RB 11/7

Jon Stuart and Stephen Colbert are my “spiritual guides” (Bourdieu 328). They have packaged news for me so it’s easily digestible, “confirms what [I] already know” (329) and makes me feel like I’m “apart of the intellectual crowd” (330). They each “have a TV program” (331), which add to their credibility. Jon Stuart has Emmys and both men have a Peabody. Colbert’s credibility increased in my eyes when he got his own show. It has increased in my eyes more, the more he has been on air and the more prestigious his guests have become. That he managed to get the reclusive George Lucas as a guest reflects on Colbert’s credibility.

My mind releases endorphins with anticipation when I hear their theme songs. I Tivo both shows. I quote them to friends and family. Often. I encourage people to watch. I refer friends and family to specific segments on youtube. If it’s Wednesday and Colbert still hasn’t done his weekly installment of his 435-part series Better Know a District, then I anxiously anticipate the next one.

On election night, they’re whom I turn to for unfolding election results. I dismiss Jon Stuart’s insistence that he does “fake news.” Actually, I don’t. It makes him more credible. But I dismiss the notion that his presentation of the news is fake. I trust Jon Stuart and Stephen Colbert with the level of trust I trust spiritual advisors. They are my Oprah. They give me an “increasing awareness of the mechanisms at work [in media]” (Bourdieu 335), and I dismiss the fact that they do it backed by the hegemonic forces of Viacom.