Monday, November 01, 2010

The Politics of Humor

I've finally figured out the perfect was to sway marginally informed voters.
Jokes.
You got some political jokes?  That's about all you need.

I've head a silly more people quote comedians political commentaries and go on to later rip Fox New or MSNBC.

The great thing about political humor is that people use the jokes as the basis for their beliefs.  People take stances on issues with insight pulled from Jon Stewart.

Here's what's great about his job.  He has complete deniability.
I heard him in a debate once and when he was told that something he aired on his show was a complete fabrication, his answer was "look, I'm on basic cable and am followed by crank calling puppets" and people laughed and moved on. 

Letterman does it all the time.  He's go off on Obama, Bush or some issue and every once in a while he'll have a serious political analyst who shoots holes in his argument.  He does the same thing that Stewart does.  "I'm basically a dumb guy from Indiana, what do I know?"

It's the perfect out.  You can take shots and then back away from any sort of responsibility.

I think if I was considering politics because I genuinely wanted to see policy change and sway public opinion in a certain direction - I'd start writing me some jokes.

Jokes are funny - and seem to be the engine driving the younger folks these days...
That and 24 hour robot phone calls to my house telling me how to vote...
I'm ready for Wednesday

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