When it comes to creation (painting, music, writing, comedy, and such),
I am in awe of those that create an actual “body of work” over many years. Inherent in that longevity is the rhythms
that build up, sometimes even becoming a bit of a formula that works and is at
times tweaked, but you can recognize its signature. That’s an Aimee Mann
song, a Sophia Coppola movie, or Aaron Sorkin dialogue. How do you keep it
fresh? A by-product of this comfort is that I often forget about their brilliance, or take it for granted that they will always be
there, or claim they lost a step (i.e. R.E.M., who thankfully tamed this
assertion with their final work Collapse into Now). This is the case with The Daily Show.
For several years in the early and middle 00s, I was quite an avid follower.
This also coincided with my most collaborative work in graduate school,
daily debates and discussions and arguments of the day’s events in our basement
“dungeon” of offices. The Daily Show
routinely served as a launching point for these discussions. In addition, this also was a period of the
show that coincided with my own academic pursuits: Stewart and Co. were
exploring language, how it was used, abused, constructed, manipulated; how
arguments loaded with fallacies pandered to specific audiences and scapegoated those most often not represented
in our government. And of course they
were scathing and accurate in their media critiques (if you have read previous
posts, you know this is near and dear to my heart). Often this work influenced discussion and
activities in classroom. But for a number
of reasons, keeping tabs on the show drifted out of my life (mostly). So, when
I stumbled across this segment on last night’s show and I was reminded of the
show’s brilliance, and was so moved that I am here writing about it.
The attention given to the Daily Show’s influence has come and gone, and the
public and media glare has moved on to more interesting realities. The attention given to the Daily Show as one of
the best sources of news has also come and gone. I think one of the best decisions The Daily
Show made was to not let this one time glow go to their head nor did they let
the status quo co-opt its voice. So many commercial media and news organizations simply do not know how to take an easy angle
or create a storyline about these guys, and as such they are often simply ignored or
pathetic attempts are made to minimize their importance and delegitimize their arguments. Anyway, their segment last night, Poor Pee-ple, made me laugh, made me angry, left me stupefied, made me cheer aloud,
made me actually look up the credentials of one of several douche bags featured
in the piece, produced a few moments of uncomfortable humor, made me proud of
several humans I had never met, and was reminded of the need for satirical
commentary in this culture.
As I hope you watch the clip, I will still offer a bit of a summary and
a few comments in between (link at the bottom). Basically,
Governor Rick Scott of Florida passed a law forcing all Florida welfare
recipients to take a drug test before receiving their benefits. The citizen has to pay $30 out of pocket for
the test and if they pass, the state of Florida will reimburse the cost. $30 not too much of burden on the poor? By the way, Scott is the co-founder of
Solantic, an urgent care center that among many things performs drug
testing. Scott’s rationale, quoted in the
piece, was that “studies show that people on welfare are using drugs more than
the rest of the population.” This would
soon be debunked by actual studies that demonstrate within the poor population,
2% use drugs while the rest of Florida’s population is at 9% usage.
Led by Assif Mandvi - probably my favorite correspondent, amazing
voice, perfect timing, great mockery of the television reporter’s ethos – and his
interview of Scott Plakon (R-37th District) who completely embarrasses himself as Assif eviscerates his “argument.”
Plakon states these people are choosing their drugs over their welfare
check to help their children, so just take the test, what do you have to hide. Cut to the protagonist, Louis Lebron, a father
caring for his children and elderly mother, a college student who oh, by the
way is military veteran. Lebron said
fuck you, this is unconstitutional (in late 2011 a federal judge agreed). Plakon continues to say this is all about
the freedom of the taxpayer to know that their money is not being spent on
drugs (of all testing to date, only 2% failed the test and has cost Florida
200K – brilliant spin by Assif here on both facts). Assif waits the perfect beat and asks: who
pays your salary? Plakon, face frozen,
stuck in his own shit states: the people of Florida. Assif: well please pee in this cup. Plakon: if there was a law, I would be happy
to do so. Plakon: this is not a
priority for me and my legislative bill slots have already been filled. Assif proceeds to a press conference of
Governor Scott and asks the same thing, and the same result ensued, another
politician caught and too stupid to find his way out.
If you have watched the Daily Show with any regularity, yes there is a
formula that we have seen before: using facts to counter bullshit claims; using
their own words against these hypocritical jags; perfectly set-up media clips to
counter claims, spotlighting hypocrisy by finding a smart, articulate person that
counters the Other-ing of the welfare recipient, and also an undercurrent of
fuck you asshole. And of course we can
never forget editing in the production of media. Nevertheless, as corny as it sounds, I felt
pride watching others challenge people that hide and cloak themselves in their constructed
American values, twist and distort the Constitution for cheap, shameless political
appeal. When reached this morning about
his appearance in the piece, Plakon simply stated “I did it because my kids
thought it was cool.” Amazing, he even
has to pander to his children.
An excellent find.
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