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Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Comedy can push back against authoritarianism. We need more of that humor now
In a country where telling the truth can get you deported, comedy remains one of the few safe spaces to say something our government hates, like, "Donald Trump has little felon hands." We think only journalism can keep democracy from dying in the dark. I like to remind people that comedy has a flashlight, too. I teach a college course in the San Francisco Bay area called "Can Comedy Save Democracy?" We focus on satire: humor that exposes truth by mocking power. Students learn to 'punch up' at the powerful, not down at the vulnerable. I cover the comic essays and cartoons of one of our Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin. And I love sharing that well-worn phrase, 'Comedy is tragedy plus time' (it's the type of math my students don't find intimidating). But even without the luxury of time, comedy can deliver facts and help people make sense of this moment. Reminding Americans that comedy is a democratic tool feels urgent, especially at a time when silence is the safer strategy for law firms, media outlets, universities and that backbone-less species we call Congress. Around the world, humor serves as both a form of dissent and a workaround to censorship. In my research, I interviewed a Stanford engineering student who finally understood Super PACs thanks to "The Colbert Report." Later, the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that Colbert's satirical Super PAC did more to educate viewers about campaign finance than any mainstream news outlet. Comedy is a gateway to engagement. We're already seeing it with satirical songs like "Hostile Government Takeover" by TikTok user AGiftFromTodd. And comedy-news shows like HBO's "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" make arcane policy watchable and actionable. (Oliver has helped drive real-world reforms, from the bail industry to chicken farming.) Comedy is protected free speech in the U.S. In Hustler v. Falwell (1988), the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that parody isn't libel. The case involved Hustler's fake ad implying televangelist Jerry Falwell lost his virginity… in an outhouse, with his mother. Gross? But we have the right to offend public figures. Today, I'm alarmed by how progressive comedians are being silenced. In March, so-called free speech champions at the White House Correspondents' Dinner dropped Trump critic Amber Ruffin from the lineup. In April, sincere slacker Seth Rogen's jokes were edited out of the YouTube broadcast of the Breakthrough Prize awards, aka the "Oscars of Science." Organizers blamed time constraints (on YouTube's endless stream?!), but it's telling that the cuts were Rogen's wisecracks criticizing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Trump, who "single-handedly destroyed all of American science," the uncensored Rogen quipped. There's asymmetry in comic freedom now. While left-leaning comics get cut from programming, right-wing comedians are building media empires. Comedy bros like Theo Von and Joe Rogan — whom Democrats now desperately wish they could clone — have enormous sway, promoting Trump, especially with young men. And of course, there's our Comedian-in-Chief. Trump's jokes, like promising to be a dictator "only on Day 1," cloak authoritarian aims in punchlines. His humor is strategic. Watch his recent address to Congress: It played like a set in a two-drink minimum comedy club. The chamber roared as he mocked funding for "making mice transgender" and "the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody's ever heard of." I must say that comedy isn't always noble. It can spread lies, inflame grievances and seduce people toward anti-democratic ideas — just like other forms of media. But similarly, comedy shapes public judgment. And if some kinds of comedy can sneak truth into the public square disguised as entertainment, if they help us make sense of madness and push back against rising authoritarianism, then shouldn't we make more? After all, when Ben Franklin was asked what the Constitutional Convention had produced, a democracy or a monarchy, didn't he famously say: 'A republic — if you can out-meme the red hats.' Keli Dailey is a graduate of the University of Texas' journalism program, now working as a comedian and media professor at Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, Calif. Her work, from the Los Angeles Times to South by Southwest and solo shows, blends sharp reporting with cultural critique and satire. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Can comedy save democracy? Yes, and we need more of it | Opinion
San Francisco Chronicle
08-05-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
What to know about John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Senator who talks about mental health
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, the lawmaker known for his unconventional and irreverent brand of politics, is in the news again after a blowup at a closed-door meeting with union allies and former staff aides who aired concerns about his mental health. Fetterman's life and political career have been upended the past three years with medical scares, including a stroke he suffered on 2022's campaign trail and a six-week hospital stay to be treated for clinical depression in 2023. As Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor, the plainspoken Fetterman became a popular campaign surrogate for Democrats in the battleground state and a force in raising small-dollar campaign donations. Fetterman's victory in 2022 's Senate race was cause for celebration for Democrats, flipping a seat that was key to the party holding the Senate majority. He ran as a hero to progressives, with a platform ranging from the legalization of marijuana to strengthening union and LGBT rights. But as a senator, he has made a rightward shift on some issues, prompting some former supporters to disavow him. Getting his start in a tiny former steel town Long before that, the Harvard-educated Fetterman, now 55, had made himself into a minor celebrity as the mayor of downtrodden former steel town Braddock, where he settled originally as an AmeriCorps alumni to set up a GED program. There's his unusual looks: he's 6-foot-8 and tattooed with a shaved head, goatee and glower like a professional wrestler. 'I don't even look like a typical person,' Fetterman once joked. There's his home: a converted car dealership across the street from U.S. Steel's blast furnace. There's his casual dress: as mayor he often wore short-sleeve work shirts and cargo shorts. (As senator, his style evolved to gym shorts and hoodies, causing a stir in the chamber.) There was his bare-knuckled politics: In 2010, he was arrested in a protest over the closing of a hospital in Braddock. Later, he performed same-sex marriage ceremonies before it was legal. His attention-getting efforts for reviving Braddock helped land profiles in Rolling Stone, The Guardian, The New York Times and other news outlets. He appeared on Comedy Central's 'The Colbert Report.' He gave Ted Talks. He has three school-age children and has spoken at length about his wife, Gisele, whose legal status later lapsed after arriving in the U.S. from Brazil as a child. Not always playing nice with other politicians Fetterman has long been a wild card in the political realm, forging a career largely on his own, independently from the Democratic Party. He endorsed the insurgent Democrat Bernie Sanders in 2016's presidential primary and ran from the left against the party-backed Democrat in Pennsylvania's 2016 Senate primary. He lost. As lieutenant governor, Fetterman didn't always shown reverence for job expectations or requirements, skipping Senate voting sessions where he was supposed to preside or getting removed by Republican senators as the presiding officer in partisan disputes over floor rules. He curses casually on his social media feeds and, in the 2022 Senate campaign, relentlessly trolled his Republican opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz, in ground-breaking ways. But his time in the Senate has been tumultuous. Hospitalized after joining the Senate Fetterman checked into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center barely a month after he was sworn in to the Senate, amid staff concerns over his isolating and disengaged behavior. At the time, he was still suffering from effects of the stroke that he said nearly killed him. Fetterman returned to the Senate a much more outgoing lawmaker, frequently joking with his fellow senators and engaging with reporters in the hallways. He has talked openly about his struggle with depression and urged people to get help. Still a something of a loner Two years later, Fetterman is still something of a loner in the Senate. He has fallen out with progressives over his staunch support of Israel in its war in Gaza and drawn anger from rank-and-file Democrats for arguing that his party needs to work with, not against, Trump. It nevertheless has brought some Fetterman plaudits. Bill Maher, host of the political talk show 'Real Time with Bill Maher,' urged Fetterman to run for president in 2028 while conservatives — who had long made Fetterman a target for his progressive politics — have sprung to Fetterman's defense.
Winnipeg Free Press
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
What to know about John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Senator who talks about mental health
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, the lawmaker known for his unconventional and irreverent brand of politics, is in the news again after a blowup at a closed-door meeting with union allies and former staff aides who aired concerns about his mental health. Fetterman's life and political career have been upended the past three years with medical scares, including a stroke he suffered on 2022's campaign trail and a six-week hospital stay to be treated for clinical depression in 2023. As Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor, the plainspoken Fetterman became a popular campaign surrogate for Democrats in the battleground state and a force in raising small-dollar campaign donations. Fetterman's victory in 2022 's Senate race was cause for celebration for Democrats, flipping a seat that was key to the party holding the Senate majority. He ran as a hero to progressives, with a platform ranging from the legalization of marijuana to strengthening union and LGBT rights. But as a senator, he has made a rightward shift on some issues, prompting some former supporters to disavow him. Getting his start in a tiny former steel town Long before that, the Harvard-educated Fetterman, now 55, had made himself into a minor celebrity as the mayor of downtrodden former steel town Braddock, where he settled originally as an AmeriCorps alumni to set up a GED program. There's his unusual looks: he's 6-foot-8 and tattooed with a shaved head, goatee and glower like a professional wrestler. 'I don't even look like a typical person,' Fetterman once joked. There's his home: a converted car dealership across the street from U.S. Steel's blast furnace. There's his casual dress: as mayor he often wore short-sleeve work shirts and cargo shorts. (As senator, his style evolved to gym shorts and hoodies, causing a stir in the chamber.) There was his bare-knuckled politics: In 2010, he was arrested in a protest over the closing of a hospital in Braddock. Later, he performed same-sex marriage ceremonies before it was legal. His attention-getting efforts for reviving Braddock helped land profiles in Rolling Stone, The Guardian, The New York Times and other news outlets. He appeared on Comedy Central's 'The Colbert Report.' He gave Ted Talks. He has three school-age children and has spoken at length about his wife, Gisele, whose legal status later lapsed after arriving in the U.S. from Brazil as a child. Not always playing nice with other politicians Fetterman has long been a wild card in the political realm, forging a career largely on his own, independently from the Democratic Party. He endorsed the insurgent Democrat Bernie Sanders in 2016's presidential primary and ran from the left against the party-backed Democrat in Pennsylvania's 2016 Senate primary. He lost. As lieutenant governor, Fetterman didn't always shown reverence for job expectations or requirements, skipping Senate voting sessions where he was supposed to preside or getting removed by Republican senators as the presiding officer in partisan disputes over floor rules. He curses casually on his social media feeds and, in the 2022 Senate campaign, relentlessly trolled his Republican opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz, in ground-breaking ways. But his time in the Senate has been tumultuous. Hospitalized after joining the Senate Fetterman checked into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center barely a month after he was sworn in to the Senate, amid staff concerns over his isolating and disengaged behavior. At the time, he was still suffering from effects of the stroke that he said nearly killed him. Fetterman returned to the Senate a much more outgoing lawmaker, frequently joking with his fellow senators and engaging with reporters in the hallways. He has talked openly about his struggle with depression and urged people to get help. Still a something of a loner Two years later, Fetterman is still something of a loner in the Senate. He has fallen out with progressives over his staunch support of Israel in its war in Gaza and drawn anger from rank-and-file Democrats for arguing that his party needs to work with, not against, Trump. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. It nevertheless has brought some Fetterman plaudits. Bill Maher, host of the political talk show 'Real Time with Bill Maher,' urged Fetterman to run for president in 2028 while conservatives — who had long made Fetterman a target for his progressive politics — have sprung to Fetterman's defense. ___ Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed to this report. Follow Marc Levy on X at
