Generally, I don’t put much politics out there on this blog. Perhaps I should. Rumor has it that if you want over a hundred comments on a blog post, you need to either go political or say something bad about Mac computers.
Anywho, this “Bend It Like Beck” clip from the Stephen Colbert is a classic and, in the form of satire, sums up how I feel about all the current “rodeo clowns” (Beck’s term, not mine) posing as conservative political thinkers and commentators. For me, this most prominently includes Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, and Sean Hannity. I place O’Reilly and Hannity at the more sensible end of this spectrum, for what it’s worth. On the other hand, Beck and Limbaugh are crazy people.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Bend It Like Beck | ||||
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What I find most interesting is that you really can’t find anyone on the liberal side of the broadcast media equation who used vitriol, theatrics, and fear-mongering to the degree utilized by these four commentators. People will sometimes mention the names Janeane Garofalo and Al Franken, but even in their “heyday” on Air America Radio, they never approached the audience size garnered by any one of the four conservative commentators mentioned here. Also, Garofalo and Franken bug the hell out of me, too.
Perhaps the best known and most widely watched liberal political commentators are Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. Here again, I find it interesting to compare what galvanizes liberals in popular culture versus conservatives. Somebody smarter than me should take some time to figure out what makes liberals flock around satire while conservatives seem to be drawn toward shock jockery.
