The latest “Last Week’s Tonight” episode (11/13/17, season finale) consisted of more comments surrounding our ever notoriously popular president, Donald Trump. “Last Week Tonight” identifies as a political and satirical comedic show which means viewers should be expected to understand that the point of views reflected on the show are meant to be comedic in nature, but may consist of some truth...
In my opinion, satirical comedies are a necessary alternative form of news because they are more than often preaching for “fact checking” and we trust the topics they discuss are indeed factual while providing the audience with a much more simple and humorous understanding of the topic itself. This should influence its viewers to always pose questions when individuals of government are taking actions or making statements.
John Oliver brings up three concepts that Trump can be actively seen partaking in the media:
Delegitimizing, whataboutism, and trolling.
To reflect on the idea that Trump actively delegitimizes the media, here is a tweet he wrote within his own and greatest capabilities:
This is our very own President of America, stating that there should be fewer opposing opinions in the news. He is insinuating that NBC, CNN, along with other liberal news networks, should have their license challenged and ultimately revoked. The American President is actively denouncing the concept of a democracy and that alternative opinions are “bad for the country” when in fact it is you, sir, that is bad for the country. This is a direct example of how he is delegitimizing the media.
It's also quite scary that his followers might agree with his tweets bashing the media.
The second concept brought up by John Oliver is “whataboutism” which is explained to be a Soviet propaganda tactic in political speech. To explain the concept, here is an example of such a situation:
Person A: “Did you do the dishes like I asked you to?”
Person B: “Well what about you? Did you take the trash out?”
This example is perhaps minor and not quite at the level of gravity of Trump’s partaking in this form of rebuttal in our Government. However, it explains that the second person uses a tactic to bring up the flaws of the first person, which negates the original question, and makes it seem as if both people are flawed.
Therefore, the dishes don’t have to be done if both people aren’t doing their jobs. This is a flawed form of rebuttal and especially heinous when coming from our President who evades most questions asked.
This is mostly due to him not having an idea as to what he is doing or being asked about.
The third concept is “trolling." Trolling is a minor or grand form of bullying in various cases and it is done online. Someone who trolls is actively arguing or posting content online that is meant to cause a stir within the audience. It is negating the severity of the original cause.
Also, it is very very very petty.
Even if you identify as a conservative, I suggest you involve yourself with political satire shows because you may very well be exposed to a point of view that you had missed. Because we are in a Democracy, opposing views must be encouraged so as to question and refine the government at the best of all possibilities.
