this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2024
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Skeptic

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Scientific skepticism or rational skepticism, sometimes referred to as skeptical inquiry, is a position in which one questions the veracity of claims lacking empirical evidence.

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[–] acosmichippo@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (14 children)

Every guest on the daily show is there to promote something, it's a glorified extended ad spot. A skeptic raining on their parade does not help sell their books or other product, so that's never going to happen. The purpose is not to reveal truth, but sell shit.

[–] MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (13 children)

It's a step left from Jerry Springer, and always has been. It's The Onion of talk shows.

If you need every implication of falsehood spelled out for you, then satire is not your thing, and that's okay, but it doesn't change the fact that the show started out on, and still airs on, Comedy Central. Its timeslot set it up to be watched before/after Saturday Night Live and so many others, and it started at a time when people were getting wise to the big conglomerates buying up all the news stations so they could control the narrative; Roughly the same time-period that gave us fark.com, Cracked.com, and TheOnion.com website literally went online the same year.

If you think The Daily Show expects to be taken seriously, and/or even pretends to be an entirely trustworth news source in the slightest, you've missed SO, SO MANY memos.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (10 children)

And yet many people do take their guests seriously. Maybe they shouldn't, but they do. A lot of people get all of their news from The Daily Show. I hate that, but that's just how it is. So when they platform a fraud like Elizondo, that's a problem.

[–] MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Sure kid, large numbers of people worth engaging, accomodating, or mitigating are using The Daily Show as their exclusive source of news. Next you'll tell me Oprah is a good person.

EDIT: added "large numbers", for clarity.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Who you personally care to engage with is not at issue here. There are far more people than that and they cumulatively guide society. Ignore that at your peril.

[–] MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

There are not enough such people getting their news from The Daily Show to matter, no way, no how, and whether I would personally engage with them on an individual level was not what I was getting at; I was referring to engagement and mitigation on a societal level, ie dumbing-down The Daily Show or turning it into a more serious show, neither of which would work anyways - the idiots would find other shows to reinforce their delusions. Pretending there are enough people to make that reasonable is an absurdly stupid proposition. Are you convinced most of the MAGA crowd get's all their news from The Daily Show or something?

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Fun thing about fact-checking YOUR JOKES at the guests' expense, is that they can say whatever bullshit they want, and the audience knows the guest isn't in on, doesn't get the joke. Are you trying to present yourself as clueless enough to garner a guest spot?

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm not sure why telling quoting about what the staff remembers has any bearing on what the viewers believe.

Wasn't this about the viewers and whether or not they give the Daily Show credibility as a news source?

[–] MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

No, it was about whether they should do so and whether those idiots that do such exist in sufficient numbers to be a hindrance to society. The only evidence I've seen of those idiots numbers existing in even the low single digits are right here in this thread.

Also, Flanz inclued themselves in that reference. Are you really so bad at reading comprehension?

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

whether those idiots that do exist in sufficient numbers to be a hindrance to society

And I showed you that, based on the Daily Show producers who get metrics, that they do.

The only evidence I’ve seen of those idiots numbers existing in even the low single digits are right here in this thread.

You should know better than to rely on your own personal anecdotal evidence in a skeptic community.

[–] MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

You showed no such thing. No such thing was remotely claimed in that interview.

Meanwhile, you're asking me to prove a negative, while offering no evidence to support your own position besides the fact that yourself and apparently one other commenter here regard The Daily Show as a credible news source, or expect me to believe such. I'm not buying it, and I'm done engaging with your non-sense.

I'm not the one spouting bunk conspiracy theories about how the wrong guest on The Daily Show will hinder society or discredit more decent guests. Calling those slightly more respectable people out on their bullshit is the point of inviting them on the show alongside the overt crackpots in the first place.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

besides the fact that yourself and apparently one other commenter here regard The Daily Show as a credible news source.

And now you're lying. My whole argument is that it isn't credible, but some people think it is.

We're done here.

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