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Saturday, April 4, 2015

Boycotting "The Daily Show?" Count me in.

Links: A. New "Daily Show" Host Mocks The United States.
           B. South African Chosen to replace Jon Stewart.

So who is Trevor Noah, anyway?  He is a young, good-looking, congenial South African who has been hired to replace Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.  My hope is that the majority of Americans will remain just as clueless regarding Mr. Noah as they are today.  Interestingly enough, I'm unfamiliar with Noah, and I certainly consider myself clued-in on South Africa.  True, I haven't lived in SA in a decade, and the cultural scene is constantly changing.  What is odd, though, is that many of the South Africans I have spoken with seem to be in the dark about Noah as well.  Maybe he's famous in Europe, or California, or maybe he's a radio personality.  Whatever the case, he landed a sweet job here in the States.  Personally, I never really appreciated The Daily Show.  I thought it was a bit of a knock-off of Bill Maher.  And Bill Maher never really had a difficult job to begin with.  He showed up on time, greeted his pre-selected audience of college-age lefties, and made fun of religious folks and conservatives for thirty minutes.  Once, as he was preparing to rip into George W. Bush, he said Bush's name, but got a bit tongue-tied on the comment.  It made no difference.  All he needed was the name, and everyone laughed.  The reason for the comment never even mattered.  What a great crowd!

Truthfully, I despise Bill Maher, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.  All three left the realm of comedy some time after their first seven-figure paycheck.  They see themselves as political savants, and as the only true measure of political thought in the United States of 2015.  They all use the same shtick, which betrays the mostly-empty bag of talent they brought with them when they got the gig (except Colbert, who is talented).  If you make a serious political point, and it gets flung back in your face by whatever fool who has chosen to appear on your show, then you say something to make the guy look stupid, and the audience jumps right on board, like a trained lap-dog.  Forget the point that was being made.  The politics are serious only when the host is making a point.  Any opposing viewpoint is worthy of derision and nothing else.  And if the host is about to have his opinion shoved down his throat, then make fun of the guest, his or her attire, accent, weight, whatever it takes.  And with the morons who fill that audience, it doesn't take much.

I am forced to accept the Bill Mahers and Jon Stewarts of the world, because they have the right to express themselves in the United States, even as they appeal to the lowest common denominator of intelligence in our society.  But Hollywood or wherever decided (again), that we need someone with an accent to tell us how horrible we are.  I guess the experience of the British guy who bombed out on CNN and whose name thankfully escapes me, wasn't proof enough; Americans don't like to be criticized by someone who has left some shithole to come to the Land of Opportunity, only to tell us how shitty we are.  So now we have a pretty-faced South African named Trevor Noah driving The Daily Show.  Have a look at the first link I have selected, and be comforted by the fact that these aren't the only kind things he had to say about the United States.  Someone want to tell me to "get a sense of humor"?  Sorry, but that doesn't float.  This guy isn't working stand-up at the Comedy Store, he is playing to millions of American households every show.  Its true that we seem to have entered a bizarre "hate America first" age, which has been embraced by the Obama Administration.  In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, President Obama set the table quite quickly in 2009 and 2010, with his "Apology Tours" of Europe and the Middle East.  But I don't think making fun of our heritage and our patriotism is funny anymore.

I keep waiting for some backlash of "U.S.A. Pride" to come rolling up Main Street but it hasn't happened yet.  Yesterday, the Governor of Indiana was defending a new state law that seemed quite reasonable to me.  Today, he is starting to stumble back, as the media begins to really attack the law.  The crooked Governor of Virginia, Terry Rodham Clinton McAuliffe, even went so far as to invite Indiana businesses to relocate to Virginia!  Not if you want to make a profit!  Terry, if you want businesses to move to Virginia, you need to address your tax code.  People of the United States, regardless of what late-night talk shows and the media tell you, there is nothing shameful about being Conservative.  There is also nothing wrong with being Liberal.  We start to have problems when one group begins to believe that they have they moral authority to intimidate the other into silence.  The worst offenders, unfortunately, are young people, with little or no life experience.  Heck, we have a President who has never had a real job.  Have you ever met someone trying to balance a checkbook who has never had a job?  They just don't get it.  And that explains our twenty-trillion dollar national debt.  Back to the younger generation, which always means well, but usually ends up screwing the pooch.  The Democrats have formed this group of young people into one helluva battering ram, especially when it comes to elections.  But there is a reason why most Conservatives are older folks, and most liberals.....aren't.  Its all about "life experience".  Living life, losing jobs, falling in love, losing loved ones, having your heart broken, holding your newborn child, all of these experiences are necessary to provide the right perspective on life.  Young people seem to think that the answers are easy, and they never are.  I know.  I was there once.  We all were. 

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