By David Marcus
Thursday, September 22, 2016
I have a confession to make. I don’t find Samantha Bee
very funny. I also don’t think John Oliver, Trevor Noah, or Seth Meyers are all
that amusing. I bring this up because in The
New York Times Ross
Douthat wrote a column suggesting that liberal political comedians like Bee
cause certain problems for Hillary Clinton. He says these late-night comedians
and their views occupy a much greater space in culture than they do in the
opinions of the electorate, which puts Clinton in an awkward position.
If Clinton gets too close to Bee’s scolding
progressivism, she risks losing more middle-of-the-road voters. But if she
doesn’t, she could alienate Bernie Sanders voters, 25 percent of whom already
might not vote for her. For his trouble, Douthat met some rather aggressive
pushback from liberals, who view all the branches of the Jon Stewart comedy
tree as gold.
The liberal New
Republic ripped off two pieces attacking Douthat’s conclusions. The first
alleged that, wait for it, Douthat had not taken race into account thoroughly
enough in arguing that part of Trump’s appeal is rooted in his rejection of
progressive political correctness. The second argued that he was off-base
because most millennials are socially liberal, as if older Americans don’t vote
and younger people don’t become older people.
Bee herself weighed in, saying in a conference call “it’s
so good to know that we’re the problem, and not racism,” according to New York Times writer Dave Iztkoff’s
Twitter feed. When Iztkoff got some blowback from conservatives he had this to
say:
Isn't it interesting that people
get so upset that comedians have any place in our discourse, or that viewers
watch of their own volition?
The weird thing about all of this is that the only people
upset were liberals attacking Douthat’s theory. Part of the reason so many
reacted is no doubt affection for Bee, who regularly “destroys” all the
horrible conservative badness in the country. But what really got under their
skin was something deeper.
People Are Voting
for Fallon With Their Remotes
The background for the current discussions about late-night
comedy is the ferocious anger thrust at “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon for
being too nice to Trump. Earlier this week I wrote about how wrongheaded the
reaction was. But I failed to mention something that speaks to Douthat’s theory
that hyperpoliticizing entertainment is turning off more people than it is
enlightening. Fallon and “The Tonight Show” blow their competition away in the
ratings. The shows’ viewership dwarfs all of the political-minded comedy shows.
“The Tonight Show” gets a bigger audience because most
people aren’t looking for the self-righteous mirth of slamming those stupid
Republicans right before bed. Most would rather just have a chuckle. But as the
backlash against Fallon shows, that apolitical style of comedy is not only becoming
rare, it is being openly attacked as insufficiently politically militant.
This is the phenomenon to which Douthat is rightly
attributing much of Trump’s appeal. His signature issue, more than immigration,
more than crime, more than trade, is political correctness. Are some of his
supporters downright racists? Sure, but many, many more connect with him when
he says the speech police are keeping us from having frank conversations about
real issues and problems. It is an effective argument for Trump because it is
largely true. Yet saying so drives the progressives of the cultural elite
absolutely bonkers with outrage.
There are comedians who eschew political correctness;
Jerry Seinfeld has taken flack for criticizing the snowflake mentality of the
permanently outraged. Some comedians unable to secure late-night TV spots use
the more open arena of podcasts. One such celebrity is Norm MacDonald, and a
recent podcast exchange with Stephan Merchant might give a hint about why
television isn’t giving him a broader platform.
About 12 minutes into a recent podcast, MacDonald and
Merchant discuss transgenderism, pointing out ways in which the trans movement
contradicts itself. At one point Macdonald asks if Merchant knows what
cisgender means. Merchant didn’t, so MacDonald explained it is a man born a man
who identifies a man, going on to say, “It’s a way of marginalizing normal
people.”
Now, that’s a funny joke to my way of thinking, but not
one safe for TV. Tellingly, by the end of the segment on the trans issue,
Merchant suggests he knows he must have offended people, but he’s not exactly
sure how or why.
Stop Ordering Us
How to Think
This is exactly the predicament many voters leaning
towards Trump feel. Their ideas, concerns, and feelings are consistently
dismissed as not only wrong, but so wrong that they must never be spoken or
heard. They know people are offended by them, but they aren’t even sure why,
because it can’t be discussed. Trump and those who share positions with him are
so deplorable they should only appear on TV to be destroyed.
Meanwhile, Hollywood celebrities are lining up, not just
to tell us not to vote for Trump, but that not voting for Trump is the most
important thing anyone can do in his or her entire life. In response to the
latest video of anti-Trump hysteria, Ben Domenech hit the nail on the head.
I understand that many right-thinking Samantha Bee fans
are disappointed that not every American has jumped on their “muticulti, choose
your own pronoun, get out of my safe space before I’m triggered” bandwagon.
It’s hard knowing many people out there don’t share one’s fundamental beliefs.
When we are told our religious beliefs, politics, and worldviews aren’t
acceptable in decent discourse, it pisses us off.
Trump’s unique genius in this election cycle was in
identifying political correctness as a major issue for many Americans.
Resistance to the progressive inquisition explains better than anything else
the surprising breadth of Trump’s appeal. Liberals don’t want to hear this;
after all, they consider themselves to be the apex of tolerance. More and more
Americans don’t see it that way. They see a progressive hegemony that makes
their ideas cogitatio non grata.
Should Trump become the next president, a possibility
some on the Left are awaking to with cold shudders, the rebellion against
political correctness will be why. As much pause as Trump gives me, that
rebellion alone has made his candidacy worthwhile.
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