20 years on from the iconic Crossfire exchange. How the heated exchange went on to (not) radically reform modern discourse, and how the public caught in the crossfire became collateral damage.
I look at this differently. This nation is a two-party one. And I prefer it that way, messy as it sometimes is. "Messy" discourse and all. IMO multiple party systems depend on compromise to win and that ultimately leads to compromised government. So thanks but no thanks. The American parties are in a state of transition as has happened oft before, often after being shoved hard by a populist candidate. But back to Stewart. This likely emboldened him to believe his own BS. He who envisioned himself as so enlightened but was offended by a 35 year old man wearing a bow tie. And we are suffering the results today. Long gone is any semblance of objective journalism (which this show was not anyway Jonny boy) and we instead get our input from celebrities, athletes and subpar comedians. We often had very intelligent comedians make political points in the past. George Carlin being my personal favorite. But the difference was that those comedians used witty repartee, and left it to the listener to decide what, if anything, to do about it. Today it is just sermons and lectures masquerading as comedy.
Apologies if we were confusing or unclear with our writing. There is no love lost on the death of Crossfire as some bastion of objective journalism, something that all three parties involved in that incident can agree on, and something we agree with them on. Rather the more salient point we were trying to make is that even the pretense of an interchange of ideas has been abandoned for moralizing in the form of the sermons and lectures you describe.
Voices like Carlin are definitely deeply missed as well. There used to be a better class of public figures for sure, which is partly why we went back to Vidal and Buckley, who political persuasions aside, were both excellent speakers. Neither Stewart nor Carlson can come remotely close to filling that void. Either way, thank you for taking the time to read this work.
Wonderful essay. My father watched Crossfire back in the day. I remember wondering why anyone would watch people yelling at each other. But there is a lot to think about in here.
And oh, to be a sweet summer child once more. Part of me still wonders why anyone would want to watch people yelling at each other as a matter of habit. But I do think Wald said it best with his "argument is sugar and the rest of us are flies".
And for the record, I feel blessed that you spend time on my Substack. You are one of the most well read people I've come across and you tie it all together so well. So there's mutual admiration here.
Really loves the essay and learned a lot about how we likely evolved or devolved to such rigid sects. I liked the director cut of laced up and hated the video of it. Thought it was pretentious. I liked that this essay was a more manageable read for me in terms of length, vocabulary and complexity. Though I am not asking you to compromise your art or style for one reader. I am amazed that you all seem young enough to be hip and old enough to have an appreciation for history. I like how you dismantle the popular headlines now about βnever in American historyβ, βexistential threatsβ, etc.
Well, that's kind of why we primarily shared the song and then tacked on the music video as a bonus. One thing that we did not mention, that is worth pointing out is that tsubi club is but a single person, and one of the coolest aspects we find the current field of music to have is the ability for independent creators to strike out on their own and make productions like these. Is the music video far more flash the substance? undoubtedly. A lot of the more Millennial references might not land for everyone, but found the usage of different art styles and techniques to be quite interesting even if the final product does not tell some grand story. Oh, and the match cuts, a bit of a sucker for those. We certainly appreciate you giving it a try however.
We did experiment a bit with this post in terms of style and length. It's easy to see how this could have been a much longer article at points, and we are evaluating how to work in shorter vignettes like these in the broader context of our work (Disclaimer: It will get longer before it gets shorter again as our next work will be more in the vein of "The Kids are on Fire" in terms of scope). The secret to being hip, is that there really is no big secret. A lot of generations tend to detach themselves from a lot of newer culture because they view it as having little to no value. While there certainly is a lot of valueless content coming out to be sure, there are also plenty of nuggets to find if you have to patience to go panning in a muddy creek bed.
This essay is astonishingly insightful and is a valuable lesson in much better understanding media and narratives. I really enjoyed and appreciated it. Thank-you!
I look at this differently. This nation is a two-party one. And I prefer it that way, messy as it sometimes is. "Messy" discourse and all. IMO multiple party systems depend on compromise to win and that ultimately leads to compromised government. So thanks but no thanks. The American parties are in a state of transition as has happened oft before, often after being shoved hard by a populist candidate. But back to Stewart. This likely emboldened him to believe his own BS. He who envisioned himself as so enlightened but was offended by a 35 year old man wearing a bow tie. And we are suffering the results today. Long gone is any semblance of objective journalism (which this show was not anyway Jonny boy) and we instead get our input from celebrities, athletes and subpar comedians. We often had very intelligent comedians make political points in the past. George Carlin being my personal favorite. But the difference was that those comedians used witty repartee, and left it to the listener to decide what, if anything, to do about it. Today it is just sermons and lectures masquerading as comedy.
Apologies if we were confusing or unclear with our writing. There is no love lost on the death of Crossfire as some bastion of objective journalism, something that all three parties involved in that incident can agree on, and something we agree with them on. Rather the more salient point we were trying to make is that even the pretense of an interchange of ideas has been abandoned for moralizing in the form of the sermons and lectures you describe.
Voices like Carlin are definitely deeply missed as well. There used to be a better class of public figures for sure, which is partly why we went back to Vidal and Buckley, who political persuasions aside, were both excellent speakers. Neither Stewart nor Carlson can come remotely close to filling that void. Either way, thank you for taking the time to read this work.
Wonderful essay. My father watched Crossfire back in the day. I remember wondering why anyone would watch people yelling at each other. But there is a lot to think about in here.
Thank you, it means a lot coming from you.
And oh, to be a sweet summer child once more. Part of me still wonders why anyone would want to watch people yelling at each other as a matter of habit. But I do think Wald said it best with his "argument is sugar and the rest of us are flies".
And for the record, I feel blessed that you spend time on my Substack. You are one of the most well read people I've come across and you tie it all together so well. So there's mutual admiration here.
Argument does give you a rush, but itβs an empty rush, and thatβs something Iβm still learning too.
You need only look at the incidence rate of diabetes to discern that many people have quite the sugar tooth.
Really loves the essay and learned a lot about how we likely evolved or devolved to such rigid sects. I liked the director cut of laced up and hated the video of it. Thought it was pretentious. I liked that this essay was a more manageable read for me in terms of length, vocabulary and complexity. Though I am not asking you to compromise your art or style for one reader. I am amazed that you all seem young enough to be hip and old enough to have an appreciation for history. I like how you dismantle the popular headlines now about βnever in American historyβ, βexistential threatsβ, etc.
Well, that's kind of why we primarily shared the song and then tacked on the music video as a bonus. One thing that we did not mention, that is worth pointing out is that tsubi club is but a single person, and one of the coolest aspects we find the current field of music to have is the ability for independent creators to strike out on their own and make productions like these. Is the music video far more flash the substance? undoubtedly. A lot of the more Millennial references might not land for everyone, but found the usage of different art styles and techniques to be quite interesting even if the final product does not tell some grand story. Oh, and the match cuts, a bit of a sucker for those. We certainly appreciate you giving it a try however.
We did experiment a bit with this post in terms of style and length. It's easy to see how this could have been a much longer article at points, and we are evaluating how to work in shorter vignettes like these in the broader context of our work (Disclaimer: It will get longer before it gets shorter again as our next work will be more in the vein of "The Kids are on Fire" in terms of scope). The secret to being hip, is that there really is no big secret. A lot of generations tend to detach themselves from a lot of newer culture because they view it as having little to no value. While there certainly is a lot of valueless content coming out to be sure, there are also plenty of nuggets to find if you have to patience to go panning in a muddy creek bed.
This essay is astonishingly insightful and is a valuable lesson in much better understanding media and narratives. I really enjoyed and appreciated it. Thank-you!
Thank you for your continued readership and support.