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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   4732 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 24, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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What are your favorite examples of individuals spitting absolute truth on camera?

Whether about politics, oppression, anything.

Stephen Colbert correspondents dinner: https://youtube.com/watch?v=IJ-a2KeyCAY

Jon Stewart in Crossfire: https://youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE

Both of these men have largely become more vanilla, but these clips really highlight their young brilliance.

I dont know how anyone can watch that crossfire clip and think Jon Stewart comes off well. All he's doing is his classic "clown nose on, clown nose off" routine where he takes jabs at people then retreats behind his comedy the second he recieves the mildest pushback.

Even if that was his debate tactic, his point came off quite clearly. His point being, shows like Crossfire and pundits like Tucker Carlson are harming political discourse in America. It’s a debate style the hosts were not accustomed to and I think it works to good effect.

Stewart's famous crossfire clip seems more a strong demonstration of the difference between statements said and points made. He made a lot of statements about 'spin alley', and 'the absurdity of the system', and lacking 'moral outrage', and he came on with the whole concept of 'nerf crossfire'. But both hosts denied them, and Stewart had no serious evidence or support for his claims beyond common knowledge; he didn't even provide serious support beyond reiterating over and over that the CNN staff can't complain about him not doing even a trivial effort.

The actual point he made was that Crossfire made a mistake: they trusted him. Which still says something interesting! But it's something rather different.

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