DC Trawler

Great Moments in Civility, with your host Jon Stewart

Font Size:

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS CIVIL, MODERATE LANGUAGE. PLUS A BUNCH OF F-BOMBS.]

I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching ever since Jon Stewart’s brilliant closing statement on Saturday. It was kind of a long speech and I didn’t understand much of it, probably because he’s a genius and I’m stupid. But here’s a bit of it:

I can’t control what people think this [rally] was. I can only tell you my intentions. This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith. Or people of activism or to look down our noses at the heartland or passionate argument or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear. They are and we do. But we live now in hard times, not end times. And we can have animus and not be enemies.

Unfortunately, one of our main tools in delineating the two broke. The country’s 24-hour politico pundit panic conflict-onator did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems and illuminate problems heretofore unseen, or it can use its magnifying glass to light ants on fire, and then perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden, unexpected dangerous-flaming-ant epidemic. If we amplify everything, we hear nothing…

The press is our immune system. If it overreacts to everything we eventually get sicker. And perhaps eczema…

And then there was this weird metaphor about people being like cars in traffic and needing to cooperate in order to get through a tunnel, and a bunch of other stuff that sounded like he was making it up as he went along because he’s scary-smart. But I think the main message Jon Stewart was trying to send is that everybody needs to cool it. Things have become so polarized, but it doesn’t need to be this way. Don’t let the people on TV turn us against one another. We should all try to treat each other with respect and, as he so eloquently phrased it, not let our animus make us enemies.

Y’know.

Like this.

Or this.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Governor Palin Clarification
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Rally to Restore Sanity

This was a good one, of course.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Obama Must Pass a Health Care Bill
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Rally to Restore Sanity

And who could forget this?

So let’s amend that: We can have animus and not be enemies, unless it’s guaranteed to trigger an applause break from an adoring studio audience. We should all try to get along and respect each other, unless you just don’t like the other person. Be nice, unless you think being a jerk will get a laugh.

And if you’ve got a problem with that? Well, I think you know the answer to that one:

Go have a nice day for yourself.

P.S. Salman Rushdie: “I’ve always liked Stewart and Colbert but what on earth was Cat Yusuf Stevens Islam doing on that stage? If he’s a ‘good Muslim’ like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar then I’m the Great Pumpkin. Happy Halloween.”

P.P.S. Big Hollywood’s John Nolte defends Keith Olbermann from Jon Stewart’s sanctimony. Somehow I don’t think he should expect a thank-you note from Keith…

P.P.P.S. James Taranto: “Stewart is smart and talented, often entertaining and sometimes interesting. But he is a creature of the ‘conflictinator.’ His claim to be an opponent of it is a fraud. The more charitably inclined will call it an ironic pose, but it’s phony either way.”

Jim Treacher

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel