05-03-2008, 02:33 AM
[quote kj]>>I don't think they've ever needed to lie to make a joke.
I don't know if I would say they're outright "lying", but I can't imagine taking it seriously either. Is it even supposed to be "the truth"?
Their satirical pieces (i.e. Jon Stewart interviewing the "correspondent in the field" or them doing a fake interview with some poor sap) are so absurdly comedic that lying doesn't enter into it.
However, when Stewart does the talking head "news" portion of the show he seldom says much if anything in the way of analysis, and generally just makes fun of the actual clips of politicians themselves who are doing the lying (for example, he's done numerous clips of Cheney saying adamantly that he's never said anything to suggest a connection between Iraq and 9/11, then follows it with many earlier clips of Cheney saying exactly that). That kind of stuff speaks for itself...no analysis or lying needed.
On the other hand, from what I've seen of O'Reilly et al (and I must admit I've only watched him something like 10 times), they will far less often show the actual clips (i.e. real data), but would rather quote people out of context (i.e. LIE), then rant and rave about what it means (i.e. strawman argument, aka LYING).
In summary:
Daily Show: They find the humor in real life political theater and expose it to the light of day. Catching people in the midst of blatant corruption and hypocrisy is (sadly) often hilarious. Because they deal so much in reality-based humor, people confuse it with a real news show. Since the repubs (IMHO) are more corrupt and hypocritical than the dems, they bear the brunt of the exposes (though note that Stewart has gone after quite a few dems too...seldom mentioned by the right).
Fox News: They are on a serious mission to obfuscate reality, so there is no humor about it. They want you to think that their made up analyses, out of context quotes, omissions of wrongdoing by republicans, consistent identification of republican wrongdoers as democrats ("Oops, sorry, our mistake....again!) and pretending to be a news source (e.g. "Fair and Balanced") is the truth. Obfuscation is lying.
Tell me, what's better, Daily Show "we're a comedy show, don't rely on us for actual information" or Fox News "trust us, we're a news program...get all your info here"?
I don't know if I would say they're outright "lying", but I can't imagine taking it seriously either. Is it even supposed to be "the truth"?
Their satirical pieces (i.e. Jon Stewart interviewing the "correspondent in the field" or them doing a fake interview with some poor sap) are so absurdly comedic that lying doesn't enter into it.
However, when Stewart does the talking head "news" portion of the show he seldom says much if anything in the way of analysis, and generally just makes fun of the actual clips of politicians themselves who are doing the lying (for example, he's done numerous clips of Cheney saying adamantly that he's never said anything to suggest a connection between Iraq and 9/11, then follows it with many earlier clips of Cheney saying exactly that). That kind of stuff speaks for itself...no analysis or lying needed.
On the other hand, from what I've seen of O'Reilly et al (and I must admit I've only watched him something like 10 times), they will far less often show the actual clips (i.e. real data), but would rather quote people out of context (i.e. LIE), then rant and rave about what it means (i.e. strawman argument, aka LYING).
In summary:
Daily Show: They find the humor in real life political theater and expose it to the light of day. Catching people in the midst of blatant corruption and hypocrisy is (sadly) often hilarious. Because they deal so much in reality-based humor, people confuse it with a real news show. Since the repubs (IMHO) are more corrupt and hypocritical than the dems, they bear the brunt of the exposes (though note that Stewart has gone after quite a few dems too...seldom mentioned by the right).
Fox News: They are on a serious mission to obfuscate reality, so there is no humor about it. They want you to think that their made up analyses, out of context quotes, omissions of wrongdoing by republicans, consistent identification of republican wrongdoers as democrats ("Oops, sorry, our mistake....again!) and pretending to be a news source (e.g. "Fair and Balanced") is the truth. Obfuscation is lying.
Tell me, what's better, Daily Show "we're a comedy show, don't rely on us for actual information" or Fox News "trust us, we're a news program...get all your info here"?