Friday, February 13, 2015

And now, My moment of Zen...Stewart's Out, Future Secure. Here's why...

   There an interesting phenomenon that continually occurs within the Media world and the progressive left. If you have views and opinions that stand against progressive ideology, you are the enemy. You are attacked for having them. Pummeled into powder, based upon your viewpoint. You will be laughed at, branded as an extremist kook, and then tarred and feathered. They will set out to silence you based upon your "intolerance", regardless of your right to free speech. They will even make up stories about you, with lies built upon complete fabrications in order to place doubt upon the minds of the unwitting. On top of all of that, they will then REPEAT the lies in a similar, or even verbatim fashion through every mouth piece and media outlet available to them. Of course, if everyone is saying it, it must be true! And if everyone says it enough times in a row the same way, then it becomes actual FACT!
 
   An interesting juxtaposition is those with a complicit view of Progressivism. These individuals are revered and placed upon pedestals. They are given accolades that are created solely to provide the perception of legitimacy and credibility, much like a major motion picture receiving the Best Picture award when it hasn't even been screened in the theater. They are provided with high positions of influence and power due to their subservience to the cause. As is the case for those such as Katie Couric or Rosie O'Donnell, failure in the ratings department oddly never costs you your job. To the contrary, you will be provided MANY chances to fail with similar results (which is actually the definition of insanity, by the way). You may even be promoted to even higher positions in the world of media. The end goal is to make it stick with the public. To underestimate the general public's intelligence. To assume that if the public sees the good little progressive operative elevated and promoted, it will be assumed that the good little progressive operative is more astute than we are to actually believe. And we, the peons that are not famous, would blindly accept this premise and follow the lead of bolstering the fabricated prominence of a failed talent being gifted opportunity after opportunity with no means of measurable success.

   The Daily Show on Comedy Central is an evolutionary journey into “Inside baseball” media fandom. The media's obsession with it may be related to the satire of the field in which they operate. It began as an apolitical, satirical show with an endearingly arrogant host, Craig Kilborn. I personally followed the Daily Show from its beginnings. When they mention the current target age group, they indicate my exact age to the year! Being a young conservative, but one with a sense of humor as well as a thick skin, I was able to laugh even while my views were the target of its jokes. The Daily Show began in 1996, with reporters such as A Whitney Brown. Mr. Brown once interviewed a cult that believed a spaceship would descend upon earth to abduct its followers and cart them off to another planet in the form of it's rapture. He was told that the planet of destination was located in Pleiadian cluster, to which he asked, “The Pleidan Cluster…is that made of Nougat”? The show didn't strive to take one particular political side. Instead, it bashed both sides of the political spectrum equally. Craig Kilborn’s “5 Questions” along with staples like “Moment for Us” (where he arrogantly and awkwardly hit on the female guests on his show with a pseudo romantic setting) and, of course the coup de grace which was “The Moment of Zen”, made for a show filled with laughs while poking at the current news of the day.

   When Craig Kilborn exited the show, Jon Stewart was tapped to take the lead. Initially, his start was slightly awkward and he was grasping to fit his style into the template of what has been the show’s format. Over time, being the comedic powerhouse Mr. Stewart is, he was able to comfortably fill the role. He also began to appear on various talk shows, where at one point his unabashed and no holds barred candor came to light. The conflict of Mr. Stewart's transparent disdain for the news media even led to a verbal beat down of host Tucker Carlson on CNN. It was at this point that the progressive media began to take note of The Daily Show. Awards began to be given to the show for its ratings and creativity. The media fascination grew even fonder. And like that “underground band” that you held onto so dear, you began to seethe over the new found attention by the media elite. They began to reference and court the show like the fan-boys and girls they've become.  The new found attention was fine in the beginning, as Mr. Stewart didn't seem to be affected by it and stayed true to the focus of the shows content. But, eventually he succumbed to the adulation of the national mainstream media. Presidential Endorsements by Mr. Stewart were given extreme amounts of weight. He began to be offered hosting positions for many industry award shows. He had finally given in to the sickening adulation of the news reporters and journalists in the industry.

   At this point, along with myself, the core fan base began to wane and fall by the wayside. The show still had high ratings, but many long time fans were replaced with a different kind of audience. The show began to head towards a Progressive media format, where elevation and hype is given as a reward for the "battle points" it scores against libertarian and conservative viewpoints. The show began to take itself a bit too seriously. And as the progressive slide picked up steam, the unabashed vitriol against the right continued. When many people began to reference it as a news resource, it was at that point that it began to slowly die. But, occasionally, they opened the other side to scrutiny and parody. More often than not, they've become a former shell of itself, similar to Saturday Night Live (SNL). SNL flat out ignored gaffes by the left that wrote skits themselves, only to spend their energy on parodying the right and losing its comedic value in the process. The show sacrificed its core (comedy) for the cause. This left many thinking, “When will this get funny?” While The Daily Show did keep much of its humor, it was at times uncomfortable to watch. Similar to a comic picking on a child with Down syndrome.  

   The exit strategy for Mr. Stewart is clear. The sky is the limit for him. Years of carrying the water for the left will open every door they’re in charge of locking and unlocking. His reward for pushing the narrative will be the "Brink’s truck of cash" of any amount, dumped into his lap. This was the case with NBC’s proposal for a position with “Meet the Press”. With the concept of the Nightly News being an irrelevant animal, NBC is well aware of a need for a change. A pivot into this brave new world is a possibility that they may need to explore. So it should be of little shock to everyone if we see Mr. Stewart manning a Nightly News Chair soon. In fact, at the moment, I hear there’s one available. And you don't even have to be truthful to man that station. Good night, Mr. Stewart. And good luck.