{"id":783,"date":"2007-04-20T09:32:00","date_gmt":"2007-04-20T09:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/godspolitics\/2007\/04\/ryan-rodrick-beiler-comic-relief.html"},"modified":"2007-04-20T09:32:00","modified_gmt":"2007-04-20T09:32:00","slug":"ryan-rodrick-beiler-comic-relief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/2007\/04\/ryan-rodrick-beiler-comic-relief.html","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Rodrick Beiler: Comic Relief"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>On Monday, in my homage to Kurt Vonnegut, I affirmed his assertion that:<\/p>\n

Laughs are exactly as honorable as tears. Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion, to the futility of thinking and striving anymore. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward – and since I can start thinking and striving again that much sooner.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Looking back at the events that unfolded later that day in Blacksburg, I have to question if this is always true. There is plenty of absurdity in that tragedy, but little to laugh at.<\/p>\n

I did, however, smile upon reading a recent piece by Ethics Daily’s Bob Allen<\/a> on a Pew Research Center poll<\/a> comparing Fox “News” watchers to fans of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart<\/em> and The Colbert Report<\/em>. (Sorry, I always have to put sarcasm quotes around “news” when it’s next to the word Fox.)<\/p>\n

Allen reports:<\/p>\n

Along with education, income and political interest, researchers found where people get their news had a significant impact on how much they know. Fifty-four percent of those ranked with high knowledge of current events said they watched “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart<\/a>” and “The Colbert Report<\/a>” with Stephen Colbert<\/a>, the same percentage as readers of major newspaper Web sites and one point ahead of “News Hour with Jim Lehrer<\/a>” on PBS.<\/p>\n

That compared to 35 percent in the high-knowledge category that get their news from Fox and\/or their local TV news and 34 percent who watch network morning shows.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Daily Show<\/em> and Report<\/em> fans shouldn’t be too smug, however:<\/p>\n

Other programs with a high percentage of very knowledgeable viewers and listeners included “The O’Reilly Factor<\/a>” on Fox News (51 percent) and Rush Limbaugh’s radio show<\/a> (50 percent).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Still, it would seem that smart and funny beats smart and mean 54% to 51%. There is hope. The poll apparently makes no mention of Fox’s attempt at satire, The 1\/2 Hour News Hour<\/em>, likely because it contains neither news nor humor.<\/p>\n

But even – or especially – during a week like this, I guess I still agree with Vonnegut about laughter. As I wrote in Sojourners<\/em><\/a> a few years back about The Daily Show<\/em>: “Satire can be a vital tonic to those numbed by current events\u2014a way of engaging the powers that be without going crazy.”<\/p>\n

We need that medicine now more than ever. Get a double dose with an archive clip of Jon Stewart’s interview of Vonnegut<\/a> – showing his age, but still plenty of edge.<\/p>\n

Ryan Rodrick Beiler<\/strong> is the Web Editor for Sojourners\/Call to Renewal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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