Virtually _all_ of Jon Stewart's jokes are predicated on notions that people/things are ridiculous... though he usually relies on his audience knowing none of the facts of the situations he talks about in order to create this illusion, which he then jokes and rants about . Most of what he says isn't funny at all if you have any idea what's going on in the world today or Amerikan politics, which he focuses on, because it doesn't even make any sense if you're informed. I watched most of his show a few weeks ago and, lo and behold, it's as bad as ever. I really wanted to like him. I really wanted it to be funny. He was great in Half Baked. But he was severely disappointing.
I can understand people appreciating his delivery and some of his random remarks. I can respect people liking his attitude. But well-informed? Give me a break. What possible basis could you have for making that claim? His show? I guess there's always going to be someone out there claiming the Three Stooges did intellectual comedy.
O'reilly is a hack. He doesn't understand basic free market principles, and it shows embarrassingly when he talks about oil markets. He gets all pissy and irritated with his guests because he doesn't understand the simple things they try to explain to him. He doesn't understand the basic concepts of causality and correlation, and he doesn't understand that they're not the same thing. This is evident in his discourse on Marijuana and in many other instances. Way to go, Harvard. And he takes cheap shots, even at the dead (referring to Andrew Breitbart), when he thinks it'll score him points with other PC douchebags, because he wants to be perceived by pinheads as remotely objective for the sake of viewers.
I've explained basically the basis for my claim that neither is well-informed. They know their audiences and they give their audiences what they want to hear. I would suggest that anyone who thinks either is well-informed is both a target audience demographic and not well-informed themself. Feel free to give examples showing real understanding, consideration, and thought. Stewart examples of perceptiveness and insight have to be real gems.
I have explained my statements. An elitist would just scoff and call someone names. (hint, hint)
[I wish I could obey forum rules]
