MB Civic

Boykoff ..

In his original call to action, Stewart lumped together the Tea Party Movement with 9-11 Truthers and anti-war groups like Code Pink. Later Stewart dubbed Belgian protesters demonstrating against state austerity measures “lunatics” on par with Tea Party activists who screech from the screen, “The only good communist is a dead communist.” But by equating high-pitched tone with extremist politics, he plunks an unreasonable correlation at the center of his plea for reason … Apparently, if you sport a suit and advocate unequivocally unreasonable practices like waterboarding, but do so in a friendly, down-home way using “your indoor voice,” you may well escape Stewart’s incisive wit. However, should you dip your hands in fake blood and attend a congressional hearing in order to make the completely reasonable argument that foreign wars are wasting precious lives and squandering scarce funds, you can expect to have the comedian slot you in the nutjob category

Boykoff teaches political science at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon .. read more