rally to restore sanity

Here’s my problem with Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity

My problem with Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity is this: The Daily Show host has confused moderation and rationality. Although ostensibly ‘political satire’, The Daily Show more frequently satirises the way politics is covered in the media. The host’s most consistent quibble is the way the media treats politics as a blood sport.

Debate on the American news networks, as he sees it, usually means putting two hysterical partisan hacks, with irreconcilable points of view, into one studio together and inviting them hurl abuse at each other. In Stewart’s breakthrough moment during the 2004 election cycle, he berated the hosts of CNN’s Crossfire to their faces for presenting a show that was closer to theatre than political discourse. Read the rest of this entry »