At the gym the other night, I was flipping through channels on my elliptical machine, and I came across and interview of Jon Stewart by Rachel Maddow, and I was instantly hooked.
Background: I used to dislike Jon Stewart, primarily for the reasons I heard him describing--he's a satirist, which doesn't necessarily build or isn't necessarily constructive. When I tried watching his show many, many years ago, I was extremely disgusted by most forms of cynicism, and I firmly believed the world had enough sarcastic, snide voices. I also used to see his criticism of right-wing or conservative political dialog or figures, and because I felt defensive, I decided he was antagonistic and was criticizing for popularity, and I wouldn't give him the reward of watching. However, my alignment or ideology has expanded, shifted, and been tempered over time, and I am no longer more defensive of republicans than democrats or vice versa (even though I honestly thought I was fair-minded before and didn't realize how much more defensive I was of republicans than democrats, for example). I still believe the world needs much less cynicism, but I now see Jon Stewart as more satirical than cynical, and despite my continuing insistence that we need more constructive conversation, or maybe because of it, I've been intrigued by his recent "rally to restore sanity" and his articulated reasons for it.
In this interview, I found myself nodding constantly. It doesn't negate the need to preserve "our way of life", or defend ourselves from enemies outside of and within our borders, or move forward in keeping government in check, etc. But what he says about the almost cartoonish "left vs. right" mentality, the role of Fox and MSNBC as 24-hour news agencies, Stewart's role as a comedic commentator on the news, etc is mostly exactly how I think of things. I guess it makes sense why he's grown on me as I've started perceiving his light-hearted efforts to point out folly in our news media culture today and taken that to something he hoped would be constructive like the rally at the Capitol.
I so wish there were more interviews like this out there, between two people disagreeing without getting snippy and shouting, agreeing on common ground without constantly needing to bring in sensationalized dichotomies and re-drawing battle lines, and setting aside defensiveness to say, "OK, that's a fair point," or, "Maybe. That may very well be." In our culture, we're so ridiculously fond of what we seem to think is 'conviction' that anything other than pompous posturing and closed-eared insistence is perceived as 'wishy washy' or 'skirting the issues', if not downright unintelligent, when I think quite the opposite.
Short version: Jon Stewart has been gaining a lot of points with me lately, and this interview is an example of why. And I had to give Rachel Maddow some credit for seemingly admitting to some exaggeration to make a point.
What I watched on Maddow's show was cut thematically, which you can find on her web site, as well as the full, unedited interview, which I've embedded below and recommend watching if/when you have the time:
3 comments:
I remember reading an interview of Jon Stewart years ago that really struck me- after the usual banter about satire and news, he made a striking comment. He basically said in spite of his cynicism, he really believed the majority of humankind was good. I think at face value, it may be easy to write him of as a skeptic/comedian who only produces "fake news". But really, what he does is a breath of fresh air compared to the hypocrisy and incongruity that most of the media exploits.
I don't know how much you caught of the rally, but I was really impressed by his speech at the end. He could have taken a political stance one way or the other, but instead he focused on a spirit of comraderie, urging Americans to work together. I really dig that.
I like john stewart. He's left leaning, but he satirizes both sides.
I also enjoyed this interview, and I like Jon. However one thing bugged me to no end.
This was no interview. Rachel used this as a "help me justify what I do" talk. Instead of asking questions, it was more of - "Here's what I do on my show, is that ok or good?"
I have seen her interview people before and do the same things she denied doing. Let's just say I'm no fan of Maddow.
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