What's up your craw?

[wichita]

Yup. I was the decoy in dodgeball, too. Pretty good at it too -- much to the disappointment of the guys trying to hit me all the time. Those were pretty good times. I just learned it was more fun to slam the guys putting me in the lockers verbally, because 60% of the other people could laugh instead of the 10% of the jocks that just stood there blinking at me.


Fortunately I grew up in a small town, so we all evened out in the end. Watch Dazed and Confused sometime if ya'll ever want to see what kind of town I came from. It's amazing how close that movie depicts my teenage years!

[Ian]

I'm especially belligerant on these forums. I think it's because when I sign on to the forums, I'm still in a Cantr frame-of-mind, and I like to cause arguments...because it beats farming potatoes.

[AoM]

I love watching and participating in sports. It's great fun. But it's a different kind of fun, and certainly not the only kind of fun.

Come to think of it, sports can be way too stressful and unfun sometimes, if you're not careful.

As HF said, to each their own.

[Schme]

People like to ramble and always will. Just try and stop us.

The Daily Show is funny. I'll admit that. However, you should by no means get all your news from it. There is only so much news to be had in half an hour of television, and when half of it is jokes (as it should be, seeing as it is a comedy show) that cuts it down even more.

Your missing a grand deal of things if all you do is watch that.

And let us remember that, despite being halarious, they do in fact have an agenda. If your just going to watch that, you may aswell just watch Fox all day. You'll get the same amount of "Balance".

[wichita]

I still haven't been able to see the difference in bias between Fox and the other "good" news stations. Sorry, I've given it an honest try. I think they all have different agendas, but they all have one, and none of them are fair and neutral reporting. Stories seem too sensational so much of the time -- like all the "celebrity" court cases. Why do we have to hear this? What tax bill was discussed in the state legislature today? What's the mayor doing about the local factory that's going to close down? Isn't that what really matters? And is it so hard to just state facts? What's with the analysis and speculation? That shouldn't be journalism should it?

So the Daily Show is the most balanced source of news, because it throws the facts out and attacks all sides equally. This is much to Jon Stewart's disappointment, and part of the reason they put as much effort as they do into it. I was very impressed with him in several serious interviews I saw in which he discussed the problem with the media is not because that one station is pumping a bias into the more....malleable....minds of the world, or that the media is intentionally biased, but that reporting has gotten lazy in it's drive to find something to talk about 24 hours a day. The reason they can get away with this? We're too ignorant and/or irrational on average as a world population to be able to call them on it.

This train of thought always makes me think of my high school history teacher in senior year. He was a rather eccentric Vietnam War veteran who would constantly remind us that his mission in life as a professional educator was to stamp out ignorance at all cost. This reminder was often followed by him standing on his desk swing a yard stick like a broadsword around his head smacking the desks and screaming at the top of his lungs! A very interesting approach to education that I haven't seen repeated, but kind of wish I could. It certainly made me pay attention!

He also duct-taped a kid's head to the desk for falling asleep in class one day! Oh man, were those good times! Too bad you can't do that anymore.

[Pirog]

I just learned it was more fun to slam the guys putting me in the lockers verbally, because 60% of the other people could laugh instead of the 10% of the jocks that just stood there blinking at me.

You are so right about that! I have the physical size to smack people around pretty easy, but I learned that it is much more satisfying to win an argument verbally than by force. (I do however value the fact that I can defend myself physically too...making me avoid beatings AND getting people to laugh )

Regarding people being edgy and irritated I think the media is to blame. Everyone wants to read the dramatic stuff in the news, so the media always invent possible diseases, meteor strikes etc that will keep people in that fascinated fear that makes them keep watching the news.

Im not saying that things were better in the old days, but at least they had real things to worry about...

As for listing comedians the Monty Python gang are classics that will always be high on my list

[AoM]

Oh let's be honest, Wichita. The Daily Show has its obvious leftward leanings. You can tell from the studio audience's reactions to a right-wing guest. People are forced to clap or simply boo outright and are only curtailed when Jon Stewart yells at them. It's painfully obvious who the jokes on that show are pandering to.

The difference from the Daily Show and oh, let's be extreme and say Hannity and Colmes, is that whereas Jon Stewart would try to silence his crowd out of respect for his politically opposed guest, Hannity would probably let his ego be stroked by a supportive crowd and use them as further leverage against his guest (hey- an alternative to cutting their mic's off, wonderful! )

So no, don't get all your news from the Daily Show either. But if you're gonna watch Fox News, be sure to watch the Daily Show's take on what Fox News is saying. Then maybe find an international source as well to see what the rest of the world thinks. And THEN maybe you'll have a good enough idea to start saying where you fall on an issue.

But for anyone who wants to see the good that Jon Stewart can bring to our media world, just look up his trashing of Tucker Carlson on CNN's Crossfire. Affectionately refered to now as Tuckergate, Jon Stewart takes that bowtie-wearing epitome of all-that-is-wrong-in-punditry, and puts him in his place.

[Antichrist_Online]

What about Billy Connely, Bill Bailey, Ian Hislop, Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie (sp?) and Paul Merton.

[wichita]

Yes, Rowan Atkinson. He is absolutely brilliant. Mr. Bean was great, but it's unfortunate that most American's only know him for that if they know who he is at all.

What's the guy's name that played Jeff on Coupling? That guy was awfully funny too. I love that show and was so depressed when the American version tanked. It was amazing to see them keep the exact same dialogue, only to hose up the timing so badly. It's the best example of the importance of comic timing I have ever witnessed. Guess we can't pull of thet British sarcasm after all.

[Schme]

Oh let's be honest, Wichita..........

That's why I like the Indian news.

[Nick]

Oh let's be honest, Wichita. The Daily Show has its obvious leftward leanings. You can tell from the studio audience's reactions to a right-wing guest. People are forced to clap or simply boo outright and are only curtailed when Jon Stewart yells at them. It's painfully obvious who the jokes on that show are pandering to.

I think this is only because America has a Republican president. And an easy one to make fun of, at that. Hell, they don't even need to make a joke half of the time. They just have to SHOW George Bush, and people can laugh.

[mortaine]

That's part of it. But Jon Stewart *does* have a particular leaning, one he doesn't really even hide, and it's important to remember that The Daily Show is entertainment, not a news show.

Before the election last year, Steward looked the camera in the "eye" and said "Now, you folks probably know that I have my own opinion on the election, but as a comedian, I'm bound to make fun of everybody. Please. America. Make my job hard."

Still, I think that if you're looking for news, it's a terribly sad state of affairs that the only news outlet we can look to for anything resembling a liberal bias in the media is a guy who comes on TV before puppets making prank phone calls, and yet the right-wing pundits go on and on about the liberal media and how things don't get reported in the mainstream press.

Obviously, this is something in my craw.

[AoM]

@Nick: I half agree with you. If there were a Democrat in the Oval Office right now, the Daily Show would be making fun of him, sure. But the dynamic of the show, as well as the actual political leanings of the comedic writers themselves (Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert, Rob Cordry, Samantha Bee, and Ed Helms) is clearly leftist. (You wouldn't see a "This Week in God" sketch on Dennis Miller's show).

Before the election, Stewart was asked directly by a Republican guest if he felt that his comedy would be hurt by a Kerry Presidency. Stewart answered that if there's a group of people in the White House who are doing absurd and stupid things, he would point them out irregardless of their political leanings. He added, however, that it would be quite hard to top the current Presidency in that category.

@Schme: Indian News eh? ...um...okay. Guess that'll just have to be another "wtf moment."

[Yo_Yo]

"Thats what I love about them highscholl girls. I get older, but they stay the same age" XD

I didn't know you liked dazed and confused? I went out and bought the movie when it came out years ago. Loved it ever since

And as i'm sure you could all tell, I love to settle arguments with my fists I got suspended my freshmen year 5 times for fighting. And I only lost one of em. Numbers can be a deadly thing, if you catch my drift

I'm not the smartest, nor verbally endowed person alive. So I can't do verbal arguments well if at all. But I sure can punch good

[Schme]

@Schme: Indian News eh? ...um...okay. Guess that'll just have to be another "wtf moment."

Televised news. From India. I apologize, but Lord man, it can't get any simpler than that! Should I draw it out? It's not all that hard to figure out. I am sorry, but come on now man, just think!

Reminds of the time someone asked me what a British arab was. Man I hated that guy..........