Caring is Creepy
Tuesday, April 19th, 2005Since I still don’t have anything interesting to say, I’ll steal things from other people…
From Notes from the (Legal) Underground (who got it from Professor Althouse), an article from the City Journal arguing, basically, that Jon Stewart is really popular because he’s liberal, not because he’s hilarious (although the piece’s author seems to enjoy The Daily Show’s less partisan moments). To each his own, I suppose. I admit that his show is slanted to the left (I thought the book was much more even-handed, though) and that he hides behind the “we’re just comedy” a little too often for my tastes, but whatever. He’s still hilarious most of the time.
The article takes a couple lame stabs at liberals (”It speaks volumes about contemporary liberalism that in “progressive” circles, such stuff passes for brilliant satire.” Ooh, burn!) and the media (Aaaaah, the liberal media, OMG!!!!1), but that’s fine, too, although I’m not sure where all the conservative comedic geniuses are hiding. The Blue Collar Comedy Tour was terrible, that’s for sure. (Yeah, I know that wasn’t really political. I just wanted to rip on Jeff Foxworthy and the “Get ‘er done!” guy. I enjoyed Ron White, though.)
But this quote went over the line:
It is safe to say that the vast majority of Stewart’s young fans have no more a coherent political philosophy than they do a sense of history. What they do tend to have, in the contemporary vernacular, is attitude: a set of poses, ranging from an easy familiarity with drug culture to a bemused contempt for religion, that define one as hip. Jon Stewart confirms that view of themselves in every broadcast.
Ooh, we lack a coherent political philosophy! Ouch, my sense of self-worth! (Sarcasm pose!) Scaring the old folks by insinuating that their children and grandchildren shoot up heroin to make baby Jesus cry is just totally fucking played out, man.
I’d try to come up with a coherent response articulating my contempt for lazy writers who simply lump all (or “the vast majority” of) young people (or liberal young people, or liberal young people who watch The Daily Show, or whatever) into a mass of drugs, God-hating, and incoherent political philosophy, but unfortunately, I don’t have a caring pose.
Because caring is for losers.