I read an article last week that claimed Glenn Beck's show on Fox News got nearly three million viewers early last week. This is mindboggling to me. Firstly, that any show on cable news would register a number even remotely close to that just based on principle. But secondly because, well, it's Glenn Beck. But that isn't my point this go-round. I'm not here to bash Glenn Beck - hell, his sponsors are doing that for me. But I digress.
Now assuming that this figure is accurate, and conservatives across the nation will no doubt nod gleefully/smugly that it is, logic poses a simple question: if Beck's tv rating is any indication of the kind of audience right-wing opinion has in this country then why isn't there a conservative version of The Daily Show on the air?
Simple question, right? If we extrapolate Beck's rating in conjunction with the ratings of Fox News's other shows (cable news ratings for August 21, 2009) we should be able to appropriately assume that there is a massive audience for conservative opinion. Based on that one would assume that the majority of the population of this country, if at least a large portion, lean to the right in some regard.
Oh, by the way, this whole premise operates under the idea that Fox News propagates conservative/Republican values. If you believe this is false you may want to take a hard look in the mirror because your face is probably colored retarded. Everyone knows Fox is right, MSNBC is left and CNN is confused.
Moving on.
So let's see. We have a Democratically controlled Congress, Senate and White House with gigantic majorities. Obama is one of most popular presidents in history. And somehow most people are, according to Nielsen, conservative. This actually makes a tiny bit of sense as the entire pendulum of politics has swung to the right in the last decade. Democrats are bowing to corporations even more than usual while continuing many Bush policies and the Republicans...well, they...I'm not sure if they're not more conservative than Jesus at this point. Let's just play nice and go with that.
Meanwhile, The Daily Show and Colbert Report are on fire. Getting great ratings and even greater critical acclaim. Jon Stewart is hosting the Oscars and Stephen Colbert is doing USO shows and landing interviews with possibly more congressmen and experts than Stewart. Together, both shows have garnered countless Emmy and Peabody awards. So I go back to the question at hand: if the conservative audience is so big, why isn't there a conservative version of either The Daily Show, Colbert Report, or both?
In my view, there are only two options here to answer that question. One is that Republicans have zero sense of humor. That comedy and poking fun at something you find ridiculous/wrong/incorrect/etc holds no value. The other option is that there is simply not enough from the progressive side that is ridiculous/wrong/incorrect/etc to actually make fun of.
I cannot for the life of me think of any other option. If there is I'd love to hear it. And I'm not posing this question to be a dick or anything; I'm actually very curious as to why there isn't a right-wing version of either of Comedy Central's flagship shows.
I can already hear some of the unintelligent responses to this now, "the liberal media elite would never allow it. People have probably tried only to be killed by the Hollywood Commies!" And while that's hilarious, it's also really, really, really stupid. If something has an audience and will make money Hollywood will do it. Why do you think they greenlight crap like Fast and the Furious and Band Slam? Hollywood is full of capitalistic sellouts, not conspirators.
So what do you think the answer is? Do Republicans simply have no sense of humor or does the progressive movement simply have very few bad ideas? It can't be one or the other, can it? Is it a combination? And if so, what percentage does each side hold?
This summer Republicans have really gotten their panties in a bunch about Health Care reform. I personally haven't really heard them offer any actual ideas about reforming the system even though say they, too, want reform. (Kind of like how they, too, wanted "change" when there were 12 Republican nominees for the Republican nomination. It's a buzzword they can latch onto for political gain.) All I've heard is a bunch of complaining and how things "were better before the Democrats ruined our values". Whatever that means.
My point is, the Republicans think everything the Democrats are doing with their power in government is ruining our country. So why is it that when Democrats thought Republicans were ruining the country for the better part of this decade The Daily Show and Colbert Report went from basic cable shows sort of lost in the crowd to making Colbert a Peabody award winner, President's Correspondents Dinner speaker, and overall media darling while Stewart was voted by the USA Today's readers as "America's Most Trusted Newsman"? Clearly there's something to be said for all that.
So, one more time, I ask you: if the Republicans find what's going on in America right now under Democratic rule to be so destructive and wrong and have such a huge chunk of the population in their corner, why oh why aren't there conservative versions of The Daily Show and/or Colbert Report??! I await your response, interwebs.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)