Still No News

As my daughter said last night...

How am I supposed to know what’s going on in the world without The Daily Show ?!!

Jon Stewart and the rest of the late-night comedians were the first casualties of the Writers Guild of America strike. Now, a whole generation of college students is without their generation’s Walter Cronkite of comedy.

If you’re my age or older, you might think that a strange comparison -- Jon Stewart and Walter Cronkite. Trust me, a lot of young people depend on Jon Stewart to separate the wheat from the chaff for them. They are bombarded by information all day. TV, radio, print advertisements and the internet. Jon Stewart is their filter. He’s also funny.

Which brings us back to the people that write the funny words -- the writers. They’re on strike. If you’d like to know why, you can watch this video. Or, for a very lengthy discussion, you can visit Wikipedia.

As I was reading all this, one phrase kept coming to mind -- “intellectual property rights.” The U.S. government beats up China regularly about this issue. I assume that is the entertainment (and computer) industry talking about China stealing their intellectual property. But when it comes to stealing the intelligence of creative people...I’m betting the corporations start singing a different tune.

Another random thought. Have you ever heard of a stupid writer ? Seems like an oxymoron doesn’t it ? Hey, I said it was random didn’t I ?



I’m rooting for the writers.

Don Brown
November 28, 2007