Monday, October 18, 2004

Jon Stewart Reconsidered

I've been re-thinking Jon Stewart's appearance on Crossfire. I, like everyone else, applauded him for his taking the show to task. But I am concerned that we are taking the wrong message from this incident. I am also worried about Jon himself. Reviewing the video last night I was struck by how tired Jon seemed. I've noticed over the last few weeks that his "amusement" over the low state of our political discourse has evaporated. He is just so obviously disgusted by the whole thing that I worry he is headed for a major burn out.

I don't think Jon wants to be treated like some hero for saying the things he said. He just wants things to change. If all that comes out of this is that people send him "BRAVO!" notes then I think he would think he has failed.

And he would be right.

We shouldn't applaud Jon for telling the truth. We should be angry that someone telling the truth is so rare that we deem it worthy of applause.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home