who's the television host understands what matters most?
Oh my God, people, last night's Colbert Report! Obviously I'm a huge fangirl when it comes to Colbert so I am biased, but... seriously, is it just me or was that actually a potentially historic event? The political landscape being changed, right there, by this one political satirist on basic cable.
Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama. (And Edwards, who I kind of heart.) Two people who take their political aspirations very seriously: they want to be President, and they will fight to get there. They aren't joke candidates, they aren't even friends of Stephen's or anything. And yet... they both thought that it was more politically expedient to go on his show and attempt to be funny than to do, well, any of the bazillions of other things they could have done that night. But no big speeches or photo ops of them running up the Rocky steps or whatever: instead, we got Hilary Clinton pretending to mend the Report's screen and Barack Obama putting manufactured poitical distractions On Notice!
I mean, it was a campaign stop for them. These two people who have a decent chance at becoming arguably the most important person in the world went on a basic cable comedy show because they thought it was important. And sure, that meant it wasn't the best comedy ever - they were trying to make points, and it was no cooincidence that John Edwards, the only one who is no longer actually running, was by far the funniest of the three. (THE ED WORDS. Oh my GOD the love.) But they were there, and they weren't just sitting and reeling off soundbites - they actually tried to put their catchphrases and other key campaign messages into a comedy context. And I think that is one of the coolest things ever.
I really and seriously believe that one of the major problems America has been facing is not enough political comedy. Comedy as a way of formulating dissent and dissatisfaction has some downsides: it diffuses it to a certain extent, in that the comedy can be used as an excuse to ignore tha actual point, and comedy certainly isn't enough in and of itself. Also, making an institution of your satirists in the way Britain has can end up with those satirists becoming part of the establishment to the extent that they haven't got much anti-establishment stuff to say any more.
But in a country that takes its national myths so very, very seriously, having a safe way of expressing dissidence is incredibly important. If you're making fun, it's a lot harder for an accusation of being 'anti-American' to really stick. It can make the difference between a corrupt official brushing off a scandal, and being followed by incisive jokes about it until they resign - a difference I think we've already started seeing. It can give stuff like this consequences. And it's one of the best ways I can think of to point out the kind of utter fucking ridiculousness that a lot of American politics has. It also required of politicians a kind of self-awareness and an ability to not take themselves (rather than their policies) too seriously, which I think is really important. If we can get it so that 'ability to not freak out when your own ridiculousness is pointed out' becomes a necessary attribute for a candidate to have, we'll have gone a good way to at least starting to sort some important stuff out.
And we'll have the Fake News fandom, at least partly, to thank. Would these Presidential candidates have gone on the show if the Colbert Nation hadn't got Stephen a bridge named after him, hadn't made his portrait one of the most successful that the National Portrait Gallery had ever seen? I don't think so. Jon Stewart revamping the Daily Show started it, Stephen getting his own show continued it, and we... we finished it.
Fandom has arrived, people. If ever we doubted that the time of being invisible and insignificant was over, well, I think this just proved it.
(If you have no idea what I'm on about, you can watch it online. Go on, check it out. Have some history in the making.)
Other random stuff:
angua9 has been doing a series of posts about the differences between Democratic and Republican presidents of the USA. (Yes, today's political post is all about America. Uh... sorry?) They are interesting and have pretty graphs.
trinityofone has a fic that everybody who also thought Ashes to Ashes was slightly lacking something important should read. It is awesome.
Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama. (And Edwards, who I kind of heart.) Two people who take their political aspirations very seriously: they want to be President, and they will fight to get there. They aren't joke candidates, they aren't even friends of Stephen's or anything. And yet... they both thought that it was more politically expedient to go on his show and attempt to be funny than to do, well, any of the bazillions of other things they could have done that night. But no big speeches or photo ops of them running up the Rocky steps or whatever: instead, we got Hilary Clinton pretending to mend the Report's screen and Barack Obama putting manufactured poitical distractions On Notice!
I mean, it was a campaign stop for them. These two people who have a decent chance at becoming arguably the most important person in the world went on a basic cable comedy show because they thought it was important. And sure, that meant it wasn't the best comedy ever - they were trying to make points, and it was no cooincidence that John Edwards, the only one who is no longer actually running, was by far the funniest of the three. (THE ED WORDS. Oh my GOD the love.) But they were there, and they weren't just sitting and reeling off soundbites - they actually tried to put their catchphrases and other key campaign messages into a comedy context. And I think that is one of the coolest things ever.
I really and seriously believe that one of the major problems America has been facing is not enough political comedy. Comedy as a way of formulating dissent and dissatisfaction has some downsides: it diffuses it to a certain extent, in that the comedy can be used as an excuse to ignore tha actual point, and comedy certainly isn't enough in and of itself. Also, making an institution of your satirists in the way Britain has can end up with those satirists becoming part of the establishment to the extent that they haven't got much anti-establishment stuff to say any more.
But in a country that takes its national myths so very, very seriously, having a safe way of expressing dissidence is incredibly important. If you're making fun, it's a lot harder for an accusation of being 'anti-American' to really stick. It can make the difference between a corrupt official brushing off a scandal, and being followed by incisive jokes about it until they resign - a difference I think we've already started seeing. It can give stuff like this consequences. And it's one of the best ways I can think of to point out the kind of utter fucking ridiculousness that a lot of American politics has. It also required of politicians a kind of self-awareness and an ability to not take themselves (rather than their policies) too seriously, which I think is really important. If we can get it so that 'ability to not freak out when your own ridiculousness is pointed out' becomes a necessary attribute for a candidate to have, we'll have gone a good way to at least starting to sort some important stuff out.
And we'll have the Fake News fandom, at least partly, to thank. Would these Presidential candidates have gone on the show if the Colbert Nation hadn't got Stephen a bridge named after him, hadn't made his portrait one of the most successful that the National Portrait Gallery had ever seen? I don't think so. Jon Stewart revamping the Daily Show started it, Stephen getting his own show continued it, and we... we finished it.
Fandom has arrived, people. If ever we doubted that the time of being invisible and insignificant was over, well, I think this just proved it.
(If you have no idea what I'm on about, you can watch it online. Go on, check it out. Have some history in the making.)
Other random stuff:
angua9 has been doing a series of posts about the differences between Democratic and Republican presidents of the USA. (Yes, today's political post is all about America. Uh... sorry?) They are interesting and have pretty graphs.
trinityofone has a fic that everybody who also thought Ashes to Ashes was slightly lacking something important should read. It is awesome.