The Cynical Generation

"Here it is, your moment of Zen." This is the closing statement Jon Stewart says every night at the end of his popular fake news show, The Daily Show, which is briefly followed by a short comedic clip from the news. This closing statement has been one of the similarities some observers see between Jon Stewart and famed CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite, who concluded his broadcasts with "And that's the way it is." Cronkite did not use these words when he provided commentary or opinion in order to maintain journalistic integrity.

What's the similarity between these two newscasters? Stewart clearly distinguishes himself from legitimate news sources(in fact, the show often prides itself on being the #1 fake news show on TV), while Cronkite was very particular in making sure to maintain accuracy in all his reports, and to distinguish between reporting information and providing commentary. While Stewart never claims the kind of accuracy that Cronkite prided his reports on, Stewart still seems to offer his viewers a glimpse of the truth of our world, albeit a skeptical and cynical truth. Note his use of the word Zen; Zen is a sect of Mahayana Buddhism that, according to Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki from An Introduction to Zen Buddhism, is all about experience. "Personal experience, therefore, is everything in Zen. To get the clearest and most efficient understanding of a thing, therefore, it must be experienced personally."(page 33) Stewart's ending moment on the Daily Show can indeed be seen as a moment of awareness, something we see in a direct experience, (at least as direct as one can achieve on television), unfettered from any commentary.

But isn't all this news fake? Many accuse Stewart of decreasing voter turnout by increasing apathy. Jody Baumgartner and Jonathan S. Morris, political scientists from East Carolina University state that 48% of college students get their news from The Daily Show as opposed to the 23% that get their news from ""hard news" sources, according to a June 23, 2006 Washington Post article which also claims that Stewart increases cynicism in an already cynical age group. This generation of college age adults is often labeled the Cynical Generation, as Peter West, the head of the research group on men and families at the University of Western Sydney highlights in his article "A new switched-on and cynical generation."

West highlights two facts about this generation is his title: they're cynical and well-informed. The cynical generation displays incredible technical proficiency in comparison to their elders, with iPods, video games, Tivos, cell phones, and computers dominating their everyday lives. Many cannot imagine life without the internet either, utilizing websites such as Facebook and MySpace for social networking, YouTube for just about any video under the sun, including video journals, and Wikipedia for any information they're looking for concerning just about any topic. Younger viewers of the Daily Show may be more cynical than those that watch hard news or read newspapers, but they are apparently more informed than their counterparts, according to one September 29, 2004 CNN.com report. Bryan Long, writer of the report, states that Daily Show viewers knew more about political candidates than those who watched Jay Leno or David Letterman, and that those that watched late night comedy shows actually knew more than those that read a newspaper regularly or watched regular news four times a week, according to both a recent survey done by CNN and the National Annenberg Election Survey.

A conclusion one can draw from all these statements is that perhaps cynicism has a direct relationship with information. Perhaps the more one knows, the more one distrusts humanity in general, and those in power in particular. Indeed, increased transparency in political and corporate machinations would seem to be a cause for the current generation's cynicism. Consider Enron, WorldCom, Citigroup, Halliburton, Exxon, and one begins to see why younger people would have such a distrust of large corporations. Even Michael Eisner, the former CEO of Disney, a company that should be seemingly fairy tale, was accused by Roy Edward Disney of making the company "rapacious, soul-less", according to James B. Stewart's "DisneyWar." Politicians certainly appear no better than their corporate counterparts, from former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield's direct contradictions caught on tape, to President George W. Bush's comments on being above the law, to Tom DeLay, Mark Foley, Rod Blagojevich, Mark Sanford, and David Patterson.

The one thing that seems to go hand and hand with all this cynicism is the amazing amount of apathy many exhibit in the face of such blatant corruption. It's almost as if many have just come to accept such facts as the way humanity is, that humans will lie, steal, and cheat, and just to go on with our lives. Harry G. Frankfurt, in his essay "On Bullshit" points out that "one of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit." Texas Hold 'Em poker, "the Cadillac of Poker" as it is lovingly referred to by its supporters, has seen an enormous explosion in popularity over the past four years, and maybe this is due to the fact that "there is so much bullshit." The most exciting thing in poker isn't having the best hand and taking the pot in a hand where both players show their hands, its when one player, through superior manipulation, is able to take the pot without ever showing their cards, through a masterfully played bluff.

There seems to be an idolization of those that can bluff and bullshit their way to millions, but at the same time, there has been a huge explosion in the popularity of fantasy based entertainment, including J.R.R. Tolkein's "The Lord of the Rings," and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, but more specifically, and more curiously, the increased popularity in the superhero genre. Consider the following releases since 1998 that are based on fictional heroes from comic books: Blade, X-Men, Blade 2, Spider-Man, Daredevil, X-2: X-men United, Hulk, The Punisher, Spider-Man 2, Blade: Trinity, Elektra, Fantastic Four, X-Men: The Last Stand, Ghost Rider, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Catwoman, Constantine, Batman Begins, Superman Returns, V for Vendetta, and Hellboy. There's currently almost two dozen more movies with plans to be released based on comic book heroes within the next three years as well. Most of these movies were well-received by the public, some, like Spider-Man, breaking multiple box office records. Television has also dipped a bit into the superhero genre, most notably with Smallville on the CW television network, which had the most viewers for any series premiere on the then WB network in 2001, and Heroes, which attracted 14.3 million viewers with its premiere on September 25, 2006, the largest amount for NBC had had for any drama in five years.

Superman Returns in some ways seems to be a commentary on where our society is, and a sort of subconscious need for the mythical hero. Lois Lane claims in the movie that "The world doesn't need a savior. And neither do I." Living in our postmodern, cynical, skeptical, jaded generation, maybe Lois Lane is right, maybe we don't need a savior, mythical, super powered, or one of any other sort. But to claim that we don't need heroes, whether of the mythical kind or the everyday sort, is perhaps the greatest deception of all, the greatest and worse denial to ourselves. Superman's response to Lois's statement is a remarkably poignant one: "You wrote the world doesn't need a savior. But everyday, I hear people crying for one."

Is the apathetic view we have of our world result in us seeing humanity as nothing more than highly evolved animals where survival of the fittest is the rule, and that moral codes simply block our capacity to survive in such a harsh environment? Perhaps our praise of great poker players, and our seeming unwillingness to change our corrupt political and corrupt leaders is the fatalistic acceptance of such a Darwinist world. But then why the immersion into the fantasy, into the ultimate battle of good versus evil, the admiration of the mythic hero? Are we all crying out for a hero, but just don't know where to find one?

Superman is a hero who stands for "Truth, Justice, and the American way." His alter ego, Clark Kent, works for perhaps one of the most important American institutions, a free press. Note, that the very first value Superman stands for is none other than truth. Walter Cronkite, also a journalist, was so popular because he was considered the most trusted man on television news. What about Jon Stewart? Many claim that he is responsible for increasing apathy and cynicism in this generation, but yet also is apparently responsible for an increased awareness among his viewers. It is arguably his skeptical approach to the truth that has cemented his popularity, and perhaps his daily closing statement is the most enlightening of all: simply take in the moment, and consider it for what it really means. "And here it is, your moment of Zen."

List of Sources

Bierbaum, Tom.
"Heroes Debut Paces NBC's Second Monday Win of the New Season."
www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx

Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.
Cynicism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynicism

Frankfurt, Harry G.
On Bullshit.

Fraser, John.
"Personal and Political Meaning Correlates of Political Cynicism." Midwest
Journal of Political Science Vol. 15, No. 2 (1971): pp 347-364. May 1971
www.jstor.org/pss/2110275

Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Jon Stewart
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Stewart

Long, Bryan.
"Daily Show Viewers Ace Political Quiz."
http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/28/comedy.politics/

Morin, Richard.
"Jon Stewart, Enemy of Democracy?"
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/22/AR2006062201474.html

Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Walter Cronkite
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Cronkite

West, Peter.
"A New Switched-on and Cynical Generation."
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3932

Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro.
An Introduction to Zen Buddhism.

Stewart, James B.
DisneyWar