Really nice profile of The Daily Show's Jon Stewart over in the Guardian today. Here's a snippet:
If the parties and the media serve the country so badly, why do Americans put up with it? "Because for the majority of Americans life is pretty tolerable," says Stewart. "It's very hard to organise reasonable people with moderate views. Reasonable people with moderate views don't usually light their torches and head out to town with pitchforks shouting, Be reasonable. Shit has to get really bad before people stand up and take notice."
There's a lot of folks on dKos and other left-leaning blogs who don't understand why most of America seems unwilling or unable to get angry the way they are angry. They tend to write those people off as "sheeple" -- too stupid or too cowed to take action. Stewart sees another aspect. I tend to agree with him.
Comments (2)
There's also the part where in an oppressive state, keeping your head down is the only protection you might have. Such a state will go after its enemies. If your first allegiance is to your family or to your own survival, the last thing you want to do is draw the government's attention to you by criticizing them.
Posted by Avedon | October 2, 2005 3:25 AM
Quite right.
But also, the two (?) parties (?) have made things extremely hard for any opposition.
In most states getting a third party on the ballot is a herculean task--innumerable signatures, high fees, legal hurdles.
It is true that every institution--be it political or educational or charitable or religious--after a time forgets its real (external) goals and starts to focus exclusively on (internal) self-preservation.
Posted by Paul Schumacher | October 3, 2005 6:09 AM