Great post #51063 from Carolyn on thankyoustephencolbert.org

[gristy]

http://thankyoustephencolbert.org/wordpress/?p=3&cp=2554#comments

51063
Carolyn Says:
May 6th, 2006 at 10:17 pm

Thanks, oh thanks, for this. I have been so put out and discouraged by the published response to Saturday night. The problem is that SC and the Daily Show are no longer just fun satire. The writing for both is magnificent, the analysis of what is wrong in this country cuts to the bone–and it is done with such sophistication. Both shows have risen above their stated purpose of entertainment to meet the challenge of our tragic political state, the rapid deterioration of our democracy into an empire with enough poisonous baggage to pollute the whole planet. The truth is melting as fast as the glaciers, and the faster the slide, the more crucial becomes the accuaracy and courage of the Daily Show staff. They are a rallying point, a news gatherer, a place to “daily” restore the souls of all “the people” who are trying to keep our sinking democracy afloat. And the reason the audience last Saturday night did not laugh is not because they are political people, but because they are media savants. They are so impressed with themselves and each other, and so focused on what everyone else is saying (so that they don’t miss a step or get out of step)–note that the next morning everyone feels the same and writes the same–that they no longer know what truth is or care whether it exists. It is the media, the MEDIATION of truth, that Stephen Colbert attacked and analysizes so well. (Saying, for example, with a straight face, that 68% of Americans approve of what the President is NOT doing, and this administration is soaring, rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg.) After you’ve listened to this kind of thing for awhile, you begin to see how the media folk do it. Saying things backward, covering an illogical statement with a tone that conveys confidence and enthusiasm, so that you hear the tone, not the content. (Rush Limbaugh is a master of self-importance, and making self-importance sound like real importance.) When you’ve finished with the day’s clacking heads, and you feel uneasy, used, misled, you can go to the Daily folks and find out how they did it, what they did to you and your perception of the truth. Stephen Colbert was not trying to be funny. He was trying to show media people how naked and stupid they look by risking his own self-presentation in order to make something laughable that he knew would not (in that context) get him laughs. He cut through the crap to the facts about everyone in that dressed up and inflated and irrelevant crowd. The time for an annual civil evening of fun for advesarial media and leadership is long gone. We are indeed rearranging deck chairs. It is time for someone with stunning intelligence and stirring courage, to tell us the name of that DECK! I thought Stephen Colbert was incredibly brave, and breathlessly successful. I am in his debt and honored to be on the same Hindenburg with him. The praise was not, could not be, strong enough.
There. I feel better. But how long will it be before our nation feels better?

Carolyn
P.S. God’s revenge–he made Stephen cute!!!

[justgamma]

1. Good one! My favorite is

from Mike. Post 46272

"Bravo! Since 1776, 43 men have called the White House their home (44 if we include Jeff Gannon).

Let no one — irrespective of race, creed, gender, or attitude towards argyle sox — ever cast doubt upon the inescapable wonder of this truth we hold to be self-evident: George W. Bush has been one of them.

Your ringing tribute will resonate from sea to shining sea long after the last three-sheets-to-the-wind stenographer. . .I mean “journalist,” has stumbled out of the room."