Classism in Liberal News Comedy

[Jack V Savage]

I think this is actually a function of privilege induced blindness: class privilege to be precise. White liberals doing the brow beating are fairly well off and adapted to the changing economy. They don't seem to have the skin in the game necessary to make the left counter argument to what the right is putting down. Hillary lost because the midwest collapsed, and only just. Did she even do any speaking tours in Ohio or Wisconsin? That they might have the better argument for the working class doesn't really matter if the way it's argued is ''if this doesn't make sense, you're a retard.''

If you put that up against a guy who says he's going to make America great again, he's going to bring back your long lost coal mine job, he's going to protect you from everything that right wing social media is saying you should be afraid of, absent a powerful counterargument you can't really blame people for throwing the die on obergruppenfuhrer cheeto.

I think there's a kind of sour grapes spiral dynamic going on all over the place. A party doesn't get the votes of a group and then expresses contempt for that group, which then becomes less likely to vote for them still, etc. That's Republicans and minorities and academics and Democrats and poor (especially Southern) whites. But it's a bigger mistake for Democrats because there's a mismatch between policy and identity (they have policy ideas that benefit people who vote against them for identity reasons).

 

[HomerThompson]

What if I just really hate stupidity and ignorance, and it happens to cluster with poverty? I'm not trying to be elitist, but nihilism comes to those of us on the left as well.

 

[Farmer Br0wn]

Figured it was a public sector union, any time I hear or read complaints about a union its usually a public sector one.

Thankfully the private sector decided it was done dealing with this kind of nonsense.

 

[ManCityFC9]

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?

While I do not agree with the theory that center-left policies are "much" better for the poor, these policies do serve/represent their immediate interests, and what you denoted as elitist tones from entertainment/political figures did play a major role in 2016 and overall democratic party perception.

The truth is the tone by these entertainment figures echo most of the left's disposition of the "lower class", particularly those in rural America. The tone ostracizes a large portion of this country, as well as marginalizes their value and opinion of the current political spectrum.

You're definitely onto something; while events such as:
Comey investigation on H.Clinton,
Trump's charisma during the campaign,
Hillary's "deplorables" comment
are deemed as causes; the liberal elitist posture and condescending tone over the past decade has really led to many socioeconomically lower class citizens to run in the opposite direction.
-The sad part is that this tone is not getting any better; with a focus on Trump and his tweets, a national committee found to sabotage one of its biggest candidates(B-Sand), a general identity politics divisive approach, and an obstructionist stance in the house during the Trump presidency, the Left will not be changing anytime soon.
--Schumer's whiny voice and Pelosi's refusal to let go of or modify leadership is not helping either.

You guys need new blood and people willing to actually negotiate and compromise
-And not the sham of a compromise in the Senate last month where both parties agreed to spend more money on their own parties broad interests.

 

[Prokofievian]

I think there's a kind of sour grapes spiral dynamic going on all over the place. A party doesn't get the votes of a group and then expresses contempt for that group, which then becomes less likely to vote for them still, etc. That's Republicans and minorities and academics and Democrats and poor (especially Southern) whites. But it's a bigger mistake for Democrats because there's a mismatch between policy and identity (they have policy ideas that benefit people who vote against them for identity reasons).

I think that makes sense. I would say it's even more disastrous for the democrats because there are so many more poor/working class whites who are concentrated in their own power bases. Further, the idea of the liberal elite who don't really like the poor, but just hate the rich that everyone is so willing to suck Jordan Peterson's cock over is also a nice piece of ready made rhetoric that is at least as old as the late Roman republic.

 

[Devout Pessimist]

@Trotsky

You may appreciate the late Christopher Lasch (He is one of my favourite thinkers). He studied Marx, was extremely critical of capitalism, but hated leftist radicals with a passion. This is a paragraph he wrote in an essay criticizing the Right (written in 1987):

The left, which until recently has regarded itself as the voice of the "forgotten man,” has lost the common touch. Failing to create a popular consensus in favor of its policies, the left has relied on the courts, the federal bureaucracy, and the media to achieve its goals of racial integration, affirmative action, and economic equality. Ever since World War II, it has used essentially undemocratic means to achieve democratic ends, and it has paid the price for this evasive strategy in the loss of public confidence and support. Increasingly isolated from popular opinion, liberals and social democrats attempt to explain away opposition to economic equality as “working class authoritarianism,” status anxiety, resentment, “white racism,” male chauvinism, and proto-fascism. The left sees nothing but bigotry and superstition in the popular defense of the family or in popular attitudes regarding abortion, crime, busing, and the school curriculum. The left no longer stands for common sense, as it did in the days of Tom Paine. It has come to regard common sense—the traditional wisdom and folkways of the community—as an obstacle to progress and enlightenment. Because it equates tradition with prejudice, it finds itself increasingly unable to converse with ordinary people in their common language. Increasingly it speaks its own jargon, the therapeutic jargon of social science and the service professions that seems to serve mostly to deny what everybody knows.


Source:

What's Wrong With the Right?

 

[Devout Pessimist]

Here is Chris Hedges tearing idiots like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert a new asshole:

 

[Devout Pessimist]

I cannot stand watching/listening to that fucker talk.

I enjoy reading him in print, but that's it. Any other medium is exhausting

If you have read one of Zizek's countless books, then you have read them all.

 

[all caps]

You can't even use the carrot with these guys. You move the conversation firmly into their court and they still cannot engage in mature conversation.

I, for one, appreciate it.

 

[all caps]

I believe I've posted my stance on the matter, many times now.

In short: Welcome to 2014, Liberals. In case you're just getting the message now, Donald Trump is President. Your smug douchbaggery was rejected. Shocking, I know. @Trotsky, a Liberal, in 2018, just made a thread about recognizing this. I think his thread is shit. The end.

Shouldnt this be an opportunity to have real talk about something you say you saw a while ago, and others are just now seeing? I don't see the point in trying to keep the fight going. Isnt the goal to get the other side to see your point?

 

[HereticBD]

Shouldnt this be an opportunity to have real talk about something you say you saw a while ago, and others are just now seeing? I don't see the point in trying to keep the fight going. Isnt the goal to get the other side to see your point?

They refuse to see the point. It's not like this hasn't been brought to their attention before. They don't see it as an issue, and they never will.

The actual problem isn't that they don't know that they're smug. They know it. They relish in it. They feel that their self affirmation of a position of moral and intellectual superiority, entitles them to be smug. That's a problem that has to fixed from within, and if Donald Trump becoming President didn't make them pause for even a second for self reflection, nothing ever will.

 

[HomerThompson]

You're talking to a guy who thinks a coalition with socialists is more optimal than a coalition with the more classical liberals of the west.

He's an agent....

An agent?

 

[Brazilian HKD]

I cannot stand watching/listening to that fucker talk.

I enjoy reading him in print, but that's it. Any other medium is exhausting

I quite enjoy it. He looks like a hedgehog, sounds like sylvester the cat ,cusses like a sailor and has a mind of a genius. What not to like ( even if I disagree with a lot of what he says)

 

[Farmer Br0wn]

I have no idea why they do it. Neither did Chomsky circa 2009.

I can see why Chomsky would be confused.

Everything he said from 6:50-7:47 was the complete opposite of reality. The rest of the video is fine, but you could actually take the exact inverse of what he was saying from 6:50-7:47, and you would arrive much closer to the truth.

If someone is unable to properly identify concepts, they will be unable to properly identify solutions.

 

[The ScorpioN]

@Trotsky

You may appreciate the late Christopher Lasch (He is one of my favourite thinkers). He studied Marx, was extremely critical of capitalism, but hated leftist radicals with a passion. This is a paragraph he wrote in an essay criticizing the Right (written in 1987):

The left, which until recently has regarded itself as the voice of the "forgotten man,” has lost the common touch. Failing to create a popular consensus in favor of its policies, the left has relied on the courts, the federal bureaucracy, and the media to achieve its goals of racial integration, affirmative action, and economic equality. Ever since World War II, it has used essentially undemocratic means to achieve democratic ends, and it has paid the price for this evasive strategy in the loss of public confidence and support. Increasingly isolated from popular opinion, liberals and social democrats attempt to explain away opposition to economic equality as “working class authoritarianism,” status anxiety, resentment, “white racism,” male chauvinism, and proto-fascism. The left sees nothing but bigotry and superstition in the popular defense of the family or in popular attitudes regarding abortion, crime, busing, and the school curriculum. The left no longer stands for common sense, as it did in the days of Tom Paine. It has come to regard common sense—the traditional wisdom and folkways of the community—as an obstacle to progress and enlightenment. Because it equates tradition with prejudice, it finds itself increasingly unable to converse with ordinary people in their common language. Increasingly it speaks its own jargon, the therapeutic jargon of social science and the service professions that seems to serve mostly to deny what everybody knows.


Source:

What's Wrong With the Right?

Thanks for that essay.

Great read.

 

[AnGrYcRoW]

Anyways, besides your tonedeffness, no one should be looking at comedians for moral authority and they shouldn't be the faces of your platform. Similar to how the electorate tuned out celebrities shilling for Hillary; no one cares what a guy pretending to be a taxi driver in New York has to say about the best policy for the nation.

You elected a reality tv personality as president you realize

 

[AnGrYcRoW]

Okay so you're whining and crying because he's addressing a topic that has already done before? That would disqualify 70% of new WR threads from discussion if so.

95% would be more accurate imo

 

[AnGrYcRoW]

He's tackling a subject, so brain dead obvious, with some nuance and paragraphs, so it's all of sudden "intellectual"?

LOL. Sorry, no. He's simply behind the curve. Like most Liberals.

Do you purposely attempt to derail every thread you post in or is something you can't control , like a form of Tourettes?

 

[Islam Imamate]

Thankfully the private sector decided it was done dealing with this kind of nonsense.

I would replace "thankfully" with "unfortunately" but to each his own I guess.

 

[superpunch]

Elitism sucks but if we're going to be fair to both sides, lower-class white America is bringing this onto itself.

They don't believe in global warming. Teaching evolution in schools was a controversial issue as recently as like 2010. That isn't stuff that's easy to ignore for a comedian. I mean, that shit's funny. It's The Onion stuff.