Unfortunately, I agree

Give the man credit. He can only do so much given his position. Yes we want more, and he's capable of giving us more, but he and his staff have chosen their strategy. It is just one may to attack a very complex set of problems.

No doubt, The Daily Show and Colbert reveal a lot of truths. However, they cannot reveal them all. It's up to each of us to do our part in revealing the truth - whatever the hell it really is - to ourselves and to others.

I don't know about how other people progressed, but Jon, Stephen and many other satirists opened the door I was already peaking through. It was a door separating me from the illusion and the path to truth. They made it safe for me to go through that door. Ever since I did, I haven't looked back.

I may have outgrown the Daily Show due to my own search but I recognize what they did for me years ago.

Plus, he's a comic foremost, so stop trying to force him into a role he repeatedly explains he doesn't want.

My only beef is that if he wants to deal with politics, there will be heat. You can't half-ass it. There's too much at stake, and it's not funny.

There's the problem: you seem to want him to not be funny. That is his whole damn thing. You can be serious at times here and there but he is a comedian and doesn't really want to be anything else from the looks of it.

Go be mad at people who actually claim to be journalists.

He is a journalist pretending to not be one. He should stick with puppet shows and leave the politics to grown ups if that's his way of criticising the gov't without actually doing anything about it..

You do realize the daily show is for entertainment purposes only? Right?

Doesn't seem to realize the "grown-ups" he describes act like petulant children with really short attention spans either.

Jon Stewart is a comedian, if he looks like a journalist to you, it is the the journalists fault for behaving in a way that confuses them with comedians. Don't ask the jester to stop acting silly because the nobles are flinging poo all over the place (not the most graceful analogy, but I'm not a journalist either).

He's actually talked about this before; if he were on a news station he would ask those questions but since he is on Comedy Central he instead feels he has a responsibility to the audience to be funny

Yet when he wants to appeal to emotion, such as some tragedies, he doesn't hold back.

When we need that same attitute to hold people accountable, he brings out some fucking John Mccain puppet.

Be serious or be funny. Both ways doesn't cut it. It just becomes hypocrisy.

No one would come on his show if he did that.

I bet choosing not to be funny on his comedy show would be a great decision.

To say he's not helping because he's only a little good instead of a lot good is simply not fair. Jon is doing more than most. If you think he's not doing enough, pick up the slack yourself in any way that you can.

If I had his means, believe me I would.

And if you did have the means, you have the talent and tenacity for what you're requesting? Quite large shoes there.

I don't really see any issue with what Jon has done. Do I THINK that he could possibly begin delving a bit deeper into the niche The Daily Show made? Yeah, probably.

Do I think, at this point, after 10 years of The Daily Show doing what they've done, that anyone who doesn't want to understand the message of the corrupt, meaningless, if not evil media, won't understand it? Yeah, I think they've pretty much made their point to the masses who want to hear it.. But I think you aren't giving them credit with that point and format they used to make it..

And hell, dude, maybe THEY don't know exactly what to do with the power they have, I can't pretend I would know, but you seem awfully sure of yourself, I'm sure thats exactly what we need more of in this country, overly confident people of power.

But, there is NOTHING he's done that is untrustworthy or necessitating anyone saying hes not up up to snuff for us.

And your line "Fuck you Jon, fuck you. You're not helping." ... Meh. In this situation, I think the argument could really be made, hes given you the most help you're gonna get. Maybe you should vent your frustration elsewhere?

I've had meetings with leading chemists in the water company in the city I live in to discuss water fluoridation, with Nestle on why the fuck they put GMO corn in my dog's food, with the telephone company on traffic shaping where I showed them evidence of it. I've bothered a lot of people with the little resources I have. If I had more, I would hold a shit load of people accountable for their actions.

What have you done? Or are you in the "slacktivism" category?

Okay, okay, let me just break this down..

In your mind, correlating you interviewing people, for your own knowledge, which is great and dandy and hats off to you...

As your prerequisite, and a comparison against, Jon Stewart, for why you have the personality and tenacity to criticize and change the federal government and national media, if given his means?

So.. you talked to some chemists.. And that correlates to you changing the world, if you had the means.. how? Again, OVERLY CONFIDENT and self promoting people is probably one of the larger issues we face, but, if we don't see eye to eye on that, it's cool.

I apologize if my initial message was derogatory, I just really don't think ripping on Stewart, of all people, is even CLOSE to being worthy of discussion.

If we want to have a talk about where the The Daily Show should go with it's message, I'd be more than supportive, I believe The Daily Show, in a strange way, should learn from other, even fictional shows...

Look at the likes of the Simpsons, focused on Bart for quite a few years, as the show grew, they readjusted their focus upon Homer.. South Park readjusted their focus more keenly and directly on political and social satire..

I think Jon should readjust his focus, from being 90% on the ridiculousness that is the media, to be more squarely fixated upon the inner workings and corruption within Congress and The House, but, I dont know how to make a funny show based largely on that, which, unfortunately, is his job, to get ratings, for being humorous.

His role, for us, as someone else said, was to crack the door open for us, we needed to walk through and figure the rest out. He can only do so much with the forum he has.

And, again, I doubt even Jon knows what to do with the power he has right now.. Which, for me, makes me like him more.

I am not discriminating Jon Stewart. Like I said in another reply, I would criticize ANYONE in his position, given they were doing the same thing.

[deleted]

Fox isn't "most" ... is it?

He seems like a nice guy which makes it hard for people to accept that he's just a guy working a job. He has to follow rules too.

The "just doing my job" is the bad guy's excuse. Not his. If so, what makes him better than the trash he mocks on the program?

Nothing, that's the point. His fandom doesn't bother questioning whether he's on the up and up or not. Everyone always blames the right wing, but no one remembers that the draw Muhammed stuff came about because of South Park, which is also on Comedy Central.

The fact that he isn't a corrupt politician/murderer/liar? Come on, he's not working at a concentration camp, he's A COMEDIAN! He doesn't take himself too seriously, and neither should you. He's not a pundit who's trying to push some liberal agenda, his show is simply about mocking people in power and making us laugh. That's it.

Wow, people really love to pick on the popular guy just because he's popular.

You, My Friend, have just discovered the thin mask between reality and the television illusion. They all play off of each other and present different angles of the same perspective. Dividing everyone over minute differences in the SAME WORLD VIEW.

They know, they are full aware, but they also know to play by the rules or get their asses tossed.

Not to mention that Jon and his family are Hardline Zionists...

truth. not to mention the little bullshit arguments the different news channels create and bicker about, when there are MUCH bigger issues ignored. You watch the daily show and think your part of some 'elite hipster' movement by watching it, nothing has been learned, and your still being told some pre-approved spin on the news. They create the monster to hate (faux) and you pounce like wolves. Who is giving the orders?

It's a circus..it's straight from the movie "Idiocracy"..

It's pathetic.

The shows are like this now:

Jon: HAHA we're governed by idiots. Now to Sam Bee in Washington.

Sam: Yes we are Jon!

Jon: Here's your moment of zen.

Rinse, repeat.

He is just a comedian. Wasn't that rally just for the chuckles? His purpose is to make us laugh and perhaps to partially inform us by mocking others for our enjoyment.

[deleted]

My sentiments exactly. He has a lot of responsibility and is not owning up to it.

Rally for chuckles? Are you serious? Investing that much time and money to accomplish nothing? Fuck that.

No Fuck you. You're being unfair. Not everyone can be everything to everybody. Just because he doesn't go as far as you feel he should doesn't take away from the good that he does.

If he was too hard on guests, he wouldn't get the guests he can. That is simple. That is the entertainment industry, and he has to play the game. If you think America would be better off with out him doing what he does, you're a fucking moron.

At the end of the day, it's a comedy show. Take what you want from it, but give the guy a break. He is one of the only sane voices in the American media, and you're really just wrong in your comments, and frankly sound like a dick.

His show is entertainment with only a light seasoning of reality. He's not on the air to help you recruit the brainless into joining your rebellion. He's just there to make the shit taste better going down.

I happen to think he does a great job of that. Well, can't wait to go to bed and start tomorrow anew. Looking forward to paying my taxes this year too!

If im not mistaken, he's been quick to come out after what he considers a wasted opportunity and admit it. I seem to remember this being the case for both John Woo and C. Rice.

and... 9/11 first responders bill. so maybe fuck you 1982, fuck you. youre not paying attention.

I think Jon is just a man who fully realizes his limitations. If he pushes people too hard, then he can't get the range of interviewees. How many respectable Republicans do you see fairly interviewed on MSNBC? How many respectable Dems get fairly interviewded on FOX? Jon Stewart is a man that can have the president, the first lady, John Boehner, and Nancy Pelosi on his show. He makes observations but ultimately lets people decide for themselves if what they are hearing is true or false. He is not telling you what to think like the fringe networks, he just points out the great lies when given the opportunity. I love watching his political, observational humor and would not wish a career in politics on anyone. He is riding a fine line and doing it magnificently imo.

If he were on a real news network, he'd never get to ask those questions either. He probably get more freedom as a comedian.

So you need to not be serious to have access to high profile people, at the same time you can't be tough on them? Doesn't it make it all pointless? Oh yeah, I laugh while it happens so it's all good.

He's had some serious discussions and serious questions with people before, but he doesn't pull it off that often. His ability to have terrible, horrible people like John Yoo and Bill Kristol on his comedy program with any kind of frequency probably has something to do with his interviewing style.

I agree with your sentiments.

It seems that John Stewart plays a much needed role for the global elite---He questions and pokes fun at obviously our corrupted insitutions without ever taking his complaints the necessary step further. He dances around the truth and uses his amiable comedic personality to distract us from the unsettling fact that he is an integral part of the problem.

He heavily encourages the right vs. left paradigm by stoking the raging bipartisan fire whenever he can, which means he's either not very intelligent, which I don't buy, or, perhaps his show is actually part of a hidden agenda that's working to quell popular dissent and funnel it into the futile realm of conventional political solutions which produce no real change.

Oh yea, and his brother is Larry Leibowitz, Chief Operating Officer of the New York Stock Exchange--The fact that, during one of he many soap-box tirades against the financial institutions of this country, he never acknowledged his close personal relationship to one of the heads of America's dwindling financial sector is evidence enough to suggest something isn't right here. He could have at least once breifly mentioned on his show his seemingly significant familial connection to the COO of the NYSE, if nothing else but for the purposes of showing people like us he has nothing to hide and thereby dismissing any wild theories such as the ones being discussed in this thread. But he didn't.

He only has 21 minutes man. This ain't 20/20, it's a funny man trying to be funny. He criticizes both politicians on the right and left, it's just that the Republicans are more batshit insane and make for easier comedic fodder.

Oh yeah, and that last paragraph makes no sense. Why would he go on tirades against the financial institution at all if he has a vested interest in keeping the way it is? Maybe he doesn't like his brother. Maybe they aren't close. In any case, it's irrelevant.

I think the rally was what secured this thought in my mind. I was so excited about it and when I got there nothing happen, just swam around in some strangers.

Listen and watch right wing media and they loudly tell you what to think and what to believe. Stewart deliberately doesn't do that, he encourages people to think for themselves and not to appeal to the base emotions of the right.

Just watch the recent video on the killings to see what I mean.

Thats what you are missing, you want someone who is the left wing version of beck, he's not that person. He's an intellectual.

I would like that at least one time after another exposé of some corrupt douchebag, he would tell his viewers to call, email, etc their representatives and demand satisfaction, or give them the boot. But nothing. His viewers are slacktivists. Unless he tells them too, they won't have the initiative to do it themselves.

All they need is a little push and that is not happening, and they are careful not to do it, or else get accused for inciting civil unrest. Have some balls, Stewart.

He does get "intellectual" when he needs to look serious at the camera and tell someone off, and appeal to emotion such as his 9/11 responders rant. Do just his words have an effect? I haven't seen anything yet. So encouraging people to just think is not enough, we need them to ACT.

I disagree completely. His show basically revolves around exposing corrupt leaders, how is that bad? The Daily Show is political satire, it's not investigative journalism. If he was to be too aggressive with his questions/rhetoric to politicians than it would cease to be funny and it would just be uncomfortable for viewers to watch. There is a delicate balance that must be maintained between serious and funny, and Jon seems to be the only one on tv who really knows how to do that in an entertaining yet thought provoking way.

TL;DR: Shut up, it's comedy.

If it's comedy, then don't get all emotional when some real bad shit goes down. Stick with comedy.

Who the fuck are you to dictate what someone else should do with 'their' show.

Don't like it then stop watching and start your own show.

Jesus...

Who the fuck are you to care about what I think?

A while back, I wrote a paper on the role and affect of satire in society which pretty much came to the conclusion that satire as a force for change has stagnated and become impotent. Back when satire and open mockery of government was rare and thus quite revolutionary, it had a substantial effect on culture and the public's relationship with the government.

Roll forward to today and satire is incredibly common place. It's all over the television and internet. It's become pervasive and invasive. With such a flood of satire, people become cynical about politics, they don't find it serious or important. It devolves into having the same importance as sport politics.

You could argue that the government tolerates satire directed at itself as satire can be seen as a release valve for the peoples frustrations. It assists in the maintenance of peace and calm amongst the public and prevents them from becoming so frustrated that they rebel or revolt. The Daily Show might believe themselves to be fighting for sense and rationality, but they may actually be participants or a component to maintaining the current government political system.

There is also an integral factor to left wingers, which is their approach tends to focus on what we should be doing as a collective. Satire works to pacify them as they can stroke their chins and agree that something should be done. It satisfies their need to rebel and protest because they simply agree that the system is broken. They give their support, but more often than not, they are not active participants. This is dangerous if we hope to obtain a politically dynamic and progressive society.

The irony of my statements though is that I could well be playing the role of a release valve for people frustrated with satire not having the effect we desire it to have on government. You could just agree with me, carry on with your day and nothing changes. Hopefully, I'm not just inducing apathy but inspiring others to take a greater stand in their political system and social roles.

I think your expectations are a bit high. The policy of politicians is "deny, deny, deny". Politicians are in the business of lies, false promises, and misrepresentations. It's not like Jon is going to get any other shady people to actually admit to any wrong doing. Thinking back to the episode with the Mad Money guy, Jim Cramer, and his pathetic explanations followed by damning video of evidence of him - Jim's not a politician and it was easy to pull that off. Also, it's common for questions to be preselected prior to the interview, and that's a part of what those blue cards he holds are.

I agree with you. I wish some organization could take on the people who pull strings, make big decisions - but to expect funny man Jon and his staff to take it on their shoulders is unfair.

I agree about my expectations being high. I just though that the influence and audience he has, a lot could be done. So my problem is not with Jon, anybody in the position he's in I'd criticize equally.

I absolutely feel the same. Somewhere between pandering to those who are a little informed and the egregious product placement I lost my ability to laugh at the show.

Yes, he does that. It's annoying as fuck and not very informative. Why would people stand behind him like that if all he does is lampoon and not address the issues more in depth? This is why I don't understand his popularity.

cross-post to r/circlejerk

I, for one, would love (and pay) to see what William Melvin Hicks would say to Jon Stewart, were he alive today.

No one will let him finish the deal. If you are too stupid to put the rest of the pieces together then Jon won't be your savior, no matter what network he is on.

I DON'T CARE ABOUT JON. I care about the position he holds, and what useless job he is doing with it.

I have to agree that whenever there is an opportunity for these bastions of media to knock heads with important questions they lob softballs and give reach arounds, and it is disappointing to say the least. But if he stepped out of line he wouldn;t be able to give the important info he does present. Sad, but it's a little or nothing at all.

my very first upvote goes to you

Oh yea, and his brother is Larry Leibowitz, Chief Operating Officer of the New York Stock Exchange--The fact that, during one of he many soap-box tirades against the financial institutions of this country, he never acknowledged his close personal relationship to one of the heads of America's dwindling financial sector is evidence enough to suggest something isn't right here. He could have at least once breifly mentioned on his show his seemingly significant familial connection to the COO of the NYSE, if nothing else but for the purposes of showing people like us he has nothing to hide and thereby dismissing any wild theories such as the ones being discussed in this thread. But he didn't.

Repost form kid for additional viewing.

truth. not to mention the little bullshit arguments the different news channels create and bicker about, when there are MUCH bigger issues ignored. You watch the daily show and think your part of some 'elite hipster' movement by watching it, nothing has been learned, and your still being told some pre-approved spin on the news. They create the monster to hate (faux) and you pounce like wolves. Who is giving the orders?

Who the fuck are you to dictate what someone else should do with 'their' show.

Don't like it then stop watching and start your own show.

Jesus...