Serious news – Adieux to Jon Stewart
Although I am not a person who watches television even I have been acutely aware of the phenomenon of Jon Stewart who 16 years ago began to host a nightly show the stated purpose of which was to “lampoon the newscasts and the newsmakers they enabled.” (AP article by Franzier Moore) Since Mr. Stewart is leaving that show I was thinking about the history of communicating news between individuals, families, and communities.
We humans have been sharing information about ourselves, each other, and events in the world since we first used hieroglyphics in caves, but it was not until the invention of newspapers, then radio eventually television and finally the internet that more frequent reporting of so called news was made possible.
Although it is generally accepted that all life forms share information at a certain level, as far as we know humans are the only species to feel the need to share information in the form of 24 hours news stations.
We moved from simple drawings to rudimentary language to use of “written” language as totem poles to the alphabet and eventually the evolution of the written and spoken form of language as we now know it.
Eventually, the printing press had to be invented. Wikipedia states,
“The printing press was invented in the Holy Roman Empire by Johannes Gutenberg, around 1440. Gutenberg, a goldsmith by profession, devised a hand mold to create metal movable type, and adapted screw presses and other existing technologies, to create a printing system. The mechanization of bookmaking led to the first mass production of books in Europe. [3] A single Renaissance printing press could produce 3,600 pages per workday, [4] compared to about 2,000 by typographic block-printing prevalent in East Asia, [5] and a few by hand-copying.[6] Books of bestselling authors like Luther or Erasmus were sold by the hundreds of thousands in their lifetime.[7]
Not surprisingly, the genre of news as we know it today is closely associated with the newspaper, which originated in China as a court bulletin and spread, with paper and printing press, to Europe. The development of the electric telegraph in the mid-19th century revolutionized news by enabling nearly instantaneous transmissions, and by empowering a cartel of news agencies, which consolidated the world news system. In the 20th century, the style of news and its impact on national populations expanded considerably with constant live broadcasting of radio and television, and finally, with the popularization of the internet. (Wikipedia).
The first reference to privately published news sheets in China is in 1582 in Beijing, during the late Ming dynasty; [3] China Monthly Magazine, which published from 1815 to 1821, marked the beginning of Chinese journalism. It was managed by Robert Morrison, and was printed in Malacca using traditional woodblock printing. It was primarily a Christian missionary organ, although it did include some news.
Letter writing was also a frequent way of sharing news. Although this form of communication has not become extinct email, instant messaging and social media reports have replaced letter writing for many people. One can only imagine the effort which would have been required had one attempted to use the smoke signal to communicate the minususa of detail which some communicate via social media such as Twitter or Facebook.
It was probably with the advent of the radio newscasts that newscasters begun to take on the aura of movie starts or other celebrities.
It is easy to understand the temptation to lampoon both the so-called news and the news broadcasters. On the other hand, after one does this for 16 years, how many more ways can one report on how ridiculous we humans are in terms of how we interact with each other, the environment and ourselves. Think about it. We are born, learn that we are not enough (not good enough, big enough, smart enough, culturally attractive enough), try to augment our importance with events, events, things and temporary attributes (i. e. muscles), work to gather more things, continue to puff up by creatively learning to kill each other, get old, deflate and eventually return to dust. How we accomplish all of this becomes the news.
Throughout the ages we humans have invented mirrors and, if lucky, learned that we needed to open our eyes and be honest about who we saw. Sometimes there are spiritual leaders who try to help us see ourselves, but being the creative people that we are, we can use even those “reports” as an excuse to seriously lament our behavior.
Often the true seers are the comedians; those who lovingly help us laugh at ourselves. If not careful, however, we make fun of each other and do not see the mirrors. We laugh at the “others’ and not at ourselves.
How long can a Jon Stewart help us to laugh at ourselves and not become one of the news items? “Jon Stewart signing off fake newscast for real.” (St. Petersburg Tribune, August 3, 2015, page 2). Jon Stewart has been secretly meeting with President Obama. Jon Stewart is. Fill in the blanks. Perhaps when the lampooner becomes the news it is time for a new lampooner who can lampoon the lampooner!
Really. Let’s take Mr. Stewart seriously. Mr. Stewart is retiring. What will Mr. Stewart do now? What does Mr. Stewart eat for breakfast? The breakfast of champions? Boxers or briefs? Does he step into his trousers with his right leg first or his left leg? What is the first thing is says to his family in the morning? Does Mr. Stewart invest his money in …?
How long before we take Trevor Noah seriously. I fear that we already are. Perhaps Marshall Mcluhan was right when he said many years ago “The Medium is the Message”. Perhaps television cannot long serve the purpose of a mirror.
I smiled when I found in the Oxford dictionary entry for news a list of words, which rhyme, with news. They list:
abuse, accuse, adieux, amuse, bemuse, billets-doux, blues, booze, bruise, choose, Clews, confuse, contuse, cruise, cruse, Cruz, diffuse, do's, Druze, effuse, enthuse, excuse, fuse (US fuze), Hughes, incuse, interfuse, lose, Mahfouz, mews, misuse, muse, ooze, Ouse, perfuse, peruse, rhythm-and-blues, ruse, schmooze, snooze, suffuse, Toulouse, transfuse, trews, use, Vaduz, Veracruz, who's, whose, youse
One could have much fun with this list. Youse can abuse the muse while amusing with ooze. The news is blues. Better pursue the booze. The news is a ruse to smooze the muse. Adieux to Jon who will no longer bemuse the news.
Although I am not a person who watches television even I have been acutely aware of the phenomenon of Jon Stewart who 16 years ago began to host a nightly show the stated purpose of which was to “lampoon the newscasts and the newsmakers they enabled.” (AP article by Franzier Moore) Since Mr. Stewart is leaving that show I was thinking about the history of communicating news between individuals, families, and communities.
We humans have been sharing information about ourselves, each other, and events in the world since we first used hieroglyphics in caves, but it was not until the invention of newspapers, then radio eventually television and finally the internet that more frequent reporting of so called news was made possible.
Although it is generally accepted that all life forms share information at a certain level, as far as we know humans are the only species to feel the need to share information in the form of 24 hours news stations.
We moved from simple drawings to rudimentary language to use of “written” language as totem poles to the alphabet and eventually the evolution of the written and spoken form of language as we now know it.
Eventually, the printing press had to be invented. Wikipedia states,
“The printing press was invented in the Holy Roman Empire by Johannes Gutenberg, around 1440. Gutenberg, a goldsmith by profession, devised a hand mold to create metal movable type, and adapted screw presses and other existing technologies, to create a printing system. The mechanization of bookmaking led to the first mass production of books in Europe. [3] A single Renaissance printing press could produce 3,600 pages per workday, [4] compared to about 2,000 by typographic block-printing prevalent in East Asia, [5] and a few by hand-copying.[6] Books of bestselling authors like Luther or Erasmus were sold by the hundreds of thousands in their lifetime.[7]
Not surprisingly, the genre of news as we know it today is closely associated with the newspaper, which originated in China as a court bulletin and spread, with paper and printing press, to Europe. The development of the electric telegraph in the mid-19th century revolutionized news by enabling nearly instantaneous transmissions, and by empowering a cartel of news agencies, which consolidated the world news system. In the 20th century, the style of news and its impact on national populations expanded considerably with constant live broadcasting of radio and television, and finally, with the popularization of the internet. (Wikipedia).
The first reference to privately published news sheets in China is in 1582 in Beijing, during the late Ming dynasty; [3] China Monthly Magazine, which published from 1815 to 1821, marked the beginning of Chinese journalism. It was managed by Robert Morrison, and was printed in Malacca using traditional woodblock printing. It was primarily a Christian missionary organ, although it did include some news.
Letter writing was also a frequent way of sharing news. Although this form of communication has not become extinct email, instant messaging and social media reports have replaced letter writing for many people. One can only imagine the effort which would have been required had one attempted to use the smoke signal to communicate the minususa of detail which some communicate via social media such as Twitter or Facebook.
It was probably with the advent of the radio newscasts that newscasters begun to take on the aura of movie starts or other celebrities.
It is easy to understand the temptation to lampoon both the so-called news and the news broadcasters. On the other hand, after one does this for 16 years, how many more ways can one report on how ridiculous we humans are in terms of how we interact with each other, the environment and ourselves. Think about it. We are born, learn that we are not enough (not good enough, big enough, smart enough, culturally attractive enough), try to augment our importance with events, events, things and temporary attributes (i. e. muscles), work to gather more things, continue to puff up by creatively learning to kill each other, get old, deflate and eventually return to dust. How we accomplish all of this becomes the news.
Throughout the ages we humans have invented mirrors and, if lucky, learned that we needed to open our eyes and be honest about who we saw. Sometimes there are spiritual leaders who try to help us see ourselves, but being the creative people that we are, we can use even those “reports” as an excuse to seriously lament our behavior.
Often the true seers are the comedians; those who lovingly help us laugh at ourselves. If not careful, however, we make fun of each other and do not see the mirrors. We laugh at the “others’ and not at ourselves.
How long can a Jon Stewart help us to laugh at ourselves and not become one of the news items? “Jon Stewart signing off fake newscast for real.” (St. Petersburg Tribune, August 3, 2015, page 2). Jon Stewart has been secretly meeting with President Obama. Jon Stewart is. Fill in the blanks. Perhaps when the lampooner becomes the news it is time for a new lampooner who can lampoon the lampooner!
Really. Let’s take Mr. Stewart seriously. Mr. Stewart is retiring. What will Mr. Stewart do now? What does Mr. Stewart eat for breakfast? The breakfast of champions? Boxers or briefs? Does he step into his trousers with his right leg first or his left leg? What is the first thing is says to his family in the morning? Does Mr. Stewart invest his money in …?
How long before we take Trevor Noah seriously. I fear that we already are. Perhaps Marshall Mcluhan was right when he said many years ago “The Medium is the Message”. Perhaps television cannot long serve the purpose of a mirror.
I smiled when I found in the Oxford dictionary entry for news a list of words, which rhyme, with news. They list:
abuse, accuse, adieux, amuse, bemuse, billets-doux, blues, booze, bruise, choose, Clews, confuse, contuse, cruise, cruse, Cruz, diffuse, do's, Druze, effuse, enthuse, excuse, fuse (US fuze), Hughes, incuse, interfuse, lose, Mahfouz, mews, misuse, muse, ooze, Ouse, perfuse, peruse, rhythm-and-blues, ruse, schmooze, snooze, suffuse, Toulouse, transfuse, trews, use, Vaduz, Veracruz, who's, whose, youse
One could have much fun with this list. Youse can abuse the muse while amusing with ooze. The news is blues. Better pursue the booze. The news is a ruse to smooze the muse. Adieux to Jon who will no longer bemuse the news.
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