.
If anyone think this is remotely reminiscent of the political discussions we had as recently as the Viet Nam Era I take pity on you.
Political discourse in this nation has become a joke, and Jon Stewart perfectly epitomizes how a clever guy can capitalize (and self-enrich) on the destruction of our culture, with jokes.
The link you posted was a synopsis of the interview and not the entire show. Even so I found within this abbreviated reviewing something to ponder from Stewart:
"On politicians and the media
"I think it made me less political and more emotional. The [more] you spend time with the political [world] and media, the less political you become and the more viscerally upset you become at corruption. I don't consider it political, because 'political' I always sort of note as a partisan endeavor. But I have become increasingly unnerved by the depth of corruption that exists at many different levels. I'm less upset with politicians than [with] the media. I feel like politicians — the way I explain it is, when you go to a zoo and a monkey throws feces, it's a monkey. But when the zookeeper is standing right there and he doesn't say, 'Bad monkey' — somebody's gotta be the zookeeper. I feel much more strongly about the abdication of responsibility by the media than by political advocates. They're representing a constituency. Our culture is just a series of checks and balances. The whole idea that we're in a battle between tyranny and freedom — it's a series of pendulum swings. And the swings have become less drastic over time. That's why I feel, not sanguine but at least a little bit less frightful, in that our pendulum swings have become less and less. But what has changed is the media's sense of their ability to be responsible arbiters. I think they feel fearful. I think there's this whole idea now that there's a liberal media conspiracy, and I think they feel if they express any authority or judgment, which is what I imagine is editorial control, they will be vilified.""
Speaking of throwing feces; the left, or at least that portion represented on these forums, seems to enjoy throwing feces, at their real enemies and at their allies as well. I always wonder at the political naivete displayed by those who refuse allies for what are basically rather silly reasons. We find damn little in the way of solutions and far too much shooting ourselves in the foot.
Stewart, by the by, covers a wide range of subjects on his TV show, and reaches an audience as well. Those here all too eager to criticize reach, thankfully, no audience at all. Until, and unless, the left understands what the right has long ago realized; that alliances are the way to progress, that putting aside what are, in reality, minor differences and coming together in order to enact progressive legislation and elect progressive ( read Green in my particular case) candidates. But no, throwing feces is all we seem capable of doing.
What you are witnessing here is the birth of a new new left, one that remembers it's roots in real working class movements.
Liberals like Stewart and Medea have destroyed the left, the left that was anti-capitalist.
It's time we reclaim a truly working class left movement and shed the baggage of liberalism, which has sold out the working class.
I think you are entitled to an opinion obviously, but I do not see anything new in the rejection of alliances and the thoughts of others over "purity" of political thought, word or deed.
We have, on the right, a perfect example of a broad coalition quite willing to put aside differences in order to make progress ( I hesitate to call it such ) in achieving common goals. We have, on the left, an isolated and powerless group that bickers constantly with itself over silliness and thus remains isolated and powerless.
What you call new may be new to you but I have seen its damage for four decades and counting. This "new" crop of snide and snotty rejections of the activism of others is coupled with a refusal to leave the comfort of the couch. So who is really working for change and who is simply demonstrating a political naivety and immaturity?
jon stewart has NEVER protested war crimes by the US and Israel.
he's the ultimate fake progressive, the epitome of the "liberal class" chris hedges talk about.
i'm guessing Steven Colbert couldn't stand it anymore and quickly got his own show.
Stewart is a Zionist, plain and simple.
I'm glad I traded my TV in for a pair of skiis 35 years ago and never looked back.
After reading this article I could never watch Jon Stewart.
So, after noting, in an earlier post, that Comedy Central is a part of the problem you now confess to having never watched it....Judging a mans body of work, and Stewart has been around for a rather longish time, from one article and having never even caught the guys show seems more of a confession than I wished to hear...sad even.
EXACTLY, Medea.
The rally and Jon's approach reminds me of people who do not get involved and say there are two sides to everything and want you to shut up so that they can feel superior. A rally for fence sitters.
The rally is for people who will make themselves feel superior to the tea party by promoting the election of Democrats, right ?
Their solution to problems is to vote for the same Democrats that exacerbated the problems (and even created a few of them) ?
Now that IS crazy !
Dear Medea,
Sane people fight for a sane system, recognize that capitalism is killing the planet, and occasionally smash the symbols of corporate power (windows). Sane people also don't call the cops (you in Seattle) on protesters who engage in such actions.
Sane people recognize that direct action against the corporate death machine is desperately needed to save ourselves and the planet (think climategroundzero.org). Sane people also don't believe that voting is going to change anything. Sane people don't join the Progressive Democrats of America.
--
Also, that was a HUGE mistake to agree to go on Stewart's show. You got played like a fool. And whoever the anarchist was that went on that show, shame on you! You have to be smarter than that! They were using you as object of ridicule.
Stewart is witty and bright, but he's finally just a publicity hound - for himself. Much like most comedians, since in a competitive pop culture they have to be. He has at least as many "conservatives" and outright fascist reactionaries on his show as he has liberals, and of course no true leftist will ever set foot in his studio. Colbert is the same. They both like to nuzzle up with rightwingers, pretending they're being critical, which occasionally they can be, but it's always for comic effect.
The term "slacktivist" well describes Stewart, and his commitment to disparaging all activists, like Code Pink, exposes him as more clown than social critic. He fits in well in these upside-down, corporate media-driven times, when no serious dissent to US slash-and-burn policies is permitted on the air, and no truly critical discussion is ever permitted to be heard. There's more money to be made in ridiculing those who attempt to break the rules.
Dear Miss Benjamin:
Ephraim says it so well. Your group risks life and limb; you are the real deal!!on matters of life and death speaking truth to power...do you make money hand over fist for yourself or the Comedy Channel running tons of ads young sheeple admirers of Stewart-Colbert et al "comedy" will happily look at?
I hope at the least these Chris Hedges-labelled LIBERALS not-always-so-funny men will contribute to your legal contingency, get-out-of-the-slammer-fund that you should have in readiness for the tougher times clearly ahead!!
You clearly belonged at the New Jersey Peace Action luncheon as the main speaker two years ago that I attended. Perhaps it is in your best interest to be part of this ironic, sad charade to be staged on the 30th. Perhaps its a coded event for something more purposeful than I can imagine? I'll give you the benefit of perhaps knowing something more than I do about the wisdom of connecting Code Pink with Comedy Central's big moneymakers. Be Careful. Your article proves you smell something fishy. These boys are not in your league!
I remember marching alongside Code Pink in Portland in 2003 - I thought they were great!
What Medea has written is long overdue - exposing Stewarts serious limitations. His worldview is little different than msm whore Brian Williams, who he has on all the time.
Right on Medea! I'll write the Daily Show and send them a link to this article and DARE them to have you on as a guest to tell this side of the issue. I like to laugh too; however, our country is being run by sociopaths and that is no laughing matter, unless jail time goes along with the laughs. How is it Michael Parenti put it? In our democracy, we can say what we want, but the power elite get to DO what they want.
And right now, what they are DOING is killing a lot of people and destroying this country. Hahaha.
Thank you so much, Medea, for writing this. I was aghast at Jon Stewart's equation of Code Pink protests with the Tea Partiers and have struggled ever since in conversations with friends who think the 10/30 rallies are just too cool. They don't want to hear my reaction, which is that "cool" isn't a word or an attitude that belongs in a discussion of our drone bombs killing children in their sleep, or our soldiers coming home from crazy wars with their legs and half of their heads blown off. What I've said to them is, if these things don't make you passionate enough to do "crazy" angry things like partipate in a real protest march (small an action as that is), WHY NOT?? What's wrong with you, Jon Stewart? You have so much intelligence, and you have kids of your own. I know you have imagination. Is it too hard to imagine a Afghan child being blown up in the night by our drones? If that doesn't make you angry, WHY NOT?? (Take heart, Medea--the hundreds of thousands of us who have been inspired by your and your group over the past miserable 9 years know you are brave, not foolish.)
"You have so much intelligence, and you have kids of your own. '
Mr. Stewart is very intelligent. His business is comedy and drawing an important demographic for his bosses. (young, impressionable, and fashionable--usually democrats-or will be soon.)
He doesn't have to take a real stand or protest like the regular worker-bees do. Like most of the eastern establishment media and press, he's privileged. Content to sit on the fence and stir up the folk without having anything at stake.
On the upside, its getting clearer by the day what people really stand for. One day we'll probably want to know who that really is that's in the foxhole with us; a fighter or a comedian.
"One day we'll probably want to know who that really is that's in the foxhole with us; a fighter or a comedian." Interesting observation, and likely true. I wonder if Stewart himself will know which he is when it comes to that? That's one of the dangers of perpetual glibness, I think. You lose your connection to your own truth. Stewart could wield a great deal of genuine power for good if he ever makes the decision that it's too late for glibness.
I don't understand why you would want "civil discourse" with people who are fundamentally "unreasonable" to begin with. And I'm using that term, "unreasonable" not as a slur or to dismiss, but in literal sense. The controllers of the right have an agenda of power, wealth and domination and they would be more than happy to have you try and have "civil discourse" with the likes of George Will, William F. Buckley, Kissinger, Yoo, etc..., all of who can sound SOOOO REASONABLE...
Only when you understand that they're not advocating wars and torture to "keep us safe" and tax cuts for the rich to "stimulate the economy" and cuts in social services to "promote personal responsibility" will it be clear that the issue isn't between civil and non-civil discourse but a struggle between power, wealth and domination on one side and justice and equality on the other. You must choose.
exactly.
swann a few comments above your comment is a perfect example of people who confuse the "body" (substance) with "costume" (vehicle).
"cool" and "civil" are all code words for "do not rock the boat, or you don't belong to our elite liberal class" that hedges ripped apart the other day.
Yes, the Hedges critique is right on. I do worry that the seriousness of his message can seem so ominous and overwhelming that it's almost disempowering, though I can fault absolutely nothing that he says. A much more interesting conversation could be had there than about Stewart.
And who the f#@$ was this 'anarchist'? Are you serious? Perhaps a paid caricature?
I know right!?
No anarchist I know would have gone on that show. But, there are some dumb MotherF*%kers out there. I really hope for the sake of anarchists everywhere that this person was a paid caricature.
Sono d'accordo malatesta
I think this course of action from Gandhi epitomized in a poem--" Walk down your path alone when none shows up after you had called" applis to you
Perfect.
While Jon Stewart coddles racist, bigoted fear-mongers like Bill O'Reilly on his show, Medea and her group put themselves on the line to speak truth to power. It's clear to me which one of the two is sane.
"As long as there's a TV camera pointed at her, she could care less."
What you are saying is that she actually does care about being set up to appear a fool. How much she actually does care, we don't know because she could care less. How much less could she care? We don't know.
She also claims to "walk the talk" whereas one may talk the talk and hopefully also follow through and walk the walk. Walk the talk? What the hell does that mean, Medea?
Thank you for your "sane" comments. I completely agree.
Medea has an urge for stardom and the spotlight. She called the cops on protesters in Seattle for breaking the windows of Nike Town and Planet Hollywood. She denounced those people in the media in order to advance her own liberal political position within the mainstream, even though the landscape of Seattle actions was the most effective demo that occurred in the U.S. in twenty years.
But seriously more disturbing is her decision to go on the Daily Show, especially when she knew in advance they were going to make her look like a fool. I don't think anything could more clearly demonstrate her lack of principle and her desire for attention, even when it's ridicule.
While I denounce Stewart politically for equating Medea with Tea Party activists, and encouraging a centrist "lets watch and do nothing" crowd, I have to admit there is a grain of truth in portraying Medea as a comical figure... because she is.
Well said. Years ago I had respect for Medea (she made it possible for US citizens to visit Cuba, for instance), but in 2000 in Denver at the Green convention one night I realized I was watching an exhibitionist. Even then I didn't think she could go that far into her own self-destruction.
Sorry people- I'm about as "left" as you can get but when I see progressives stoop to the level of teabaggers, dressing up in stupid costumes, it just makes me cringe. I agree completely with the views espoused by Code Pink but those methods tend to do more harm than good.
I'll be more than happy to re-think my view when I see Glenn Greenwald, Jonathan Turley, Chris Floyd or Rachel Maddow dressed in feather boas! :)
calling a costume "stupid" IS stupid.
But how much attention do Greenwald, Turley, Floyd and Maddow get from anyone not already part of the progressive crowd? They're wonderful and knowledgeable, but they're ignored as just part of the "elite opinionists" to a great mamy. I think CodePink originally started dressing in pink because the organization was appealing to mothers, wives, grandmothers of soldiers. They were emphasizing soft power and playing with the concept by eventually adding feather boas and hats. I don't think the Tea Partiers intend for there to be irony or humor in their costumes.
Rachel Maddow, a Zionist apologist, is not in the same league as Chris Floyd.
For the people lionizing Medea Benjamin (and disclaiming that when I first met her, not in pink pajamas, in 2002 I found her impressive):
1. Medea was with no close second the single most prominent Green who told Greens and other more comprehensive Leftists to vote for John Kerry in 2004; was a principle spokesperson for the promotion of the selection of "safe state" David Cobb for the Green nomination; and immediately joined the board (along with Cobb) of the PDA, which had as its core mission to seduce progressives into the Democratic Party.
2. She and her close associates take risks and get into places where protesters need to be and from which we are officially held away. However, they wear pink pajamas and tutus, which not only utterly negates the impact of their message (how many people at home are ready to identify with the pink pajama ladies?) to whatever degree it gets seen, prevent ordinary-looking messengers who might penetrate mainstream thinking from ever getting on camera, and perpetuate the myth that dissent is countercultural.
I love Medea's personal beliefs. I love the risks she takes. However, given the harm she promotes in the electoral arena, and the harm she does to the potential to build a peace movement by dressing like a clown, I think that no matter how well-intentioned, well-spoken, and charismatic she is, she seriously sets back everything that needs to be done through her tactics AND her strident insistence on sticking to them in the face of their total and continuous failure to fulfill the CODE PINK mission, let alone the larger peace mission. They came on with a bang some years ago, had local groups all over America in short order, but promptly and steadily contracted back to its founding core, stubbornly substituting self-importance for evidence of success.
Without creating the impression that I support Stewart, who irks me no end and unquestionably and unquestioningly supports the Democratic Party, in one regard he is right: CODE PINK is not an example of sanity. Not because they dress funny; but because they keep doing the same thing and expecting different results. If they show up in their costumes, they will get what they are looking for -- publicity for themselves, as well as what they're not looking for -- further weakening of the ability of progressives to bring our message to a wider public.
So I will alter Medea's headline. "Sane People People Protest Crazy Wars -- Just Not In Pink Pajamas."
Steve, you've hit the nail on the head.
Politics is about affecting change and a person is less likely to affect change, to win over support , when people can't identify with them.
Morticia says people are more likely to listen to those with whom they can identify. Best summary of persuasion dynamics. The right knows this and practices it well.
Right on Steve.
Self-importance, self-interest, self-promotion, self-gratification- we live in the age of the Self. Billions of individuals clamoring for fame and approval, each seeking recognition for the brilliance and uniqueness of their self-made self. This, Stewart and Benjamin seem to have in common. And the truth is that I won't deny that I too (as I believe we all do) have that little voice inside my head that insists that the world just doesn't appreciate my own amazing self. But unlike Stewart and Benjamin, most of the time I tell that voice to shut up, reminding myself that it's enough that my worth is recognized by the few that know me well and especially by myself. That is not where peace and happiness is to be found, one may as well try to chase down the end of the rainbow.
"But it's too bad that Jon Stewart, the liberal comedian, is putting anti-war activists, tea partiers and black bloc anarchists in the same bag. And it's sad that he's telling his audience -- many of whom are young progressive thinkers -- that activism is crazy."
And therein lies the problem. As curiousteve mentions above, Chris Hedges has an excellent article about what has happened to "liberals".
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_world_liberal_opportunists_made_20101025/
Can people even imagine what our country would have looked like today if leaders of civil rights groups had taken the "let's go along to get along" attitude in the past? The further damage Jon Stewart is doing to younger generations who watch his show religiously is immeasurable. His message isn't "fight for what you believe in"...his message is the same authoritarian "sit down and shut up" message. Just because he is using the "rally" format which was once used to actually "protest", doesn't change his message.
I just don't think those who lived through the past 30 years of the "greed is good" message (which is the vast majority of Americans), have the psychological willpower to stand up for their beliefs (or whether they even know what they really believe in anymore other than shopping, acquiring material goods, and being "good" consumers). Jon Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity" will do nothing but continue this same mindset.
Can you imagine what would have happened if a person of conscience tried to undertake a citizen's arrest of Condi Rice when she was on his show last week? We would all have discovered that Jon has a goon squad of security thugs ready to slap anyone down who doesn't follow the scripted requirements to hoot and holler while he mugs and apes. Jon is of the well-monied elite, pure and simple.
As funny as Jon Stewart can be at times (and we all know laughter is therapeutic), it's important to remember that he is just another media whore. Within the last month, he hosted Tony Blair, who has a new book to sell. Last week, he hosted Condaleeza Rice, who has a new book to sell. Jon himself has an incredibly stupid new book to sell. Indeed, his audience is too juvenile to care about who he hosts.
Jon will gladly host a bevy of war criminals and flat-out despicable (non)human beings if it serves the purpose of selling, selling, selling. There is a reason court jesters were called "fools." Jon is, at his core, just another fool. His rally is nothing but a publicity stunt. If he cared about this country, he wouldn't politely help fascists sell books. He would shred them with the truth of their crimes.
Absolutely.
For Medea to even want to share the stage with someone that hosts war criminals is extremely telling. Medea has always been about one thing: Medea.
The only thing i condemn black blockers for is to mix themselves with regular protests.
Stewart serves a clear purpose in the system. He creates the illusion of a liberal opposition. It's all theater. The last time I watched his show was a year ago. The guest was Tom Friedman, the NYT warmonger. They talked to each other like best friends...
Jon keeps attacking Fox News. But that's too easy. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. Why doesn't he go after the swine at the NYT?
Besides, Stewart's criticism is inconsequential. Remember when he slammed Jim Cramer? He murdered the guy! It was like watching an angry schoolmaster berate a truant student. But where is Cramer now? Still up to his shtick, as if nothing happened.
Stewart is in with the elite and he likes it there. He has the power to really change things! But he doesn't use it. To hell with him.
"Stewart is in with the elite and he likes it there. He has the power to really change things! But he doesn't use it."
If he had the power to change things, do you think he'd be there?
Yeah, I agree... Only those who prove loyal make it into the elite.
The man does have influence. Millions watch him. He can quit Comedy Central, set up shop on the internet, and proceed to fire real criticism at everybody and everything.
But, as you say, Stewart would never have made it that high if he talked crap to Power.
"he creates the illusion of a liberal opposition."
If it weren't for people like Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert in America, there wouldn't even be the 'illusion' of opposition in this county, at least in regards to the mainstream media.
Blaming them for the problem is like coming to a turf war, then blaming the only guy who shows up to fight for your side... Sure, he might have brought a knife to a gun fight, but he's still the only one who showed up!
Lets keep the true blame where it belongs — with the actual people who screwed this country (and much of the world) up – the one's who run the corporate military industrial media machine iteself.
I am not on Stewart's side and he is not on mine.
-"Lets keep the true blame where it belongs — with the actual bastards who skrewed this country up — the rightist corporate military industrial media machine."
And let's not forget the Liberal Class that sold out the working class long ago. Hedges is absolutely right. Stewart interviews war criminals and makes jokes about it.
Apparently, he will be interviewing another war criminal tonight, Barrack Obama.