Civility Is For Other People
"The Tea Party has objected to me calling them terrorists," says the newspaper op-ed writer who heads The Civility Project (of newspaper op-ed writers), and is dismayed by all the name-calling in the media. Save for her own. Hilarious Daily Show takedown by John Oliver:
via @JamesTaranto
There's a reason why people like Froma Harrop are willing to call the Tea Party terrorists: she knows they won't turn up on her doorstep and try to do her harm.
Unlike actual terrorists...
I R A Darth Aggie at January 13, 2012 7:59 AM
That was the funniest thing I've seen in weeks...
Eric at January 13, 2012 8:04 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/01/13/civility_is_for.html#comment-2913651">comment from EricLOVED IT! Of course, the misconception is that things were civil in politics at some point. No. Especially not in the Founding Fathers' days. It did get rather boring in the 70s and 80s, I think. Either that or the incivility wasn't reported in the paper or I was skipping politics to get to the features section. Bad Amy.
Amy Alkon at January 13, 2012 8:07 AM
This is still my all time favorite Daily Show report...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un__imwE3vg
Eric at January 13, 2012 8:07 AM
"I'm allowed to use colorful language as a journalist."
But, those with differing economic viewpoints are not.
I have to wonder if Ms. Harrop understood the point of the sketch, or if she really was that dimwitted.
Jazzhands at January 13, 2012 8:42 AM
I love it and its amazxing Ksaday
Ksaday at January 13, 2012 9:25 AM
That's the hardest I've ever laughed at something that didn't involve a chainsaw. (Stop looking at me like that - it was "Dale and Tucker vs Evil")
Elle at January 13, 2012 11:35 AM
Hated it. Too many edits, too much moving moments around, too much fussing to be cute. Even as jokey entertainment, it was a 20-second smirk compressed into four minutes.
At the end, we're not sure if she never caught on, or caught on early and tried to get in on the irony, or whether she had a chance —living through the encounter in real time, without all the edits and staged cutaways— to understand that she was being mocked.
This is the larger problem with those shows. They are ALWAYS, ALWAYS ready to say 'I'm just strugglin' for laughs here, people! Work with me!'.
You know how most people think of Stewart as a gifted, deft and comfortable comedian?
I'll never understand it.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at January 13, 2012 12:11 PM
Let me put it this way... I bet they recorded the sarcastic stuff first, so it just seemed inane... We're just silly TV people! THEN they asked the questions about what she'd written. If you're seriously offended by her conduct, it's not just bad comedy... It's the most cowardly kind of confrontation.
pirates driving cars.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at January 13, 2012 12:18 PM
I'll never understand it.
Crid, the things you'll never understand could fill the void between galaxies.
Also, go fuck yourself
lujlp at January 13, 2012 12:59 PM
It was cute until it was clear she was in on the joke.
Old RPM Daddy at January 13, 2012 1:17 PM
> cute until it was clear she was in on the joke.
At what point was that? Every shot is time-shifted and scrambled. When they were done shooting the 'interview', she probably knew she was not going to like the piece when it was edited for air.... But the problem wasn't that she was a rube and the producer was very sophisticated, the problem was that she was a rube and the producer was shameless.
It's what we see in the worst blog comments— People translating clear statements, twisting them until they can have the argument they want to have, rather than confronting actual circumstances.
I happened to chat up a guy from Adobe over sushi at lunch, and he described some of the efforts being made to get people paid for internet/cloud media of all kinds. Better talents, and more thoughtful politicos, are crawling through their keyboards and Ipads, looking for a way to get paid... And that day is very close. Stewart should, like Gwen Steffani on the music side, be thanking his lucky stars that he got across the bridge before this media regime collapsed. Comics of greater strength and deeper principle are putting it out there for free... Zero commercials.
Laugh at this TV show you want, but there's a reason this kind of media is quickly growing ever-less popular.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at January 13, 2012 4:54 PM
(Pirates for cars.)
(Pirates for computers. ["Avast" cracks my shit up.])
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at January 13, 2012 4:55 PM
> This is still my all time favorite
> Daily Show report...
Well, I'll admit that the one time I did make a point to turn in, they didn't disappoint: Peppered Quail-tards...
But that was like taking candy from a baby!
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at January 13, 2012 5:07 PM
They edited his sitting down into it and made it look like he was sitting down again. I'll bet the original "No and no." about having sisters was an answer to a different double layer question. Anyone notice there were no "long" shots that showed them sitting across from each other? Jay Leno has done this with several different interviews.
I only got through about two minutes before I gave up. It wasn't that funny.
Jim P. at January 13, 2012 7:42 PM
I agree. this one is much better
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-september-20-2010/working-stiffed
lujlp at January 13, 2012 8:48 PM
It's not funny for me for another reason: yelling, to conceal the fact that you don't have any or enough evidence for your side, you're just offended, obstructs the solving of problems, it doesn't aid it.
Radwaste at January 13, 2012 9:48 PM
As soon as I saw the "go fuck yourself" comment I thought of Dick Cheney...
It still kills me that Harry Wittington apologized for getting shot in the face.
Song in my brain as I go to sleep: Cheney's got a gun...
Eric at January 13, 2012 10:34 PM
> It still kills me that Harry Wittington
> apologized for getting shot in the face.
Let's say you wanted to come across like a sinister bastard....
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at January 13, 2012 11:45 PM
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