The leftish side of the spectrum is, as one might predict, up in arms.. but the reality is that they should be happy. The real "victims" of this moronic diatribe are the conservatives.
I, for one, am so tired of Fox News and their ignorant, stupid rants - tarring conservatives as a whole as stupid knuckle-draggers.. I've said it before, but we cannot allow the identity of the party to be abducted by the extremely stupid.
Ok - while I've had enough with the irrelevant questioning of Minister Goodyear's position on evolution - the question has to be asked, uh, Steve - how the hell do you appoint a Minister of Science who is either so simple that he doesn't believe in evolution - or, more likely, is so concerned over the reaction of the simple fundamentalist Christian vote that he can't just say, "of course I believe in evolution".
Trust me. I know many, many, conservatives. They are most often very bright, considered, sensitive people who happen to believe in less government encouraging more independance. Better yet, some of them actually have a sense of humor - not like these "fart joke" officianados on Fox News.
Where are the Jon Stewarts and the Bill Maher's of the right.. guys who can laugh at liberal sensibilities, but aren't afraid of poking fun at their own political beliefs where it's warranted.
Don't tell me about Dennis Miller - his rants are, well, just that.. what ever happened to P.J. O'Rourke..
"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."
4 comments:
I think that you have nailed the issue on the head when you said Stewart and Maher make fun of their own.
There are conservative funny men and women, but whenever the politics comes first there is no second in humour. I think Stewart never forgets that the bottom line is funny and politics and media criticism is his foil. Maher often forgets this and that is when he is flat.
Too many conservatives think the message has to be first. They are very earnest or even zealous or even self-righteous which never works in comedy.
And that holds true for liberals as well. When is the last time you ever heard of a funny feminist or funny environmentalist?
You have to lighten up on the politics before you can lighten others up with politics.
"Where are the Jon Stewarts and the Bill Maher's of the right.."
You're serious? Bill Maher? The guy who dressed as a dead Steve Irwin for a Halloween party?
Do you watch any of the people you're talking about outside of youtube?
Yeah Ray - I watch Stewart and I watch Maher - though I have to say that, of late, I've found Maher more, well, overly zealous in his approach (see Religulous)..
Point is, however, that wit used in the right dose has a persuasive element to it.. and us conservatives, well, we've been a little low on humourous wit (witness the Youtube shennanegans)
..and I think you're point is excellent Ted - anyone who is a zealot, by definition, loses their own sense of humour.. and while it seems trivial, if we are not careful, conservatives have a certain zealot lobby that we cannot allow a great foothold, at risk of alienating the massive middle - who vote, variously, NDP, Liberal and Conservative.. but who don't want to see extremes by any party..
PJ O'Rourke can be found on NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me pretty often.
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