PATRICE GREANVILLE
The canonization of Jon Stewart proves he’s really no threat to the masters of the universe he pretends to skewer.
[dropcap]J[/dropcap]on Stewart is retiring! The long announced departure of this comic is hitting some preternaturally shallow types as if Krakatoa had just blown up again, this time taking a big chunk of Asia, or even something close to a personal tragedy. Starbucks may have to hang crepe for a day or so longer to suitably honor the massive mourning.
As insensitive oafs, forgive us for not joining the procession. In fact, we’ll do the exact opposite: we’ll celebrate Stewart’s retirement by reposting a classic, the hard to surpass analysis by Steve Almond of what Jon Stewart and his protegé Stephen Colbert really represent in the chaotic maelstrom of American culture. As Almond astutely notes, far from actually serving a newsworthy role, let alone consistently educating mass audiences by criticizing the empire…Stewart and Colbert are trivializers of evil, their legacy …one of defanging the truth about systemic evil by hurling toothless parody at it. But the real mark of approval by the power elites is that their media—besides bestowing on these figures global fame and employment at royal salaries—can’t seem to stop hurling bucketfuls of praise in their direction. Goes without saying that, while Stewart and Colbert get drenched in accolades for their antics, real critics of the emperor are confined to obscurity, poverty and often persecution.
The existence of Stewart and Colbert buttresses the empire’s claim to real democracy and freedom
We have stated on a number of occasions that when a system gets to be as monstrously gargantuan as America’s, it can literally have its cake and eat it too. The American edifice of power is so huge that observers are often confused by seeing different branches of the US government apparently doing and saying things that contradict each other, while the lethal and shady business goes on as usual.
In this context, with a machinery of self-justifying propaganda approaching near perfection, the system can boast another quiet triumph for its ability—in reality its having the luxury—to tolerate instances of radical dissent, not to mention the pseudo radical arrows loosed by the likes of Messrs.Stewart and Colbert. The irony in all this is that precisely by brooking a radical but politically impotent and negligible fringe (which has the correct take on reality but suffers from minuscule reach), the system propagandists can crow over the strength and virtues of America’s democracy and freedom, the envy of the world. Aha, the citadel on the hill still shines!
In the case of these two comics, the political payoff is magnified. For while the true left is allowed to operate relatively unmolested due to its sheer obscurity and harmlessness, Stewart and Colbert’s putative radicalism, long classified as ineffectual by the powers that be, can be marshaled around the world as proof conclusive that in America free speech is alive, well and thriving! That’s one helluva gift for a system beginning to be perceived by many as scandalously lacking in legitimacy.
Meanwhile, back at the barn, the media hacks dutifully discharge their duties. Beware of lavish praise by the system’s whores.
Patrice Greanville is The Greanville Post’s founding editor.
FACT TO REMEMBER:
IF THE WESTERN MEDIA HAD ITS PRIORITIES IN ORDER AND ACTUALLY INFORMED, EDUCATED AND UPLIFTED THE MASSES INSTEAD OF SHILLING FOR A GLOBAL EMPIRE OF ENDLESS WARS, OUTRAGEOUS ECONOMIC INEQUALITY, AND DEEPENING DEVASTATION OF NATURE AND THE ANIMAL WORLD, HORRORS LIKE THESE WOULD HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED MANY YEARS, PERHAPS DECADES AGO. EVERY SINGLE DAY SOCIAL BACKWARDNESS COLLECTS ITS OWN INNUMERABLE VICTIMS.
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Patrice, I’m not sure that I agree with your condemnation of Stewart for being a false radical. I don’t think he ever claimed to be a radical. And I don’t think it’s possible to be a radical on any major US commercial television channel. If a news anchor gets up and tells his audience that capitalism is a bad idea, how many auto manufacturers and toothpaste manufacturers will want to sponsor him with commercials? Zero, I would think. If you want real radicalism, you have to go to RT and the internet. I can see two possible explanations for why… Read more »
I totally agree with Patrice
Actually, Eric, my commentary on these two guys was just a warmup for the real meal, the article penned by Steve Almond, to which I refer, which lays out the reasons for being critical of Stewart and Colbert in much more nuanced and cogent ways than I was able to present. Our role as social and political critics cannot be deflected by considerations of whether these people were or are themselves victims of the brainwash afflicting just about everyone in America…or not. In the negative, they then acted cynically and should have realized that they were in reality fortifying the… Read more »
Incidentally, I am almost certain that Stephen Colbert, recently crowned the new monarch of nightime tv, inheriting Letterman’s niche, will become even more irrelevant. There is no way he will be able to seriously tackle anything worth tackling in that venue, and if he does, as Eric suggests (and in that I concur) his gig will be cut painfully short. I would be interested to learn more about the small and dirty details of his deal with CBS, what he was allowed to do, per contractual terms, and not do. How much effective topical independence he retains, etc. These are… Read more »
David Bain 6 August 15:37 I haven’t been following the Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert shows, but of the little I’ve seen of them, I have come to see them as on my side as a leftist. Therefore your opening comment that “The canonization of Jon Stewart proves he’s really no threat to the masters of the universe he pretends to skewer.” is counterintuitive. Who is canonizing him? How does that prove he is no threat? The answer is not obvious, but unfortunately, it is predictable. If the Greanville Post can be countered on to skewer everybody that the majority… Read more »
People slightly left of center are not “the left” David. They are liberals. Second, the “canonization” I speak of is evident in the petals thrown at Stewart in the video by CBS This Morning I include in my post, typical of the opinion you see reflected in numerous mentions of Stewart and his retirement. All accolades. BTW, I am for once—lest I be accused of totally lacking in humour—using the word “canonization” satirically. Laughing and not laughing with them is irrelevant to the discussion, what Almond and I are pointing out, their less obvious role. Political actors—conscious and unconscious—discharge roles… Read more »