Ed Brayton and Mike Dunford have been talking about a Washington Post article on a study that is concerned with the ill effects the Daily Show and Jon Stewart are having on our democracy. Basically people who watch the Daily Show are more cynical:
Two political scientists found that young people who watch Stewart's faux news program, "The Daily Show," develop cynical views about politics and politicians that could lead them to just say no to voting.That's particularly dismaying news because the show is hugely popular among college students, many of whom already don't bother to cast ballots.
Jody Baumgartner and Jonathan S. Morris of East Carolina University said previous research found that nearly half -- 48 percent -- of this age group watched "The Daily Show" and only 23 percent of show viewers followed "hard news" programs closely.The results showed that the participants rated both candidates more negatively after watching Stewart's program. Participants also expressed less trust in the electoral system and more cynical views of the news media, according to the researchers' article, in the latest issue of American Politics Research.
First of all, I am certain that the primary viewers of the Daily Show are already pretty cynical. When was the last time you found a teenager or someone in their early twenties who wasn't?
Second, they said it themselves. Young people don't vote. Young people don't vote because they haven't matured enough to care, and they are generally not mature enough to vote wisely. Why is it a problem that people who don't care enough to vote are pissed at the system? It is not even particularly surprising. When they grow up hopefully they will drop their cynicism and start voting and dealing with the issues. Or they won't.
Third, blaming the Daily Show is a little selective. Where is the hate going out on Michelle Malkin, Arianna Huffington, and a billion other angry people in the media that I could name? The media in general is not a shining luminary of optimism because the fundamental assumption of all media is that if something isn't wrong, it isn't worth reporting. This tendency is not limited to the Daily Show.
Fourth, I will grant that I don't think the Daily Show expresses a balanced view of the geopolitical situation, but in doing so it is no less biased than every other editorial columnist in America.
Finally, while I would love to believe that most viewers of the Daily Show are going out and being prolific news consumers -- I think they would enjoy the show more if they were -- it is probably going to happen right around the time everyone starts ravenously consuming scientific literature. We are a society that collective generates so much information that spoon feeding is often necessary. Comedy is good packaging. Comedy also always involves some degree of distortion. As long as the people on the Daily Show are up-front about that distortion -- and they are -- then they shouldn't be criticized for other people's failure to care.
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I completely agree with you. I'm not cynical because I love Jon Stewart, I love him because I'm cynical.
Besides, shouldn't the politicians be to blame for making it too easy for him to foment cynicism - if indeed he's doing so?
The cyncical young people that watch The Daily Show and don't vote do so because they feel ill towards the system, they are mature enough to vote, their cynicism an indicator of their knowledge of the subject matter, but they feel that voting does nothing towards what they want.
It's why I don't vote. I know voting for a republican or a democrat will have no effect on how things play out, and neither will work towards changing things for what I feel to be the better. So why should I bother raising the ego of the system by voting? Not voting throws my vote into the pool of 50+% of the american population that doesn't vote, this is as powerful as voting, its my way of saying I don't agree with any of you and as such will not lower my self to having to choose between two lesser evils.
Of course, should a candidate run that I agree with, I'll take the time to vote for them.
Not voting because of a principle is indistinguishable from not voting because of apathy. If you want to demonstrate your principle, vote for someone with no chance of winning, or write in a candidate of your choice. My own principle is to hold my nose and vote as if it were going to break a tie.