Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert: Honorary Pagans

Because they tell truth to power. Because they care about the little things, like civil rights, religious freedom, the U.S. Constitution and free speech. Because they help us laugh along the way. Because they are proud to be citizens in a democracy, and they use their rights as citizens to question everyone and everything, right, left or center. Because, while they willing to clown around and act dumb, they never assume that we're dumb. This makes them our National Jesters. Because they actually believe we can learn from history. Because they are both ethical family men who have their priorities in the right order. Because they love good writing, and, finally, because they will grieve with us, but they will not despair.

Well done, lads. Well done.

Pay no attention to the flap-mouthed footlickers out there. Just keep on doing what you're doing.

Kelly Rae Kramer notes this about Stewart in her article titled Jon Stewart's Gandhian Struggle (and it is also true about Colbert). It sums up how we feel about both men.

Jon Stewart wages a daily satyagraha, an on-going nonviolent struggle in which he clings to the truth, Gandhi-style, making us laugh as he gets us to think. As a result, Stewart, on his fake news show, often does a better job revealing what's going on in the world than the real news media.

Yea verily.

Blessings, gentlemen, to you and yours, and thank you.

Sia

Update 8/18/07:
Daily Show to air from Iraq

Links:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

The Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert

What the Mainstream Media Can Learn From Jon Stewart

YouTube Videos
Update 8/18/07 - I had one clip from the Daily Show posted, which I have removed for these reasons. I have kept clips from shows which have not objected to posts on Youtube and elsewhere, along with the montages. (As far as I know a montage does not violate copyright law).

John Stewart on Crossfire

The Smartest Men in America

Stephen Colbert on Charlie Rose

Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert at the Emmy Awards (very funny)

Jon Stewart interviewed by Bill Moyers (PBS)

Off the Shelf:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book) Teacher's Edition: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction

Joss Whedon: Honorary Pagan

The man who gave us witty, brave, conflicted Buffy and the sexy, kick ass gals of Firefly has something he wants to say:

What is wrong with women?

I mean wrong. Physically. Spiritually. Something unnatural, something destructive, something that needs to be corrected. How did more than half the people in the world come out incorrectly? I have spent a good part of my life trying to do that math, and I’m no closer to a viable equation. And I have yet to find a culture that doesn’t buy into it. Women’s inferiority – in fact, their malevolence -- is as ingrained in American popular culture as it is anywhere they’re sporting burkhas. I find it in movies, I hear it in the jokes of colleagues, I see it plastered on billboards, and not just the ones for horror movies. Women are weak. Women are manipulative. Women are somehow morally unfinished. (Objectification: another tangential rant avoided.) And the logical extension of this line of thinking is that women are, at the very least, expendable.

Goddess Bless Joss Whedon. I hereby dub him an Honorary Pagan.

Pass it on.

And do check out the link he gives to Equality Now. As Whedon says,

...it’s no longer enough to be a decent person. It’s no longer enough to shake our heads and make concerned grimaces at the news. True enlightened activism is the only thing that can save humanity from itself. I’ve always had a bent towards apocalyptic fiction, and I’m beginning to understand why. I look and I see the earth in flames. Her face was nothing but red.

For more on this issue, read an earlier post titled: Recovering From Our Culture: Why Words Matter

Note: I first saw this link at Hecate's (AKA She Who See's All) blog. Thank you, H.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

Kestryl Angell is a Pagan writer to watch. She is proving to be a resonant voice for common sense. So far she has posted several articles at The Witches Voice. (see links below).

Teachers take note; you might want to point your students towards these four essays:

On Being A "Plain Clothes" Witch

Taking It To the Pentagram

Seperation Anxiety ....or Growth?

The Power of Words

Sia

Photo: Actress Gina Torres (Amazon Extraordinaire ) as Zoe in Firefly

Off the Shelf

Firefly: The Complete Series (DVD) - Joss Whedon (Creator)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale - James B. South (Editor