The so-called Millennial generation (birth year 1978-2000) gets a lot of flack from older generations. When we want something, we want it now.
We’re collectively entitled, lazy, unwilling to commit, aimless and without a solid work ethic, according to our critics.
But can you really blame us? It’s how we were raised. We were raised on the 24-hour news culture; on blogs and Twitter and Facebook and all-night drive-through restaurants
We’ve come into young adulthood burdened by the weight of the future.
Yes, our critics have a point.
Our media diets are the equivalent of a deep-fried candy bar and a few thousand Big Macs.
Part of this is due to the never-ending supply of mind-numbing television and video games. Part of it is the fact that we are the ones demanding to be entertained.
Unlike past generations, we have no objective, fair central figure providing us with the latest in current events.
Instead of a Walter Cronkite, we have various cable news channels each with their own political biases and agendas.
Instead of quality TV shows, we have “Jersey Shore” and “Ice Loves Coco” — fascinating shows, to be sure, but lacking anything we might deem to be substantive or worthy of our limited time.
It’s often been lamented that the Millennials get the news from comedians rather than reporters. I personally trust Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show” more than any other modern media personality (excluding Anderson Cooper, of course).
In 2008, comedians like Stewart or Stephen Colbert lampooned the entirety of the presidential election, from the selection of vice presidential nominees to the comments of various campaign advisers.
The writers of “Saturday Night Live” certainly did their part on segments such as “Weekend Update” to go through the top stories relating to the election.
There is something to be said for the power of comedy. While Stewart and the writers of “SNL” undoubtedly have a political bias, their only agenda is to make us laugh.
The American poet and satirist Dorothy Parker once quipped, “Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply calisthenics with words.”
The brand of news satire we now rely on for both entertainment and informative value is more than just slapstick humor.
There is some sort of truth in the commentary these shows provide.
Stewart, though he has an evident political bias, manages to showcase the foolishness and corruption on both sides of the American political spectrum.
The truth we find in wit and satire exposes the foolishness of all sides. Humor doesn’t discriminate.
While Stewart has criticized the Fox News Channel for spinning the news and the issues to fit a right-leaning political agenda, he has done the same for the hosts of left-leaning CNN’s “Crossfire.”
Satire is a more elevated level of humor and performs an important social function. Not only does it amuse us, it makes us think. It makes us confront our biases and it helps remind us not to take ourselves so seriously.
Is Jon Stewart the new Walter Cronkite, as The New York Times once inquired? Is he the new “most trusted man in America”?
It would appear so — he’s all our generation’s got to work with.
Reach the columnist atskthoma4@asu.edu
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