Jon Stewart on the whole sheeple issue

All too frequently I see people on here deriding many/most people as "sheeple" and making snide comments about people who have finally realized (or maybe are just starting to realize) that they've been betrayed by the Bush admin.

Unfortunately, nobody seems to listen to me and the few other DUers who are just voices in the wilderness hoping for a more thoughtful discussion of the facts and issues.

So maybe you'll all listen to Jon Stewart. This is from his interview with Bill Moyers:

MOYERS: People say, "Jon Stewart speaks for the middle man. He speaks for guys between the left and the right." And yet, I sometimes think you're letting the American people off too easily. They watch all of this cable stuff.

STEWART: No. But this is…

MOYERS: And they vote for these politicians.

STEWART: No. They vote… less than 50 percent of the country. The country is, look, the general dialogue is being swayed by the people who are ideologically driven.

The five percent on each side that are so ideological driven that they will dictate the terms of the discussion. The other 90 percent of the country have lawns to mow, and kids to pick up from schools, and money to make, and things to do. Their lives are, they have entrusted… we live in a representative democracy.

And so, we elect representatives to go do our bidding, so that we can get the leaves out of the gutter, and do the things around the house that need to be done. What the representatives have done over 200 years is set up a periphery — I think they call it the Beltway — that is obtuse enough that we can't penetrate it anymore, unless we spend all of our time. This is the way that it's been set up purposefully by both sides. In the financial industry, as well. They don't want average people to easily penetrate the workings because then we call them on it.

http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_stewart.html

edit to add one more point of emphasis

I adore Jon Stewart, and really, I adore that he has such a rosy picture of 90 percent of the population (his math is kind of off, but whatever).

But that's TOTAL BULL. Ask these sheepies who Jennifer Lopez is dating, you bet your ass they know his name. How many millions call in to American Idol?

Politics affects every single person in this country. Can you say 9-11?

Saying that people are too busy is a cop out, sorry. Maybe they don't get why politics are so important. Maybe they feel, like Jon, that the beltway is too hard to get into. Maybe the media does a piss poor job of getting people involved. But LORD--too busy?

Please.

places like DU and Free Republic are the exception.

Most folks are are not into politics the way we and our opposite numbers are.

Why is that? Lots of reasons....

Look, I am as interested in politics as anyone at DU, but even the most steadfast DUer can't bother to follow every intricate piece of political documentation, speech, or event. Can you?

The fact is that government exists to delegate public works to politicians - so not everyone has to bother with the details.

The issue isn't "copping out." It's trust. Should we be able to trust our government to handle its affairs without everyone having to drop their entire lives? Yes.

Bush is sure as hell not trustworthy, but look at what seems to be common knowledge at DU. Bushco is like the mafia - powerful, vindictive, and full of nepotism. It's a machine and the average person (who keeps up with celebrities and whatnot) does not want to mess with the mafia. Part of the problem is self-imposed ignorance, but alienation and helplessness are even more prevalent.

with you. Our culture puts more value on knowing what Britney Spears is doing than what the Supreme Court decides. Yet, what Congress and the Supreme Court decides does more to affect our lives and those of our children than Britney. We are the government. We have no one but ourselves to blame for what happens in this country. We owe it to ourselves to be informed on the issues. We all have the same amount of time in every day. We all have numerous responsibilities. Who we elect is a major responsibility. Excuse me if I put that above raking the leaves.

Perhaps it is.

But only when guided by...

Fuck that. It's NEVER a "Good" thing when most "people" don't have the inclination or tools to make LIFE happen.

LIFE being Government.

How will the Public "Will" ever be satisfied?

..largely underpaid. Leisure time is at an all time low. The two paycheck family has ensured the lack of women involved in community affairs. Give 'em a break, guys.

Yes, we do elect folks we expect to do our bidding. When we find out that those folks have lied to us and screwed things up, we feel betrayed, and that feeling leads to incredible anger.

I'm starting to see that with the more politically aware folks who bought *'s folksy, I'm one of you, you can trust me campaign ads and now find themselves under the thumb of a right wing wack job who is not only ideologically unsound, but who is wildly incompetent, too. As much as we on the left despise everything *'s gang of thugs and bullies stand for, the real rage is on the middle right.

My advice is to stop calling them "sheeple" and work to welcome them onto our side in the fight to oust the * crime family. That the alliance won't last is irrelevant at this point.

my farming grandparents. Or my teacher parents. However, I do agree with your assessment that we need to reach the middle right. Not insult them, as you rightfully implore us not to do, but offer them allegiance with people who have similar goals.

Look, there's any amount of evidence that the negativity in politics turns people off, and that low voter turnouts favor Replicants over Dems. So we've seen this pattern, particularly since the 80s, of increasingly negative campaigning and increasingly Replicant representation in government, to the point where now they control all three branches even though most people by far disagree with their ideas.

So people get turned off and say Ah, politics, and work on improving their houses. Fine. But I'm a grown up with a kid and a career and a house to take care of and a life to lead, too. And I pay attention. I care about things other than whatever shit is on TV this week and what celebrity is facing indictments. If others sit there and passively gobble down whatever Faux and Our Glorious Presidink are saying about Victory In Iraq and then go back to watching Survivor (after cleaning their gutters) well, I think that's a problem. And the blame lands on their shoes as much as anyone's.

We live in a heavily drugged society. It's everyone's responsibility to kick as much of the habit as they can and pay attention. Elsewise there won't be any gutters to clean; there'll be a few vast walled enclaves of rich people and workhouses and poverty for the rest of us. We live under the boot of a plutocratic oligarchy that wants to turn the clock back to, oh, about 1250 A.D. Albeit with television. If we sit there drooling over our donuts and TV like a nation of Homer Simpsons, we will deserve whatever happens to us.

edit: clarity

And they seldom disappear.

Watch what you say and watch what you do.

The agreement was that if we put some thought and effort into it we could live our lives in a comfort zone. Anyone who has a family is in danger of losing everything with one event. There is no safety net for job loss, old age, or illness either public or private. Anyone who has tried to use their disability benifits through work finds out quickly they were had.

We are sending our best and brightest as target practice where we are not wanted. We no longer are respected overseas and we cannot house all the mentally ill, physically ill, psycologically damaged, adicted people in prisons and the pro lifers are going to figure out they are being used to do in the less fortunate of this society eventually. We are distrusted and hated by most of the world something that has happened in 3 years. To top it off we look downright stupid believing the lies they are telling.

They broke the deal. In order to preserve our way of life we have to step outside it and fight those who have taken our government by fraud, lies, bribes, deceit and even violence. It is the only way and everyday hundreds of people are "getting it". More and more paying attention and join those who are fighting for our real rights and freedoms. Stewart is underestimating the situation but probably to reach those who have not been awakened to the truth yet.

"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness . . ."

To far too many Americans, one of those has disappeared from their lives. How can they pursue "happiness" when they are a paycheck away from disaster? When their time off work is spent looking for work because a layoff is imminent (my husband is facing that now)? When an illness in the family can destroy everything they have worked to acheive (faced that here at home too)?

These are people who feel they have no voice and that their opinion doesn't matter. The Democrats can assure a win in '04 by bringing the struggling classes to our tent. The message couldn't be simpler: the message is what was once the American Dream.

I've been saying that for years.