Serious Jesters

One of the cool things of living in a country where I do not speak the language (except for “beer” and “hot dog”) is that I do not watch TV. Well, at least not regular TV. I have been watching a lot of TV shows that I download from the net (I guess it is the ultimate Tivo).
rObviously, I have been watching pretty closely the US election through the only TV show worth of my respect and attention: Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show. Certainly, I am not being terribly original, since tons of people have been using it to get their political fix. This has actually caused quite a lot of noise, especially after Stewart attended CNN’s Crosfire and did something completely different: he spoke his mind. The NYTimes ran yesterday a story on the subject of being a serious comedian, exploring the limits between fun and seriousness. One of my teachers once said that the roles of jesters in medieval drama was to say what everybody knew but nobody dared to say. In other words, they are the only ones who can get away with it. Jon Stewart really does his job at the Daily Show. Who else can remind us about the last election fraud or the fact that Bush believes in the execution not only of human beings, but also retarded human beings. I do not read about that on newspapers, nor the radio. But the funny man says it aloud... and people are paying attention.
r21% of young Americans get their campaign news... from The Daily Show according to CNN. This is not all. The funny thing, is that the show viewers are among the best informed. Of course, these people watch the show because they are already well informed and not the other way around (you need to know about politics in order to get the jokes). Still, why should we take for granted that objectivity is what it takes to make good journalism. Objectivity is a stupid lie; I would always read anything with an agenda as long as the agenda itself is being explicit. The search for objectivity actually hurts democracy, because it discourages debate.
rWelcome to the 21st century. A documentary billed as a comedy is playing a major role on the world's most powerful election. People are being informed by comedians. The world is getting more serious by being more informal and fun. And I still run into some people who look perplexed at the tought of videogames that go beyond entertainment.