Says former Bush I speechwriter [Andrew] Ferguson:
Despite their lack of knowledge, “Daily Show” viewers “reported increased confidence in their ability to understand the complicated world of politics.” Stewart is raising their self-esteem at the same time he makes them dumber.
Now, this is a familiar phenomenon in the contemporary U.S. — rising ignorance accompanied by rising self-regard. We can’t blame Stewart for it all by himself, much as I might like to. But the study does raise the question: Who’s hurting the country now?
Ah, so it’s not the people running the country who control the government that are hurting the country, it’s the people criticizing them.
Stewart (who’s never, say, outed a CIA agent for partisan reasons) is doing just fine. Compare and contrast to the number of people who are being made dumber by watching Fox News. In fact, studies show that TDS viewers are much better informed than Fox News viewers. Follow the links for all the studies and (shock of shocks) make up your own mind.