Friday, June 23, 2006
Unconventional Lack Of Wisdom
Richard Morin, columnist for the Washington Post asks if Jon Stewart is an enemy of democracy.
As if comedy were the problem with politics in this country.
I think we should reduce this a little further and discuss the problem closer to its root, which Morin himself mentions in his post:
To me this article sounds a little like an older brother blaming the younger for flushing the youngest sister's Barbie clothes down the toilet.
The reason that young people do not vote is because they have no political awareness. That is because they don't read newspapers or watch the news. Why is that? Yes, part of it is the generation's near complete lack of attention span, but there is no way that is accounting for all of it.
Frankly, the mainstream media, Mr. Morin included don't seem up to the challenge of hooking my generation with reporting that is worth our time. This is why someone like myself has turned to the blogosphere for my daily information, where I know I will find engaging and insightful reporting. Because despite what Mr. Morin and others of older eras think of us, we really are an information hungry generation. The older generations are charged with getting that info to us, and a lot of the time they are failing in their role.
So my advice to these reporters, and mainstream media in general:
Do a better job, or continuously be pestered by the Achilles heel that is the mighty Jon Stewart.
As if comedy were the problem with politics in this country.
I think we should reduce this a little further and discuss the problem closer to its root, which Morin himself mentions in his post:
That's particularly dismaying news because the show is hugely popular among college students, many of whom already don't bother to cast ballots.Why does he think that is? Can that also be blamed on Jon Stewart? Or perhaps the Onion or Saturday Night Live; or any late night talk show for that matter? The list of those who parody every aspect of our government each and every day goes on and on.
To me this article sounds a little like an older brother blaming the younger for flushing the youngest sister's Barbie clothes down the toilet.
The reason that young people do not vote is because they have no political awareness. That is because they don't read newspapers or watch the news. Why is that? Yes, part of it is the generation's near complete lack of attention span, but there is no way that is accounting for all of it.
Frankly, the mainstream media, Mr. Morin included don't seem up to the challenge of hooking my generation with reporting that is worth our time. This is why someone like myself has turned to the blogosphere for my daily information, where I know I will find engaging and insightful reporting. Because despite what Mr. Morin and others of older eras think of us, we really are an information hungry generation. The older generations are charged with getting that info to us, and a lot of the time they are failing in their role.
So my advice to these reporters, and mainstream media in general:
Do a better job, or continuously be pestered by the Achilles heel that is the mighty Jon Stewart.
