S50.E15: Lady Gaga

[possibilities]

I was responding to what was said upthread, i.e. that good "journalism should offend both sides equally". It's obvious that people disagree about policy, but if the goal is to offend, I was saying that I don't think that's journalism; journalism is to inform.

People can be offended by what they see happening, but I think journalism itself should be there to tell people what is happening, so they are offended or not based on actual reality and not just what they imagine or what someone else tells them that is made up of distortions and lies.

I maintain that facts exist, and the effects of policy are measurable. People can disagree on goals, and whether they like the effects, but the actual facts and what actually happens are not imaginary or mere opinion. Opinions ABOUT what happens, i.e. whether it's good or bad, is not journalism-- it's opinion.

Journalism is about reality. Opinions are about whether we like it or not. If others have different definitions than that, I guess they may think journalism is at its best when it's offensive. I personally think that offending is never a goal, and I think it's really weird that anybody would want to do it. But that's just me.

I think that when people get offended, it should be based on their reaction to something real that is happening, not based on a journalist's agenda TO offend them. The journalist should be the messenger, and people can be offended by what they told you, but I think not by the fact that they told you. If everybody is offended, my reaction is: there must be nothing whatsoever redeemable in what was done, you did it so badly that it was worthless.

Maybe some people like being offended or offensive? I don't get that. I think it's a sickness.

SNL can be a comedy that does not involve itself in politics, but it has chosen not to be that. It has chosen to do political jokes. I think that If it continues to do that, it ought to consider the implications of its behavior. I think good political comedy doesn't pretend politics is meaningless and that jokes about politics are just silly fun without tying them to actual facts. Politics is powerful, it has a real impact on people's lives. To pretend otherwise, to me is irresponsible and delusional. So anyone who does political comedy, in my opinion, should base it on the fundamental premise that politics matters, and they should make jokes that actually relate to what is happening with a point of view other than "let's kick randomly in every direction".

When SNL acts like all politics is just silly nonsense, and doesn't have real impacts that matter, I think it's stupid, lazy, and bad writing. Other people may disagree with me on all of this, but that's my point of view.

And SNL doesn't have to be political at all, but the comment was about journalism, and if people are incapable of telling the difference between journalism and comedy, I think that says something very bad about what journalism has become. I think people need to know what is actually happening in order to make choices about what they like or dislike about it, and without that, we just get a world where the biggest liars and the most deluded people rule. Whatever anybody wants to have happen, I can't imagine anybody actually wants that.

At the end of the day, what people like or dislike is an expression of their values. And the kind of comedy SNL does is an expression of SNL's values. I'm certainly not denying that. But I think some of their choices are based on the premise that politics is not powerful and facts don't matter, or that mocking power itself is more important than targeting what powerful people do with that power. I think that's stupid, delusional, and bad comedy.

I have definitely noticed that some people think everything is funny. I don't. I think you never punch down, and you don't punch the wrong things. If you're going to punch, you have to understand that punching is powerful, and power should be used wisely. And yes, you will not be able to please everyone. If you don't want to deal with that, make jokes about something less important. Good satire understands this. Hacks don't.

Others may, and clearly do, disagree, and have said so. That's how we get a conversation among individuals, not cult-indoctrinated zombies.