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"Spirituality is important to me. I've always felt that we humans are insignificant maggots scuttling across the muck of the universe, and that life itself is just a meaningless moment of agony between the suffocating stench of the womb and the foul decay of the grave."
That quote comes from Mr. David Brooks's parody of the presidential debates. One just likes that variation on the old theme that life is about suffering.
Though, since Monk hasn't been saying anything lately, one will take this opportunity to give a mini-jeremiad anent the quality of debate in our time and in this country. This is inspired, in part, by some of the discussions concerning Jon Stewart's appearance on CNN's Crossfire yesterday, which was perhaps the most bitter and biting exchange ever seen on that show.
One takes Mr. Stewart's point about Crossfire being more about political hackery than serious debate. Yet, the most striking thing here is that the phenomenon of The Daily Show can be seen as a big reason why our news and debates have become more about entertainment than serious and penetrative discussion.
One recalls the early days of Crossfire, before there was a Fox News Channel, an MSNBC, and certainly before a show like The Daily Show. Those early days of Crossfire were more like Masterpiece Theater and today's show is a far cry from those days.
The inclination is to see the more competitive environment as the primary cause for the dumbing down of our TV news. What's funny, as much as shows like Crossfire have clowned it up to get a larger audience, more people probably still get their news from Stewart's show than the news channels, with the possible exception of Fox, but Fox is as much about Republican entertainment as it is about news - an extended Rush Limbaugh show.
Although it could be argued that news programming should be less moved by ratings, this doesn't seem realistic. We don't do martyrdom as good as other cultures.
Monk doesn't have much ground to complain, himself. When it comes to TV news, he watches whoever has the infobabe with the least clothes, which is usually Fox. Our major newspapers are the best sources for news and serious discussion, but the top people and leaders don't give interviews to them like they do for Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly...
"Spirituality is important to me. I've always felt that we humans are insignificant maggots scuttling across the muck of the universe, and that life itself is just a meaningless moment of agony between the suffocating stench of the womb and the foul decay of the grave."
That quote comes from Mr. David Brooks's parody of the presidential debates. One just likes that variation on the old theme that life is about suffering.
Though, since Monk hasn't been saying anything lately, one will take this opportunity to give a mini-jeremiad anent the quality of debate in our time and in this country. This is inspired, in part, by some of the discussions concerning Jon Stewart's appearance on CNN's Crossfire yesterday, which was perhaps the most bitter and biting exchange ever seen on that show.
One takes Mr. Stewart's point about Crossfire being more about political hackery than serious debate. Yet, the most striking thing here is that the phenomenon of The Daily Show can be seen as a big reason why our news and debates have become more about entertainment than serious and penetrative discussion.
One recalls the early days of Crossfire, before there was a Fox News Channel, an MSNBC, and certainly before a show like The Daily Show. Those early days of Crossfire were more like Masterpiece Theater and today's show is a far cry from those days.
The inclination is to see the more competitive environment as the primary cause for the dumbing down of our TV news. What's funny, as much as shows like Crossfire have clowned it up to get a larger audience, more people probably still get their news from Stewart's show than the news channels, with the possible exception of Fox, but Fox is as much about Republican entertainment as it is about news - an extended Rush Limbaugh show.
Although it could be argued that news programming should be less moved by ratings, this doesn't seem realistic. We don't do martyrdom as good as other cultures.
Monk doesn't have much ground to complain, himself. When it comes to TV news, he watches whoever has the infobabe with the least clothes, which is usually Fox. Our major newspapers are the best sources for news and serious discussion, but the top people and leaders don't give interviews to them like they do for Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly...
