Jordan Klepper presses Nikki Haley supporters: Donald Trump or Joe Biden in 2024 US Presidential election?

As much as I love Jon Stewart and TDS, I've thought for a long time that they share some culpability in how we got into this mess. In short, I think we've suffered a degree of irony-poisoning at a societal level. We've become the satire from which we love to derive amusement.

At first, TDS was great at making sense of an incredibly messy post-9/11 world and all the insanity that followed with the Bush administration. With 9/11 getting us so hooked on the 24hr news cycle, we needed someone who could make sense of it. People couldn't find that in the 24hr cable news industry that seemed to go after "shock-value" to attract ratings.

JS & TDS called out all the nonsense in a refreshing way that resonated with people. He didn't go after the "shock-value". He earnestly discussed current events through satire. Some people turned to him for updates on current events over the 24hr cable news channels because of the piercing truth beneath the satire; others turned to him because it was down-right hysterical and entertaining. Either way, he took ratings away from the 24hr cable news. So what does 24hr cable news do? They double down on "shock-value" and over-editorialize their coverage in an attempt to compete with the way TDS operates. People want to be entertained, not informed.

Political-satire is a double-edged sword. It's sub-text will get you the truth. But those who don't understand the sub-text will take it at face value and act accordingly. A lot of people didn't understand the running joke of Colbert's persona during The Colbert Report run on comedy central. And when people act in line with taking the satire at face value, calling it out with more satire only digs us deeper.

Satire can be a great tool for getting us the truth, but it's also kind of weak. It never directly confronts the truth. Every time I heard JS get interviewed during the 2000's / 2010's about the success of TDS and trying to attribute it's influence on political discourse, JS was always quick to claim he was a comedian, and not a political commentator. I always thought that was a cheap way to get out of acknowledging the responsibility he had with his influence - whether he initially wanted that responsibility or not, it was there.

Trump and his followers are easy to laugh at. But satire isn't going to silence them because some people are just too dense to get it. We need to break away from the infinite jest of our culture and get back to informing ourselves in a way that isn't overly reliant on satire.

If we turn to a jester to break things down for us, it makes sense that we end up with a clown running the show.

TDS = The Daily Show!