Just found this interesting post by Colita in my comments to this post:
I like a good laugh from time to time, but I agree with Atrios's reaction on this one [the PBS comedy show about Florda]. Comedy serves mostly to distance oneself from the subject matter. While this could serve as a form of "release", and could be -let's say, "healthy" -the immediate consequence is also that it "devalues" the subject matter. In that sense, it's really, at the end, detrimental to the criticism that these comic skits try to convey. Sometimes, when I watch Jon Stewart, I laugh at this jokes, but the immediacy of the matters of which he makes fun of, worries me since most of the things he says will soon become just another "joke". I don't know if the comic relief that comedy provides makes these matters more easily accessible, but they also make it easier to dismiss them. If had a membership with PBS, I would also cancel it over this one.
