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Enoch Lambert's avatar

Glad you're tackling this topic. Great analysis so far. I hope at some point you'll address the Jon Stewart/Daily Show phenomenon and its role. I participated in it for a time myself, but it definitely contributed to a sense of complacency among middle-of-the-road liberals who could just sit there and laugh at conservative stupidity. How common it was for peers to brag about how they got their news from the Daily Show is sickening--and all the while Stewart would claim he was just a comedy show host when criticism came his way. It completely undermined his attack on Crossfire. It contributed to the idea that you just laugh at other people's hypocrisies and feel superior to them rather than pursue justice. Near the end, when Stewart made jokes about how disappointing it was that he was leaving as Trump was starting up his campaign perfectly sums it up. Liberals had been trained to be complacent in the power of their mockery over championing candidates with substance.

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Mark B.'s avatar

As always, great work, Matt! I hope you include MSNBC's firing of Phil Donahue during the run up to the Iraq invasion (and Chris Matthews' reported role in it) as an example of networks and reporters staying within bounds in times of crisis. If memory serves, Donahue's show was the highest rated on the network the month they cancelled it and there was a memo saying they didn't want to be seen as "unpatriotic" for featuring an anti-war host. Sad act by the so-called "liberal" network. (Incidentally I first encountered Prof. Chomsky's views when he appeared on the "Pozner/Donahue show CNBC the early 90's.)

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