The Friendly Face Of Propaganda

The new Daily Show is pretty bad.

Unhappy Reader

Hon, do you have the clicker?

Jon Stewart recently rejoined the conversation on his own non-network show, a little grayer but with his signature energy intact. He’s back to his consciousness-raising schtick, covering topics like gun violence and economic inequality with the deft balance we came to expect during his 16-year tenure in the Daily Show anchor chair.

Your Replacement Is Here

Trevor Noah has always seemed more scripted to me. His tone changes pretty drastically when he’s off-script, his natural rhythm peeking out to reveal a softer, even pensive style. Ironically, these are the moments he looks most natural as Stewart’s successor – Trevor is also kind, but firm. Jovial, but principled.

But this tonal shift doesn’t happen very often on the show. Jon would sometimes chuckle underneath his lines, a winking acknowledgement of some personal discomfort. He came across as struggling to recite things he didn’t believe.

Trevor is more professional. When he’s on, he’s on, delivering his lines with the same bouncy energy regardless of their content.

This week he came in hot, hopping quickly from one cherry-picked blurb to another. Punchlines fastened to the end of each factoid according to the familiar formula. Jon Stewart could be a bit predictable after absorbing his style for so long, but watching Trevor reminds me it was also because Jon let events write the jokes.

Step Into The Wayback

As a random example, let’s check out Stewart’s Daily Show’s coverage of that time Dick Cheney shot a guy in the face (Original airdate 13 Feb. 2006): A few quick news clips roll by, and when the camera cuts back to Jon his expression alone gets a laugh. He lingers there, eventually only muttering a tongue-in-cheek “Thank you, Jesus!” for the comedy goldmine.

Having let the initial moment land, Jon then launches into his summary, “Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a man during a quail hunt at a political supporter’s ranch – Making 78-year-old Harry Wittington the first person shot by a sitting VP since Alexander Hamilton!” This absurd fact functions as the punchline.

Adult Human Female

There’s a natural rhythm if you go with the flow!

After some laughter, Stewart continues, “Alexander Hamilton, of course, was shot in a duel with Aaron Burr over issues of honor, integrity and political maneuvering. Whittington was mistaken for a bird.” Punchline number two is more humorously-worded facts.

He mocks the eyewitness’ tone-deaf storytelling – ‘The Vice President took aim at the bird and shot and, unfortunately, Mr. Whittington was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty well.’  Again, Jon’s face tells the tale before he opens his mouth. “‘Peppered,'” he repeats through a smirk, “Yes, there you have it – Harry Wittington ‘seasoned’ to within an inch of his life.” This simple pun was practically handed to him, a simplicity Jon acknowledges by stealing cheeky glances heavenward.

Nothing To See Here

Compare this to Trevor Noah’s news monologue this past Thursday: “There’s a lot going on today – The new Adelle album drops at midnight, which means you’re about to be able to tell who’s going through a breakup through your walls.” Nothing inherently funny about Adelle putting out an album – But her music is so sad!

“The judge in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial took a bathroom break and let Kyle be the judge while he was gone, which I’ve never seen before but he swears is totally normal.” A made-up story meant to illustrate the judge’s bias. Invoking imaginary events just robs the segment of any power to criticize real ones.

“And two men who were framed for the killing of Malcolm X fifty years ago were finally exonerated.” Ok, this is kind of a big deal, right? “Which means the real killer could be anyone in this room,” says the 37-year-old. He pauses and looks around, acting spooked as a creepy sound cue plays.

Then he picks the patter right back up without missing a beat. “But, while American news is always breaking, it’s also good to remember that other countries have news, too.”

Interview

Shit, now you tell me!

Fair enough, but so far we’ve seen one non-news story, one made-up story, and the only interesting thing was presented last with no analysis whatsoever. Not even so much as a reminder of what happened all those decades ago.

And Now, For My Next Trick

A flashy globe graphic flies by, carrying us into the international round-up bit. Russia is sabre-rattling again. Migrants are crossing borders. Trevor gives some facts about the situation in Belarus, then compares a dictator weaponizing desperation to, “When your parents start cooking with peanuts to get you to move out of the house, because they know you’re allergic. It’s a dick move!” This joke borders on irresponsible, considering peanut allergies kill around 150 people in the US every year.

But the nonsense just keeps flowing – “We can’t let anything happen to Poland – That’s where all our water comes from!” Cue a random bottle of Poland Spring whooshing past. This pun is a non-sequitur, Americans’ continuing obsession with bottled water is not relevant to European politics.

The facts feel sharp, but the comedy reads like an afterthought. Connected to nothing, it illuminates nothing.

Moving right along, Ethiopia is collapsing and any Americans there are on their own. Trevor goes for Jon’s old rhythm here, mockingly paraphrasing the State Department – “In Afghanistan, the US government staged an all-out airlift. Meanwhile, in Ethiopia, they’re like, ‘might we suggest Priceline.com?’

“What do they mean when they say the State Department will help you book a commercial flight out? That’s not helpful – people know how to book flights! That’s like going, ‘Hey, do you need a ride? Open Uber on your phone, then you hit Request A Ride. Best of luck, buddy!'”

But Trevor is from Africa, you know. Please understand, this is a complicated and sensitive story.” You might have started with that! The writing on this Daily Show is inverted, burying anything interesting under layers of saccharine fluff.

Pink Princess

It’s real, if you just believe hard enough!

The Callback

A female voiceover tells us India’s capital is choking with smog, “According to a report from the University of Chicago, this toxic air is ten times worse in Northern India than anywhere else in the world.”

Trevor compares it to the steam vents in New York City, “Which, by the way, what is that shit? I’ve lived here for many years, and I still don’t understand what that is.” You just called them steam vents, dude!

Sometimes, he just seems really clueless  – “One detail I like from this story is that the Indian government put together an environmental ministry panel on air pollution, who confirmed that the air was, indeed, polluted.” That clip clearly said University of Chicago! These people make too much money for this level of incompetence.

And the commercial tie-ins are crammed in so tight, this one took my breath away: “This is a great example of why we all need to move to cleaner energy. It is expensive, but it’s also hella expensive to shut down your economy whenever your city turns into a sandstorm from ‘Dune.'” This level of shilling is sort of impressive, in its own twisted way.

He pivots hard, dumping us unceremoniously into the segment’s last spot, “And, like most things in the world, this story was made in China.” Hmm, do I detect a hint of satire? It’s like being haunted by something forever at the edge of your vision.

Finally, The Real Story

At eleven minutes in, we learn that international Tennis star Peng Shuai is missing. After accusing a prominent politician of raping her, Shuai’s social media account was quickly locked down, then deleted. She herself hasn’t been seen in weeks. A CNN clip tells us, “censors have all but scrubbed this woman from the Chinese internet.”

The supposed email released by Chinese State media has strong Old Soviet vibes: “I’m not missing, and I hope Chinese tennis will become better and better.” You’d think Shuai’s continued participation would be the best guarantee of this, but I won’t be surprised if we never see her again.

Trevor appears appropriately appalled. “This is really disturbing – Someone speaks out about sexual assault, and then China’s government just makes them disappear?” This seems to be what happened, yes. Bare minimum achieved!

Pissed Off In Purple

Great, great… And they pay you how much for that??

But his little rant is interrupted mid-sentence, replaced by a graphic and Chinese voiceover informing us Trevor has gone on vacation. Hilarious.

The laughs have been few and far between, but the very end is where Comedy Central’s true colors bleed through – “It’s one thing for your government to come after you, it’s another thing for them to make you just never exist! 

“They scrubbed the Internet of anything about this Tennis player. Do you know how hard it is to get stuff off the Internet? Only China can do that!” Exactly how sure of this are we, anyway?

“If you have embarrassing pictures online, just move to China and talk shit about the Communist Party. They’ll clean up your reputation in no time! I mean, yeah, you’ll be locked in a basement somewhere but, hey, at least you didn’t get canceled.”

But isn’t that exactly what happened?? Peng Shuai said something the Establishment in her country didn’t like, and they silenced her! They were just extremely thorough about it.

“This also really puts into perspective when people in America complain about being ‘censored by Big Tech.’ Peng Shuai literally does not exist on the Internet anymore! Yeah, maybe Trump can’t tweet right now, but you can still Google him.” How lucky we are, to still have access to information!

I Like Big Brains

Trevor references a rap song from 1990, abruptly ending the segment in a last blast of irony.

Rap music pushed the censors, testing competing loyalties to money and propriety. Money won handily, record companies slapped stickers on the albums and raked in the cash. It was said we were sliding down a slippery slope of indecency – If you let black men express themselves, who knows where it will end? They might be hosting talk shows someday!

But Trevor does rappers and other comedians dirty with this argument – Censorship isn’t great, but at least it’s not kidnapping!

Where exactly is that line? In the UK, people are being summoned for questioning by the police over their social media posts. The dubious legality of this is almost overshadowed by the implied threat of detainment – Police have been known to shoot first and ask questions later, figuratively and literally. If you go in, there’s a chance you won’t come back out any time soon.

Sure, the implied threat of something isn’t the same as it actually happening. But is that single step enough insulation for a free society? The slippery slope has been declared a fallacy, but we might want to revisit that. The Chinese government doesn’t have any legal right to disappear people, but the widespread fear eliminates the need for such niceties.

Creeper

When you feel safe turning your back, that’s when they’re most dangerous!

Belittling the sense of injustice Westerners feel watching today’s creeping authoritarianism is akin to telling little girls to ‘just not look’ at the penis in the locker room. Your discomfort is your problem – It’s certainly not induced by any changes in the environment, and it’s definitely not justified. Whatever stirring you feel is probably some kind of phobia, and your fear is invalid.

Ten years ago, Jon Stewart’s viewers polled as more informed than those who watched the Actual News. Trevor Noah’s Daily Show is a transparent exercise in propaganda, trading on the reputation Stewart built. I can only assume that most of his viewers are too young to see what’s changed.

And this is just one obvious example. As much as I don’t want to see it, our whole environment looks curated, consciously directed toward some things and away from others. No one’s gonna convince me there isn’t at least as much comedy gold out there!

Bad nights like Trevor’s seem to offer a peak behind the curtain, implying none of it is an accident. But just relax and watch the show! Everything is ok as long as the funny man is cracking jokes, right?

 

 

It Really Is About Cuttlefish!

Science has been kinda dodgy lately. Foundational psychological studies are defying replication. Sexed brains don’t exist, then they do, then they don’t.

Mal87783

I mean, there’s men’s and women’s hands, but it’s not like that!

But today, science really came through for me.

If you’ve been fighting in the TERF wars for a few years, you’ll remember the infamous cuttlefish comparison. I came in on the end of it, but the basic idea was that sex is a spectrum because some animals can switch their sex in certain conditions.

The very idea of switching sex seems to imply that it’s not a spectrum, but let’s move on.

This example has gained more traction as an emblem of TRA silliness than as a serious argument. I still giggle at the occasional reference, the bespoke specificity of the deceptively-spelled totem is an evergreen nugget of absurdity for me.

I don’t know if cuttlefish really change sex, but the mating strategy of so-called Beta Males had my jaw on the floor. Then I laughed for a solid minute.

Writing for The Ethologist, Julia Henning uses a personal anecdote to introduce us to ‘The Sneaky Fucker Strategy’:

“You’ll have to excuse my language because ‘sneaky f**ker’ is the actual, legitimate, honest to goodness, scientific term coined by John Maynard Smith to describe subordinate, beta or low-status males who opportunistically mate with females while the dominant or alpha males are otherwise occupied.” 

She censors the f-bombs, but I’m just not that classy.

“Also known as Kleptogamy or sneaky copulation, this mating strategy is observed in many species, often with elaborate deployment.

This is the funniest thing I have read in a very long time.

“One such species is the giant cuttlefish. This species takes the cake for flawless and creative execution of a sneaky f**ker strategy.”

I definitely have an ex or two who’d give them a run for their money!

“Male cuttlefish are much larger than their female counterparts and display a darker, more vivid pattern on their backs. During the cuttlefish’s mass annual mating, hundreds of thousands of cuttlefish come together to find a mate.”

Sounds like every single day in human life.

“Males display their size and power and, if a female is interested, she will draw in her tentacles. This triggers the male to guard her underneath his body. If a smaller male was to try to access her, the larger male would attack and send the smaller male packing.

“To avoid this, some small males have developed a cunning ploy. Thanks to sacs of pigment on their skin capable of producing different patterns, cuttlefish are masters of camouflage.

Like some other species I know…

Tea With Chad

You are the most beautiful woman in the world, and I would never do anything to besmirch your honor… Give us a kiss!

“The small male uses this advantage to change the pattern on his back, mimicking that of a female. As he approaches, he reinforces the ploy by drawing his tentacles in, triggering the dominant male to hide him under his body where the female is waiting.”

So he presents himself as female to gain access to actual females. Where have I heard that before?

“Once the small male has mated with the female, he casually heads off, appearing to any males as just another picky female looking for a mate.” In human terms, this would probably be called assault. Miss Cuttlefish didn’t invite the Sneaky Fucker in!

The farcical parallels go on and on – “Some researchers have reported seeing this ploy used skilfully while males are searching for a mate. Swimming lower than the larger males but above the females, the small males display a female pattern on their back where the larger males can see it and ignore the smaller male as a threat.

“But below they show a different story, displaying a male pattern on their belly where the females can see. Thanks to this clever use of colour, they can go undisturbed by the larger males and still advertise their interest to the females.” 

‘Interest’ is a relative term. Sometimes men’s methods of showing their ‘interest’ veer directly into creep territory. These cuttlecreeps are presenting as female to other males, meanwhile showing the females their true colors! The metaphor could not be more perfect, just not quite how they intended.

Ms. Henning’s article is nearly a year old, and I can only guess if she saw it like this.

She brings us home with a few generalizations that just deepen the analogy, “It is worth noting that the sneaky f**ker strategy only occurs in species where mate selection is restricted, usually due to female monopolisation by a male or group of males,” Like patriarchal cultures giving powerful men harems?

“…Mate guarding,” AKA marriage!

“…Hierarchies or because sexual behaviour outside of the ‘system’ is punished.” Check, and check.

Funny Papers

Transwomen might be cuttlefish, after all!

But like a true skeptic, Ms. Henning leaves herself wiggle room, “While we may see similarities between these acts and our own, it would be a mistake to think that the two are the same. My wingman was sneaky that’s for sure, but the cuttlefish are the real sneaky f**kers.”

I have met some human males with pretty elaborate mating strategies. Humans in general are definitely not above employing deception to get laid!

This may not be the hottest topic, but let me know if you thought this was as funny as I did. Ms. Henning has accidentally hewn a priceless comedic gem that invites us to question how our animal nature informs our human actions.

Working on something a little different for next week in support of a couple things happening in the wider world. Meanwhile, I’ll be finding ways to slip cuttlefish back into the conversation…