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Jon Stewart went way too far when he condemned MSNBC and Fox as if they were equally bad in terms of quality of reporting and hype.
MSNBC is openly and honestly partisan but really tries to tell the truth and to give the opportunity to the other side to speak. Rachel's reporting on the candidates in Alaska is an example. You knew who she liked best, but she did not paint the ones she didn't like much as evil. In fact, with Murkowski, she was encouraging. She showed quite a bit of respect for Murkowski.
And when Keith and Ed Schultz go into their most critical speeches, they are having a bit of fun. There is hyperbole in their discussion, but the listeners they attract recognize the hyperbole and are laughing with them -- just as they do with Jon Stewart when he exaggerates things to make a joke.
Keith's and Ed's humor is drier. But people smart enough to enjoy Keith and Schultz know how to listen to what they say and take it either with a grain of salt and understand the love and compassion that is behind it.
The problem with Fox is that love and compassion are missing altogether. Fox knows that its viewers are gullible fools for the most part, not the top students in their respective classes in college, and that Fox viewers are not able to understand irony, hyperbole or even much humor. Mostly the Fox viewers watch because of the sexy looking women and the well built men. Forgive me, MSNBC, but I haven't noticed that you feature anywhere near as many goofy girls or maniacal men as Fox. The occasional nerd on Fox is virtually always a token liberal selected to make liberals look boring.
For those who think that cable TV is too much and too divisive, why not do as we did: Cancel your cable TV subscription.
Or turn to some other channel. The food and home improvement channels are not divisive. National Geographic, Discovery, the Learning Channel, etc. are enlightening and don't divide the country.
Fact is we have non-stop, hysterical cable news because there is a market for it. People who watch it love it because it is so crazy, so different from their dull work-a-day lives.
So, grow up, Jon Stewart. The suggestion that Keith Olbermann and Glenn Beck are somehow equally extreme and divisive -- has got to be a joke. The difference is obvious.
Anyway, I think Jon Stewart's call for sanity is great, but the idea that MSNBC and Fox are somehow equally divisive is just downright wrong.
And now that, in response to Stewart's criticism, Keith has reviewed his show and decided to, at least for the time being, end a segment that he thinks might be a bit too much, let's see whether Fox changes any of its programming. Don't hold your breath, Jon Stewart.
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