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69 points tim333 | 5 comments | | HN request time: 0.459s | source
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thelettere ◴[] No.7329018[source]
Colbert's funny as hell and as likeable as they come. But despite his reputation, he's not exactly an "outside the box" thinker.

He's a deeply religious catholic, is patriotic and apparently believes in the rule of law.

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existencebox ◴[] No.7329027[source]
I think our problems come when we start looking for any more than entertainment in our entertainers.

He attributes the "greatest threat to security" to not voting and not watching political money. I would politely disagree. Our "greatest threat to security" is that our people take their opinions from the mouths of celebrities and politicians, and not through careful consideration of the facts.

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1. yellowbkpk ◴[] No.7329067[source]
Nowadays, the most reliable way to see (at least more of) the facts on television is by watching comedy shows. "Real" television news programs are in the business of advertising to their viewers, not informing them.

How can you blame our people for taking their opinion from celebrities, entertainers, and politicians when they are more informative than the avenues that are supposed to inform us?

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2. cjfont ◴[] No.7329083[source]
Can you support this? So you don't think comedy shows have any advertising agenda simply because their main purpose is to entertain? I would suggest that they have an additional tool at their disposal (humor) to help put a spin on matters.
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3. existencebox ◴[] No.7329189[source]
I can't, I do the same thing. (use comedy shows as one tool to expose myself to "what's going on in the world").

It's a really sad statement on the current state of things; but there's a degree of personal responsibility in not taking this narrative unilaterally, we have these amazing tools of message boards and other channels with which to chat with people firsthand around the world, and while I can't say it's any substitute for proper reporting, it is certainly "another tool" for constructing a more accurate picture of things.

4. nmrm ◴[] No.7329324[source]
I understand the sentiment, but disagree with the conclusion.

There are some unbiased and quality sources of reporting, even on television. E.g. PBS's Newshour does a good job.

More importantly, there is a lot of useful material outside of television land. For instance, Foreign Affairs does a good job covering both sides of defense issues. HIR, Brown Journal of World Affairs, and similar publications are also high-quality.

I think the real problem is that we want our news to be entertaining (or at least not work-like), but truly understanding any given issue in the news requires consuming large quantities of evidence prepared and presented from various perspectives. And that's not always as fun as watching (or making fun of) Fox/CNN/NBC/etc. In fact, sometimes it's pretty boring.

5. yellowbkpk ◴[] No.7329436[source]
My theory is that most of the comedy shows (The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, etc.) make jokes out of showing the opposite end of extreme viewpoints or stories that show up on news. You might be laughing at the absurdity, but you're more informed.