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Aug. 29th, 2012
Except the bit charting Dennis Miller's decline.
The article is about why conservatives aren't funny, which is a topic oft-discussed among liberals, and it suffers from the basic premise that it only looks at endeavors that start with politics first - i.e., like Fox News's attempt to counteract the Daily Show with a conservative counterpart. These are doomed to fail because they begin with a political premise, not a humorous one.
But as the author points out, liberal comics don't start out with the goal of being liberal - they start out with the goal of being funny. They just happen to be liberal.
And there are plenty of people who start out with the goal of being funny, but who happen to hold conservative views. But we don't attach the label "conservative" to them - instead, if you're liberal, you attach the label "rape apologist."
And no, my point is not that all conservatives are rape apologists (although certainly all of their elected officials seem to be) - but my point is that conservatism defends existing power structures, and it's very easy to not see that and not discuss it as a political choice. For the past two presidential elections, the GOP has intentionally chosen to use race-baiting as a tactic, and that's not even counting the "Southern strategy," and of course there's the Grand Old Tradition of gay-baiting, but we don't call racist and homophobic comedians "conservative" - we just call them "racist and homophobic." Or, if you like that kind of thing, "funny."
Which is, by the way, exactly Ta-Nehisi Coates's point today about affirmative action.
(Yes, no question, racism, sexism, homophobia and the like cross party lines - it's just that one party has decided to use them as a political tactic and build a national platform enshrining them.)
(Also, Glenn Beck has been broadcasting from a fake Oval Office. Who says there are no conservative comedians?)
The article is about why conservatives aren't funny, which is a topic oft-discussed among liberals, and it suffers from the basic premise that it only looks at endeavors that start with politics first - i.e., like Fox News's attempt to counteract the Daily Show with a conservative counterpart. These are doomed to fail because they begin with a political premise, not a humorous one.
But as the author points out, liberal comics don't start out with the goal of being liberal - they start out with the goal of being funny. They just happen to be liberal.
And there are plenty of people who start out with the goal of being funny, but who happen to hold conservative views. But we don't attach the label "conservative" to them - instead, if you're liberal, you attach the label "rape apologist."
And no, my point is not that all conservatives are rape apologists (although certainly all of their elected officials seem to be) - but my point is that conservatism defends existing power structures, and it's very easy to not see that and not discuss it as a political choice. For the past two presidential elections, the GOP has intentionally chosen to use race-baiting as a tactic, and that's not even counting the "Southern strategy," and of course there's the Grand Old Tradition of gay-baiting, but we don't call racist and homophobic comedians "conservative" - we just call them "racist and homophobic." Or, if you like that kind of thing, "funny."
Which is, by the way, exactly Ta-Nehisi Coates's point today about affirmative action.
(Yes, no question, racism, sexism, homophobia and the like cross party lines - it's just that one party has decided to use them as a political tactic and build a national platform enshrining them.)
(Also, Glenn Beck has been broadcasting from a fake Oval Office. Who says there are no conservative comedians?)