Andrew Potter at Mediaite took a serious swipe at Jon Stewart this week, dragging “The Daily Show” host over the proverbial coals for not doing his job in the wake of the Tucson massacre:
[Stewart] …instead of taking sides, placing blame, and ultimately doing the satirist’s crucial job of holding a mirror up to power, … took the safest route imaginable and blamed the media…
To quote Stewart: “Really? Really?”
Stewart did place the blame — on the deranged shooter himself, exactly where it should be. Unless he’s got some evidence to the contrary, Potter should come to the same reasonable conclusion. But it looks like he has other sampler platter items to fry, all while trying to shield what is perhaps the most pervasive entity in American culture–the media–from social criticism. Absurd.
The media represents significant power in this country and it is the last thing that should be exempt from scrutiny. In a classic conundrum, to fight power you must amass power. The media has been a powerful influence for a long time; it is not some romantic “truth to power” enterprise. Much of the media has descended into partisan cliques whose legitimacy erodes more each day. Has the media forgotten that with power comes responsibility, not an exemption from criticism? Do J-Schools teach this, or only as it relates to left wing agendas? Stewart did the safe thing … Really? I disagree; chugging the commentariat Kool-Aid is the safe thing, not going against it. Railing against the right, conservatives, Sarah Palin, guns… that’s the easy thing to do … telling your own that they are acting like buffoons takes much more conviction and a much larger pouch.
Also problematic in the above statement is the idea that Stewart blamed the media. Stewart was merely making a point and a pretty astute one: some in the media (since it is made of individuals who exercise free choice) often express themselves in somewhat deranged ways, something Potter apparently agrees with as evidenced by him taking shots at Keith Olbermann and Bill O’Reilly. Stewart was accusing some in the news media/commentariat, not of the murders, but of making reckless claims in the wake of a national tragedy … exactly as any honest person would. There are no larger forces at play that are able to compel somebody to act with as much forethought as the Tucson shooter did, unless you find the plot to “Zoolander” plausible. Judging by some of the loony theorizing taking place recently, it seems like many in the media do. Perhaps we should start calling Glenn Beck “Little Cletus.”
Potter then throws the cheese sticks and mushrooms into the deep fryer. A partisan jab on gun control:
Gee thanks Jon. You know what would be nice? If Republicans weren’t hell-bent on gutting every serious attempt at legislation that would keep semi-automatic pistols with 30-round clips out of the hands of lunatics.
Really? Really?
If a lunatic wants a gun, he or she is going to get a gun. There are approximately 300 million (yes, million, a whole bunch of frickin’ zeros) firearms in the United States, including 100 million handguns. They will continue to exist. The horse is out of the barn. The cat is out of the bag. That ship done sailed. No use crying over spilled milk. One lunatic going postal does not warrant reactionary caterwauling over gun policy. This is a free society and part of that means private gun ownership. There is no way around that, unless we can get Mr. Peabody and Sherman to take us back in time to eliminate the invention of firearms entirely… or turn this country into the Soviet Frickin’ Union. People would then most likely begin complaining about the number of spikes on the end of each flail and cudgel.
On this issue of media blame, Potter is either confused or calculating. Stewart and Victor Davis Hanson–who also draws Potter’s ire for allegedly “mocking” any attempt to tie the Tucson shooter to the American Right–are not blaming the media for anything other than becoming a living, breathing Onion parody. Stewart and Hanson are criticizing the media for their irresponsible and sickening blame hustling in the wake of a terrible tragedy. This is exactly what they should be doing in our free society. All reasonable Americans want is an honest debate and honest reporting, not partisan scat like Potter presents here. In this instance, Stewart offered that; Potter does not.
The fact is that the media turned this latest episode into a conjectural, partisan, ultimately damaging circus. Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Michael Savage and others were all absurdly branded as somehow at least partially responsible for this tragedy. I don’t think any reasonable person would claim that such accusations are above scrutiny, yet Potter chucks the chicken wings and toasted ravioli into the bubbling oil, calling Stewart a:
failed satirist, the TV-host equivalent to a dying stand-up comedian picking on the fat guy in the front row…
Really? Really?
If the media is indeed the “fat guy” in the front row, it definitely needs to be picked on more often so it will stop inhaling partisan Twinkies and “truth to power but only if it’s GOP” pies like they’re about to be confiscated by the New Food Police. Obviously the media isn’t getting any more responsible so perhaps it’s time to open up a big ol’ can of tough love on it like Bill and Bess Gluckman and say, “You’re fat; lose some weight” … from both sides of the aisle. Stewart’s right on this one, and he gets a lot of credit for saying what he said, especially considering he’s part of what he’s criticizing. In layman’s terms, that takes balls… big balls.
I’ll even humor this a little further, since it is apparently absurd to deny a connection between the Tucson massacre and the “right wing”. If a connection simply must be made, which is more likely, that the deranged Tucson shooter saw that map on Sarah Palin’s facebook page (did he even have a facebook account?), paid close attention to Tea Party rhetoric (he attended Democrat functions, right? Hardly Tea Partyish, no?), or that he heard some of the inane histrionics from the likes of Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz or any of the other hyperbolic left wing pundits who saturate our airwaves daily? Unless you have the IQ of a waffle slathered in butter pecan syrup, the better odds are on the latter, who have spewed some of the most vicious, hateful rhetoric I have ever heard in mainstream media. The mistake many in the media made is to tie this idea in with the Tea Party and the right wing, as Potter does here, immediately making the whole thing a partisan hack job. So, even though blaming the right wing or political rhetoric at all is asinine to begin with, even when humored, it doesn’t stand up to even moderate scrutiny. I’ve heard more sound prosecutorial arguments from Dan Fielding on Night Court.
Either way, the reasoning is idiotic and I’d be a loon also for promoting such an idea. One man is responsible for the crime: the criminal himself. Case closed, end of story. Stewart hit the spike squarely on the head. I can honestly say for the first time listening to Stewart I said to myself, “Right on, brother. Well done.”
Therefore … game, set, match: Stewart, Hanson and anyone else who is criticizing the media regarding this episode, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 (yes, a five setter, that’s why dudes used to get paid more than chicks at the Grand Slams).
Really.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.