neutral comedy

Well, so much for Habermas' ideal of the public sphere, there where the best argument always wins (see below). What a strange state of affairs, where what it takes to strip real crooks with real power of their symbolic aura of immunity is not the factual proof of injustice (see below) but something entirely silly and irrelevant, like having "blowjob" or "shooter" taped to your forehead. Today one of S.'s fourth grade students was singing in class (I kid you not)

Presdident Cheney's got a gun.

The teacher, not exactly anybody's tool, and even arrested in the not-so-distant past for civil disobediance, inquires further

Charlie, do you think that's a complimentary song, or is it one making fun of the Vice Presdident?

...I don't know.

Well think about it.

...I just thought it was funny.

Well, I think it's making fun of someone. In sharing circle we don't make fun of people who aren't here.

Poor innocent child of stolen song, little did he realize he had just related the secret of mainstream comedy. As in, the ability to poke fun at something without taking sides.  When the comedy that writes itself doth trump all reason. But in what kind of society is this ability more potentially politically damaging than anything else?  Not a democracy worth very much, maybe. As much as we'd like to believe there's still another one a-coming.

But what is not Platonic is the idea that politics (the 'political life') is forever devoted to opinion, forever disjoined from all truth. We know what this idea amounts to: sophistry.  (so sayeth Badiou)

Yes Badiou, and yet......if you haven't watched these Daily Show segments by now, you really ought to. Realizing, much to my delight, that I've been scooped once again by Jon Stewart (see esp. "We Got Em")...