Dear "Papa Bear" Bill O'Reilly,
I have been watching your recent interview with Jon Stewart, and although I normally find myself amused at the banter between the two of you, this time I am merely disappointed.
Perhaps I should explain.
I am thirty years old, live in Phoenix Arizona, and am a political moderate. I work in I.T. and have been married now for six months to a beautiful new wife who is a High School Teacher. Both my wife and I are a part of working class America. I work out every day, I've never once used any kind of recreational drug, and consider myself an religious man. I love America, love my family, and love to laugh. I am fairly intelligent, well-informed, and consider myself well-balanced. Basically, I'm the every politician needs to sway if they want the swing vote.
And much like your friend Dennis Miller, I watch the Daily show.
I've been watching it since I was a college student. Mainly because I love a good joke, especially when it's based on the truth. Anyone can watch "The Onion" for fake news, but why bother when the real news is so much more amusing to make fun of? However, I'm no longer a college student. My wife's students were born when I was in High School. Like so many my age, I no longer stay up late as I work at 5am, but my generation was educated when the internet became a reality in the 90s, so I know how to work a computer and Tivo. I watch shows online or at home on my own schedule. And I choose to keep watching the Daily Show of all things because I consider the news and the political circus so ridiculous, I can enjoy the show's wit.
Obviously, your producers, if not you yourself, have come to understand that those who grew up watching "America's finest fake news" are the new bulk of America's swinging voters, viewers, and consumers who truly consider what others have to say. If you hadn't, you wouldn't be bothered to have him on as a guest in the first place, let alone one who needs any kind of analysis. And I noticed this time, your show didn't play out the same as it has in the past. You had an analyst on your show to discuss Stewart's Body language. That tells me it's now important to you and your viewers, and possibly your producers, to understand what it is that makes my demographic watch a charismatic comedian such as Jon.
You also played a clip from his show during the broadcast of your interview. In this clip, Stewart discusses his recent (and in my opinion, valid) criticisms of the President before the recent GOP dinner, headlined "Obama loses Stewart" as a backer. His joke: "And with Stewart, so goes... a small but somehow demographically important percentage of the population". As per usual, I see the wit in the joke. After all, you yourself might not have him on your show if he didn't have the following he does.
So to hear you dismiss me in a demographic of people you call "stoned slackers" is very much a slap in the face. It's not the first time you've said it, you said much the same six years ago when Stewart was on your show. Perhaps because I was in college back then, it didn't bother me as much. Many of my friends then were indeed exactly what you said. But people who watch the Daily Show are no longer just teenagers and college students and "Stoned Slackers" anymore. And you seem to know it, or he wouldn't be on your show. They're intelligent people like myself who People whose opinions can be swayed by a reasonable argument.
I'd appreciate it if you could imagine for a minute that anyone who chooses to listen to someone other than yourself might also be the same people who watch your show. I'm certain you wouldn't call your own viewers "stoned slackers" on purpose, but you did. There is a crossover. You proved that by having Dennis Miller on your show. And if you want people to continue to watch your show, you may want to respect they get their information from multiple sources. It's a similar lack of respect and lack of acknowledgment to the issues of our generation that turned our hands to vote Obama into Office, however much we might have respected John McCain in the past.
Finally, This is an Open Letter. I will be sending a copy to The Daily Show and, of course, this will be on the Blogosphere. I wonder if one of you will acknowledge it on your show?
Sincerely,
Cody Langness,
Phoenix, Arizona.
