March 12, 2009
your GOOG is AMZN
3/12/09
Go ahead and file this entry under "Stuff Everyone Already Has an Opinion About", but if you haven't seen Jon Stewart's interview... "shellacking", more like... of Jim Cramer, the unedited version is now online. A few things stand out from the get-go: Stewart is Generation X's Upton Sinclair, which is odd, since Gen X certainly didn't intend to create any Upton Sinclairs.
JS is probably one of two leaders/spokesmen/cultural phenoms born in the 1960s who made it to their 40s without losing their lefty belief in a just America (the other being Barack Obama). He still lives in a world where the bad guy ought to be punished - not simply ignored, pooh-poohed, cynically celebrated, or forced to eat his own poop on South Park. Unlike Matt Stone and Trey Parker, Stewart is no nihilist, which makes "The Daily Show" such an effective lectern. Sure, he's not held to any standards; his show, after all, is supposed to be comedy, but you know the old idea about Shakespeare and his Fools.
Speaking of which, Jim Cramer is a tragedy currently in Act IV. Anyone else would have gone several different directions with this feud: he could have ignored JS and kept on truckin'; he could have come on "The Daily Show" and brazened it out with a "how the fuck is YOUR broker doing, Stewart?" attitude; or he might have even pulled out the Cynic's Playbook and said "Jon, I'm an entertainer. I never promised you a rose garden."
Instead, Cramer showed himself capable of an inordinate amount of shame, and seemed genuinely surprised that he was so easily undone. You almost felt like he was glad it happened, as though a certain number of sins were expunged at confessional. Instead of defending a 30-year track record of doing pretty well in the market, he let JS warm up the Delta Sigma pledge paddle.
Jim Cramer is a guy who wants - or more likely, needs - to be liked. He doesn't have the sang froid of his CNBC mate Rick Santelli, nor the wrath of Limbaugh, nor the savagery of Coulter. Watching him tonight, I told Tessa that I wouldn't be surprised if he was ACOA, for those of you who know what that entails. At one point, he even tells Jon Stewart that he'd change the entire nature of his cable show "Mad Money", even though it would mean defrocking the set of all its cowbells, gongs, plastic farm animals and, presumably, its ratings.
Jon Stewart is amazing, if for no other reason than this: he consistently shows you how tolerant of horseshit you've actually become. When he went after Tucker Carlson on "Crossfire" five years ago, he took a show we were tolerating, and brought it to its knees. "Oh yeah," we suddenly remembered, like King Théoden being roused by Gandalf, "A long time ago, this was a NEWS channel!" Wonder if the same thing will happen to CNBC. Either way, bless Mr. Stewart for his oddly high standards.
Posted by Ian Williams at March 12, 2009 11:10 PMAmazing show. Made me think of "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" And Cramer had nothing to say.
That was pretty amazing television. I hope that the root point doesn't get lost in the hubbub around this feud, which is that CNBC's uncritical market boosterism happened even though the people at CNBC KNEW or should have known, that many people in the financial industry were ripping off the public.
That was unbelievably amazing. I'm a minion in the financial industry who has lost her shirt and then some, and I think it is highly ironic that the TVs on the trading floor in my office are glued to CNBC 24/7 without thought or question. I know many people who think Cramer walks on water, but I also know there have been studies that totally refute his claims. This interview was great - I loved seeing Cramer back-peddle and squirm.
Nothing makes me happier than a Lord of the Rings reference with my coffee in the morning! Cramer gets a lot of credit for taking it. Many can dish it out, but will not willingly go and take it in front of a camera. Well done all the way around.
I dunno. I was disappointed that Cramer did not call out Stewart. While he may be a number of many fine things and important for many of the things he does, Stewart is starting to be too authoritative - something that is dangerous in the case of a comedian into whom many things can be read. People take him on faith as others take Rush Limbaugh. And I don't want a comedian being the voice of my generation, thanks very much. Court jester perhaps but a pretty sad skill set for leadership.
In particular, I would have liked to have seen Cramer take on the Daily Show's "supposed to be comedy" justification for its mocking and leveling of the public realm while at the same time expecting more of others. Instead, we have "yes sir yes sir three bags full sir" from Cramer, not daring to challenge as Tucker Carlson, likely for fear of being cursed for talking back. I would have liked Cramer to ask what Stewart did from 1999 to 2007 in the face of a bubble economy, how he covered the story.
I don't know, Alan. At this point I'm for ANYONE who is authoritative -- comedian, politician or pimp.
As for Jon Stewart, I expect he would encourage exactly no one to take him at face value. To me the point of his show (and Colbert's too for that matter), is that you shouldn't be taking any of this crap that's being disseminated to us through the mainstream (and fake) media without questioning it, finding out more about it and forming your own opinions about it -- including what they're saying. That's one of the things that I find refreshing about this blog and those who frequent the comments section. As a group, those who comment here want primary citations and real data. We might disagree vociferously about the conclusions that should be drawn from the data, but we, by-and-large, want data that's as good as we can get.
Alan said "I would have liked Cramer to ask what Stewart did from 1999 to 2007 in the face of a bubble economy, how he covered the story."
That is silly. It's like asking Cramer why he didn't host the Oscars two years in a row.
And, for yesterday's post, the idea that there is a teenager girl HPV "epidemic" that is somehow worse than all the stomach viruses, common colds and respiratory infections in America... I have to assume you have your mind in the GUTTER, little lady.
Also, there's a vaccine for the HPV virus, which conservatives want to block because then sex would have no "consequences". At some point, conservatives will have to say what they mean, that they don't want people to have sex because sex is bad. Unfortunately, they know it's an argument they will lose, so they won't make it.
Jon Stewart is brilliant. I look forward to watching him every night and his grilling of Cramer was great to see. I have to give Cramer some credit though for showing up and seeming to have some humility under there somewhere.
I am so sorry I missed yesterday's post. I have SOOO much I could say about that but won't go into it now. Too late to the party. I work mostly with teens now in my new job. Teens in a psych hospital.
I talk to every one of them about abstinence but also quickly move on to STD education and pregnancy prevention. It is unrealistic to do otherwise. My quote is "the only way to prevent these things is NOT to have sex, but if you decide to have sex, let's talk about what you can do to decrease your risk".
I could write a book about all the problems with abstinence only education and maybe I should but let's just say that it is, in my mind, medical neglect not to educate these children in schools about these things. Although I agree with Emma that it's good to promote abstinence it is absolutely not okay to NOT discuss contraception and STD prevention and in most counties of NC that is what is happening by law. Shameful!!
I was wondering where the heck you were yesterday, Neva. I needed some backup. Some of these folks make it sound like you should only talk about contraception and STD prevention and talk of abstinence should be thrown out of the window and not even talked about, which to me is just as ridiculous as only talking about abstinence without talking about contraception and STD prevention.
"That is silly. It's like asking Cramer why he didn't host the Oscars two years in a row."
No, its like asking someone who is involved in shaping the news why he missed this sector of the news.