Punditry
So I guess I'm writing twice today. Go Figure...
While I consider myself a liberal, I tend to hate most political pundits, whether they be conservative or liberal. I've read Ann Coulter, Al Franken, and Bill O'Reily, and frankly I don't like any of them.
Recently, an editorial was written for the Boston Globe about Jon Stewart, and more specifically his viewers. Go read it, it's only a page. I'll wait.
So here's why I don't like pundits, including this guy, whoever he is. He tries to blind readers with broad generalizations ("People who possess the wit, intelligence, and self-awareness of viewers of ''The Daily Show" would never choose to enter the political fray full of 'buffoons and idiots.'"), stereotypes("Born in Newton, Goldberg attended Newton South High School [and] Vassar, where he majored in political science and joined a Jewish fraternity."), big words ("Menckenesque")and famous names (de Tocqueville, Wilson, Roosevelt), while stating a whopping 0 relevant facts (the one stated fact in the entire article: "only 2 percent of the show's audience identify themselves as conservatives." Wow. I guess it's true, only the smartest get into Harvard). So somehow without any facts, he comes to the conclusion that Daily Show viewers eventually graduate and decide that politics suck so they should do something else. Brilliant, do you have any facts to back this up kind sir? Clearly you must have a broad knowledge of the Daily Show fan base and what their lives were like 10 and 20 years after they graduated college. This would probably be difficult since Stewart has only been hosting the show since 1999.
The writer says Daily Show viewers enter the private sector instead of going into politics. I'm curious what most of today's top Democratic leaders did at a similar point in their lives. Well, Kerry went off to fight in Vietnam. Al Gore did the same. I don't really consider that starting a political career, but it is certainly not the private sector, so we'll ignore that one for now. Howard Dean went to medical school after college and started his practice (one might even call it a (private practice). As far as I can tell, Hillary Clinton had no political career until after her husband left office. Barbara Boxer worked as a stock broker and journalist, and was not elected to her first public office until 14 years after she graduated college. My point? Not everyone goes on a straight arrow path to politics.
In the interests of full disclosure, I also looked up Joe Leiberman, Jon Edwards, Barack Obama, and Dick Durbin, all of whom basically did follow the straight arrow path to politics. My point is not that no one follows the path, just that you don't have to go straight to law school to become a politician.
Anyway, my larger point is this: may Daily Show viewers can lead better lives and do more for the democratic party than by running for office. Personally, I think I would be a decent politician, except that my one major screw up that ever politician has at least one of would be more colossal than Dean's screaming fit after the 2004 primaries. Regardless, just because the best minds don't go into politics isn't necessarily a bad thing. I can do plenty by voting, being involved, and giving money without being a politician. In fact, I would say that I'm more likely to do so because of the Daily Show.
One final point: I do know many people who are graduating college and already have or are likely to go into the private sector. And many of these people have been fans of the Daily Show. But while it is to early to tell exactly where everyone will end up, I wouldn't be incredibly surprised if some of them ended up in politics. I know plenty Daily Show fans who are starting careers in religion, social work, education administration, etc. Not exactly Morgan Stanley and the private sector.
While I consider myself a liberal, I tend to hate most political pundits, whether they be conservative or liberal. I've read Ann Coulter, Al Franken, and Bill O'Reily, and frankly I don't like any of them.
Recently, an editorial was written for the Boston Globe about Jon Stewart, and more specifically his viewers. Go read it, it's only a page. I'll wait.
So here's why I don't like pundits, including this guy, whoever he is. He tries to blind readers with broad generalizations ("People who possess the wit, intelligence, and self-awareness of viewers of ''The Daily Show" would never choose to enter the political fray full of 'buffoons and idiots.'"), stereotypes("Born in Newton, Goldberg attended Newton South High School [and] Vassar, where he majored in political science and joined a Jewish fraternity."), big words ("Menckenesque")and famous names (de Tocqueville, Wilson, Roosevelt), while stating a whopping 0 relevant facts (the one stated fact in the entire article: "only 2 percent of the show's audience identify themselves as conservatives." Wow. I guess it's true, only the smartest get into Harvard). So somehow without any facts, he comes to the conclusion that Daily Show viewers eventually graduate and decide that politics suck so they should do something else. Brilliant, do you have any facts to back this up kind sir? Clearly you must have a broad knowledge of the Daily Show fan base and what their lives were like 10 and 20 years after they graduated college. This would probably be difficult since Stewart has only been hosting the show since 1999.
The writer says Daily Show viewers enter the private sector instead of going into politics. I'm curious what most of today's top Democratic leaders did at a similar point in their lives. Well, Kerry went off to fight in Vietnam. Al Gore did the same. I don't really consider that starting a political career, but it is certainly not the private sector, so we'll ignore that one for now. Howard Dean went to medical school after college and started his practice (one might even call it a (private practice). As far as I can tell, Hillary Clinton had no political career until after her husband left office. Barbara Boxer worked as a stock broker and journalist, and was not elected to her first public office until 14 years after she graduated college. My point? Not everyone goes on a straight arrow path to politics.
In the interests of full disclosure, I also looked up Joe Leiberman, Jon Edwards, Barack Obama, and Dick Durbin, all of whom basically did follow the straight arrow path to politics. My point is not that no one follows the path, just that you don't have to go straight to law school to become a politician.
Anyway, my larger point is this: may Daily Show viewers can lead better lives and do more for the democratic party than by running for office. Personally, I think I would be a decent politician, except that my one major screw up that ever politician has at least one of would be more colossal than Dean's screaming fit after the 2004 primaries. Regardless, just because the best minds don't go into politics isn't necessarily a bad thing. I can do plenty by voting, being involved, and giving money without being a politician. In fact, I would say that I'm more likely to do so because of the Daily Show.
One final point: I do know many people who are graduating college and already have or are likely to go into the private sector. And many of these people have been fans of the Daily Show. But while it is to early to tell exactly where everyone will end up, I wouldn't be incredibly surprised if some of them ended up in politics. I know plenty Daily Show fans who are starting careers in religion, social work, education administration, etc. Not exactly Morgan Stanley and the private sector.
posted by Mike Oliver at 2:03 PM
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