Classism in Liberal News Comedy

I don't think it's even that deep.

They found a winning strategy for ratings with Stewart, replicated it with Colbert - and started winning even more in the ratings. Now they've just been in a zombie-like state of pumping out shitty imitations.
 
Yes, there's some elitism on a part of left-leaning comedians.

However, when it comes to POLICY (you know, the shit that matters) the left is still very much on the side of the working class, as evinced by the rise of Bernie Sanders.

But the right is absolutely and completely wrapped up in identity politics so they'll continue to instead vote for guys that they'd like to have a beer with, go huntin' with, and that talk and look like them. Yeah, regressive taxation, stagnant wages, expensive healthcare, huge corporations getting bigger and bigger sound pretty awful but what are you gonna do, vote left? That's the side with fat lesbians and immigrants, fuck that!
 
What are some of Zizek better books?

Oliver is mostly annoying with all his screaming, but he does bring some very valid problems to light once in a while..
Colbert doesn´t have much relevance outside of comedy. That Byrne performance the other night was fucking amazing though.
The thing about Oliver is he follows the same damn pattern on every show. He brings up good points and highlights it, but his way of doing it and delivering the jokes, is insufferable. Despite that I agree with most of the positions he argues for, I've stopped watching him, cause his humour is frankly overbearing and obnoxious. Much like Linda from accounting! We know what you're doing Linda! That last part was to make an example of his laughable unfunny style of repetitive humour.

I don't think it's even that deep.

They found a winning strategy for ratings with Stewart, replicated it with Colbert - and started winning even more in the ratings. Now they've just been in a zombie-like state of pumping out shitty imitations.
A bit off topic.

Why do you have Christopher Hitchens as your avatar? I've been wondering about this whenever I see one of your posts. The man was a leftist and admitted Marxist. He also sympathised with the Palestinians and valued journalistic truth.
 
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This is a topic that has been bugging me recently and that I think could actually stoke some productive input from right wingers here that might otherwise be disposed towards more vapid criticism of liberals.


In the 2000s, liberal news comedy took hold to counterbalance the outrage propaganda model of Fox News. With men like Jon Stewart at the helm, it was supposed to make the center/center-left message more accessible to citizens who weren't captivated by the then-very dry CNN and MSNBC. However, with guys like Bill Maher, John Oliver, and Stephen Colbert, the latter two of which are very knowledgeable and policy-competent figureheads, the message has become increasingly (and more apparently) classist, most notably towards lower class and rural white citizens.

With passing jokes about how fast food tastes is disgusting (Stewart/Colbert), to Mountain Dew being radioactive waste (Oliver), to big chain retail stores being a cesspool for oddities (Maher), the liberal comedy news seems to more and more casually engage in, and saturate their message with, distinctly condescending and elitist commentary.

This, along with the effects of right populism, has helped strengthen the perception that the center-left, which by all policy bases much better represents the poor and advocates for their interests, is in fact the elitist network that actually forms the right-wing policy platform. Thus, instead of making the Democrats more palatable to the people they help and making their pragmatism more accessible, the exact opposite effect is seeming occur.


What do you think?

Liberals are the champions at the Victim Olympics.
 
It's a valid point and easily traced to the elitist make up of mainstream media. My vague recollection is that elite college education actually plays a much larger role in media gigs than most people realize and this probably includes writer's rooms where college students with fine arts degrees end up along their path up the Hollywood corporate food chain.

The high education levels of mainstream media behind the scenes, including the comedians, tends to get ignored because the talent in front of the screen isn't often chosen for educational background.

The result, as noted, is that you have rooms full of smart, often well-educated, people writing the dialogue that reflects their own narrow world experience and is in response to the criticism that they feel is being unfairly sent their way. Something of a feedback loop.
 
True, just like all those fancy Tae Kwon Do spin kicks, never turn your back on an opponent. Unless is a well timed spinning side kick or spinning hook, sometimes they're safe.

HA I was thinking TKD as well when I wrote that.

Spinning back fist and back elbow also sometimes ok.....
 
Me too

I got out early and went into kickboxing thank god.

There wasn't any good kickboxing gyms around when I was getting out of TKD. It sucks because I was damn good at TKD and I was already transitioning a lot of my style and kicks into Muay Thai. I took a few Muay Thai classes to refine the stance and kicks but that's it. I was starting to party a lot at that point in my life lol.

I was OBSESSED back around 1999-2005, but there were no MMA or BJJ gyms anywhere.
 
You got that NOW?

How many times has this video been posted here?



And never was there a leftist posting in those threads agreeing with it.

Little too late sunshine.

I also love how in this very thread TS and some other posters are smug without realizing it.

But that's not true, I even started a thread with that video in the OP two years ago because I thought he made great points.
 
You elected a reality tv personality as president you realize

And he's been about as bad and useless as I assumed he'd be. He hasn't sparked the change in the Democratic party I had hoped, but they seem pretty hopeless at this point. Just more of the same; they are doubling down on identity politics and playing the demographics long game.

None of that changes that looking for moral authority and any kind of deep thought from actors and comedians is pathetic. Or that Trostsky is the usual liberal out of touch elitist while totally claiming he isn't.
 
There wasn't any good kickboxing gyms around when I was getting out of TKD. It sucks because I was damn good at TKD and I was already transitioning a lot of my style and kicks into Muay Thai. I took a few Muay Thai classes to refine the stance and kicks but that's it. I was starting to party a lot at that point in my life lol.

I was OBSESSED back around 1999-2005, but there were no MMA or BJJ gyms anywhere.

Yeah that was just pre MMA explosion. MT is obv the shit (real kickboxing) But maybe u should have done boxing and/or judo.

I was lucky in 1990, before the UFC even existed I was lucky to find a small kickboxing gym that had just opened up called Tri Star Gym in MTL (now one of the top mma games in NA).

Of course it's never to late lol.
 
Despite being center-right, I was always a fan of John Stewart. But the one time I remember getting butthurt over something he said was during a bit about immigration reform. Something along the lines of "If an illegal immigrant is taking your job, you suck to begin with." My immediate reaction was along the lines of "Fuck you, needle dick! So sorry that my uncle, the house painter, and my cousins, the deckbuilders and landscapers, couldn't apply themselves and get a comedy writing gig on 90s MTV to parlay into replacing Craig Kilborn like all the winners of the world did. Schmuck."
 
This is the politically ugly side of you, @Trotsky, trying to undermine the moderate left establishment as it fights for the soul of the country against a major evil. It's detestable.
 
This is the politically ugly side of you, @Trotsky, trying to undermine the moderate left establishment as it fights for the soul of the country against a major evil. It's detestable.

I don't know if this is serious or not.
 
@Fawlty

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