The first thing you need to know, and probably the last thing you need to know about comedy and politics is the career of George Carlin, who never accomplished anything in politics. Unlike Stewart, Maher and Colbert, George Carlin was intelligent enough to know that if your ideas are good, people will remember them and if they are bad, people will rebel against them. People don't need to be led, they need to be reminded.
More importantly, politics is about policy, it is not about culture. Art is about culture, cooking is about culture, literature is about culture, musical composition is about culture. Sitting behind a desk in a multimillion dollar studio and cracking jokes is not about policy, nor politics and given what everybody should know about Stewart and Colbert, it's pretty lowball culture. So it shouldn't be surprising that when these windbags start preaching outdoors they have very little to say. It also shouldn't be surprising that the organizations behind such wiseacres are insufficient to the task of political philosophy - the consistency required of spokesmen with an actual political point of view that makes for good policy.
It has been quite some time since I watched TV news regularly. It pretty much ceased for me in the mid 90s and by then it was only Charlie Rose. But before then I recall the cliche of politicians coming to black neighborhoods and speaking at various churches. There would always be a clip of the politician and the preacher shaking hands, and some hand clapping choir would be part of the show. It is a matter of common parlance that the Black Church plays an instrumental role, blah blah. Black Churches have never had political power. Politics is about policy, not about religion. That hasn't stopped any number of foolish preachers from believing they could preach in public, and the results are almost never admirable. Mostly, they are just embarrassing.
Jon Stewart on the other hand, has no shame. So somehow those who pay attention to him are (if they are well enough informed) going to have to explain to themselves how he could invite Cat Stevens to his public day of peace through speeches. Cat Stevens was the rock dude changed his name to Yusef Islam when he adopted Islam. He was one of those present on the stage, and one of those who supported the fatwa against Salman Rushdie.
The Rushdie question is one of those that must hound everyone considerate enough to think about religious overreach. But it is one we know that many people who wish to portray themselves as open-minded don't, because they find humor in the stereotypes that Stewart uses as his stock in trade. There is some fraction of America who finds Comedy Central a corporation worth admiring, but I'm starting to worry about them too.
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