Farewell to thee, Jon Stewart.
His last episode hosting “The Daily Show” is almost upon us and everyone seems to be rushing to get in their own personal, teary-eyed tribute to the funny man before he signs off for good.
For many outlets, it’s the least they can do for a man who served up instant clickbait with every reposted “Daily Show” clip. But while his monologues were a steady source of content for left-leaning sites, Stewart admirers can be found all over the political spectrum.
That shouldn’t be any surprise given the departing host’s popular persona. As all the tributes make abundantly clear, Stewart wasn’t just a funny man — he was our country’s voice of reason.
When Fox News, Sarah Palin and other nefarious villains were out spreading un-truths and sowing discord in the land, Stewart would come down from his perch in New York City to slay the foul beasts armed only with his courage and wit.
He was, in the view of his many adoring fans, a bold truth teller and a dispeller of bullshit. He was neither of the left nor the right, but of the reasonable center. The last honest newsman’s only desire was to restore sanity to a nation torn apart by demagogues from both sides of the aisle.
Sadly for his fans, this image is not only false, it’s completely off the mark. Unfortunately for our country, though, millions of Americans have bought into this con and many young Americans receive their news straight from the desk of Comedy Central’s “World News Headquarters.”
Whenever Stewart is confronted with the fact that he has the responsibility to tell the news accurately, he would always deflect and claim he’s not a real journalist and that his show was preceded by prank-calling puppets and potty-mouthed third-graders.
Stewart is right about himself — he’s not a journalist. Instead of trying to emulate the traditional journalist’s goal of “comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable,” the part-time comic did the opposite.
His monologues and skits were always designed to reaffirm the views of urban elites, while heaping scorn upon the poor rubes who live out in flyover country.
With his moralizing tone and snarky one-liners, Stewart would unleash an almighty mockery upon the unlucky souls who found themselves in his crosshairs to the wild cheers and laughs of his audience. Utilizing selective facts and soundbites, the host would let his audience know that the targets of his satires are lying liars and have the wrong kind of politics.
While the “newsman” was stereotyped as a truth-teller, he had a habit of getting things wrong, such as facts about the Ferguson shooting and Trayvon Martin. But those slip-ups didn’t matter to his cosmopolitan audience who tuned into “The Daily Show” not for truth, but for bias reassurance.
The best example of the role “TDS” served for its urban elite fans were the taped interviews conducted by the show’s “correspondents.” Featuring heavily-edited footage, deceptive questioning and a reliance on the worst representatives for various causes, the reports intentionally went out to skewer any person who might support something like voter ID or the Washington Redskins.
As the audience howled and jeered, the spliced clips would paint the individual as a moron who says hilariously ignorant things. Thanks to the magic of 21st century video editing and hours upon hours of interview reel, “TDS” correspondents were able to cobble together five-minute segments of pure character assassination and malicious deception.
While Stewart liked to imagine himself as a watchdog of the powerful, most of his targets were television personalities, conservative pundits, private citizens and Middle America in general. In other words, people who don’t have that much power in our society. He never dared to call out multinational corporations screwing over the American worker or race hustlers who make millions stirring up hate.
In fact, it turned out the comedian had private meetings with the most powerful man in the world — to help get the president’s agenda out to the public. And the unbiased, incorruptible Stewart did just that for his pal in the White House.
But all of this power-stroking and deceptive mockery could be justified by the notion that Stewart and his compatriots were doing it on behalf of the mainstream consensus. Even though he was really just a liberal playing a centrist, many believed that he truly represented the opinion of America’s not-so-silent majority and that his enemies were genuinely hurting the country with polarization and demagoguery.
In reality, the only consensus Stewart presented was the consensus of the elite. His worldview was fundamentally opposed to that of Middle America and limited to the prevalent mindset of the Northeast Corridor.
Stewart’s job wasn’t to check on the actions of those in power, but to be an arbiter of respectable opinion. Those views and individuals mocked were outside the perimeters of respectability, while those who laughed could pat themselves on the back for holding the proper prejudices.
NEXT PAGE: Just Another Old, White Man On The Left
But, unfortunately for Stewart, he’s now just an old, white man in the eyes of the left. In the age of social justice warriors and Black Lives Matter protesters, the left-wing vanguard no longer wants a condescending white guy to hand down the make-believe consensus. They want their own particular grievances aired in the most politically correct fashion possible.
These “activists” tried to hunt down his cohort Stephen Colbert for wading outside the confines of political correctness, and it was bound to happen to Stewart himself someday. Especially when he would tell black staffers who dared insinuate the honest newsman was being racially insensitive to “fuck off.”
Sure, Stewart tried to keep up with the far-left times and worked hard to promote the ridiculous concept of white privilege to his audience. In the end, though, he’s still just an old white guy trying to speak up for a non-existent center.
The new generation of lefty television comics don’t even bother to maintain that illusion. John Oliver goes on full-throttled progressive rants that no one will ever mistake as representing the “mainstream consensus.” Amy Schumer plays entirely to her own special interest group and has managed to transform the petty issues of upper-class white women into injustices demanding immediate resolution. (RELATED: Amy Schumer Is The Perfect Voice For Gun Control)
Stewart can’t engage in this material and still come across as the voice of reason. That’s why he’s handing his mic over to Trevor Noah, who has both the credentials and material to become the next spokesman for social justice warriors.
However, Noah doesn’t appear to have the humor to sustain “The Daily Show’s” large audience, and it’s likely he will bomb. Sadly, that will only make Stewart look greater in the eyes of history.
It’s good to see the smarmy man behind the comedy desk leave after 16 years of faux moderation and reaffirming elite bias.
But his false legacy will still linger, and too many reasonable people will still see him as the man who told it like it is — even though his reality always conformed to what the powers that be wanted to believe.