[cross-posted at Liberty & Power]
Two news items for today:
- A recent study of Jon Stewart’s Daily Show and its viewers reveals that “exposure to the show lowered trust in the media and the electoral process,” and thus
had “detrimental effects, driving down support for political institutions and leaders.”
Another study reveals that the show is, horror of horrors, turning viewers off of both parties: “98% of the evaluations of Republicans prior to the election were negative, while 96% of the ‘reporting’ on Democrats was negative.”
Voices of concern are being raised in the punditocracy; the Washington Post’s Richard Morin, for example, sounds the alarm:
Jon Stewart and his hit Comedy Central cable show may be poisoning democracy.
Two political scientists found that young people who watch Stewart’s faux news program, “The Daily Show,” develop cynical views about politics and politicians that could lead them to just say no to voting.
Oh nooooooooo!!! The end is nigh!
- So Saudi princess Hana al-Jader is being deported, and forced to pay restitution, for keeping her domestic servants’ passports locked in a safe, thus preventing them from leaving, and forcing them to work for low pay.
Okay, fair enough. But what crimes was she officially charged with? Lying on immigration forms and harbouring aliens.
In other words, her real crimes against these actual people had to be redescribed as fictional crimes against the state and its immigration laws in order for justice to be done.
You see, it’s really the state that’s the aggrieved party in every crime. The human victims are merely occasions.