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Jon Stewart Talks SOPA, at Last
- fredley 15y agoIs there a way us non-Americans to watch this?
- evmar 15y agoTo save you some time, the quote (and paraphrase) in the article is literally all he said in the video clip. (To answer your question directly, I think there are services that provide a proxy within the US.)
- stephank 15y agoCuriously, the clip plays for me in the Netherlands. But there was little on SOPA in it.
- nextparadigms 15y agoYes, the title is a bit misleading. He only said he would talk about it in the next show.
- bitops 15y agoNetShade, you can get a free trial.
- shmerl 15y agoAnonymizer is your friend.
- mrcharles 15y agoGet a plugin that sets X-Forwarded-For in your http headers to some random US IP. Doesn't work on all sites, but it does work for comedy central. I use Modify Headers in Firefox.
- zabraxias 15y agoTo my understanding it's not the US Comedy Central that is blocking you from viewing it outside the US but your country of origin - if they signed exclusive distribution rights for that country. Not too sure how this plays out in EU countries but I definitely know this is the case in Canada where The Comedy Network has exclusive broadcast/distribution rights. In any case these types of antiquated deals further support the idea that SOPA was crafted by an industry that refuses to innovate.
- andrewcooke 15y agohttp://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-january-11-2012/indecision-2012---new-hampshire-primary-results http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-january-11-2012/indeci... that works for me, and appears to be the same video. no idea why the one in the original link is blocked.
- ahoysailors 15y agoHere is a link to the video for Canadians: http://www.thecomedynetwork.ca/Shows/TheDailyShow?videoPackage=101367 http://www.thecomedynetwork.ca/Shows/TheDailyShow?videoPacka...
- blutonium 15y ago"The Internet" was basically Reddit and a guy who asked if he should ask Stewart about SOPA. This is the follow up thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/od6qy/i_asked_jon_stewart_about_sopa_he_said_hed_look/ http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/od6qy/i_asked_jon_... Edit: Original thread - http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/ocely/i_have_vip_passes_to_the_daily_show_tonight_what/ http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/ocely/i_have_vip_p...
- blahedo 15y agoSure, but "the Internet sent me" was a brilliantly concise way to give context to the question (and be funny, and memorable). These Q&A sessions are fast-moving and questions with long rambling introductions are not good ones. "There's a site on the internet called Reddit, which is an aggregator of links with a large community, and I posted there to see..." No.
- Terretta 15y agoIf even Jon Stewart's team hadn't picked up on SOPA, that goes a long way to suggest why a Wikipedia/Twitter/Facebook/Google/etc blackout would be useful. If they're not up to date, how could we expect any non industry insiders to be? A brief blackout is like tapping the media on the shoulder. "We'll be all, like, SOPA what? ... uh ... I have some reading to catch up on." Nobody thinks about dial tone until it's not there.
- chernevik 15y agoIf you think Mr. Stewart is simply behind in his reading, I have a nice bridge for you. He's in entertainment, he comments endlessly about policy. You think he somehow missed the #1 policy initiative of his employer? He is very well paid, with a large budget that employs a lot of people. But I don't think his show breaks even on its revenues, it is a tent-pole for his channel. He's paid not for his own audience but the larger strategic benefit he brings to his employer. So think on what might happen if he starts to pose still larger strategic problems for that employer? And what happens to Mr. Stewart should he want to move on from his current perch? [EDIT: As suggested below, the 'strategic benefit' payment is speculation. Probably a mistake to go there, b/c I think my point still stands: if he hurts a major legislative initiative of his industry, his life gets a lot harder and riskier.] And while he himself seems reasonably secure, he has a staff of writers and producers, many of whom would like to move on to bigger and better things. Who will be greenlighting those various ventures? Remember, Hollywood blacklisted people for (alleged) Communism. Those people lost their whole careers. Imagine what might happen to those who challenge the studios' interests still more directly. I'd say this is the perfect moment for Mr. Stewart's reputed bravery, independence and courage.
- sukuriant 15y agoOr, perhaps he generally focuses on what he thinks his viewers are focusing on, which, at this time, is the presidential primaries. Jokes work best when your audience knows what's going on; and really, it seems like it's primarily the internet and engineering culture that abhors SOPA. I've had to tell people about it, not them come to me (the resident computer nerd) and ask about it.
- networkjesus 15y agoYou should be posting on the facebook page of every major and minor news organization there is and asking them why they are not covering SOPA/PIPA/NDAA. Tweet, Facebook, Blog, email them and MAKE THE MEDIA COVER THIS!
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- crikli 15y agoIt would surprising if Viacom allowed anyone in their empire, even a fake news program, to engage in commentary that is critical of SOPA/PIPA. They're one of the largest proponents of this bullshit legislation: they couldn't win at the judicial level so they've shifted the attack to the legislative branch where they can buy the support.
- ktsmith 15y agoThe colbert report has done two segments on SOPA. This one calls out the bogus FBI theft numbers. http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/403465/december-01-2011/stop-online-piracy-act http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/40346... This one has Danny Goldberg & Jonathan Zittrain giving their viewpoints on the legislation. http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/403466/december-01-2011/stop-online-piracy-act---danny-goldberg---jonathan-zittrain http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/40346...
- crikli 15y agoThank you; I stand corrected.
- networkjesus 15y agoStop posting comments where they will never see them, go and post this on their facebook pages, do it en masse and they will not be able to ignore it...
- sili 15y agoI am surprised this has not been done by anti-SOPA activists. This would be using the tools Internet has created to save it shows well it's reach. This I think is the easiest way an individual can get attention of the regular public, after he is done talking to his friends.
- grandalf 15y agoIt's telling that someone like Stewart (and Al Gore for that matter) waited this long to speak up (after SOPA is already dead). Scary.
- gerggerg 15y agoMmmmm... The funny to flack offset probably isn't worth it to Stewart and Colbert. They're not news shows and there's not much comedy to draw from the SOPA proceedings. Especially with Ameraca's favorite reality show cramming up the broadcast space.
- mkr-hn 15y agoTheir interviews are the real deal. Getting a famous Internet person on to talk about SOPA wouldn't be an unusual thing for either of them.
- stfu 15y ago"Famous Internet Person": I don't know. I would much more prefer some artist, director, politician and not another "internet activist".
- freehunter 15y agoNiel DeGrasse Tyson? I don't know his position on SOPA, but I'd imagine he's against it. John Hodgman? He's a writer for Wired, been on Diggnation, Attack of the Show, and TED, and works with Jonathon Coulton. He's got a ton of 'net-cred and is frequently on TDS.
- stfu 15y agoI would much more prefer seeing one of the household names in the "old" media see speak out - some of the more expected opponents like Al Gore, Mc Hammer or Aston Kutcher would give the issue a better face and show that the opponents are not just some people from the internet who want to "to kill our beloved music and movie culture".
- kissickas 15y agoHow many people are going to make this same comment? Colbert has already covered it multiple times. http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/403466/december-01-2011/stop-online-piracy-act---danny-goldberg---jonathan-zittrain http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/40346...
- newhouseb 15y agoIt's good to note, before anyone jumps to any conspiracy theories about Viacom silencing Jon Stewart, that Stephen Colbert has talked about SOPA on multiple occasions (see http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/403465/december-01-2011/stop-online-piracy-act http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/40346... and http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/403466/december-01-2011/stop-online-piracy-act---danny-goldberg---jonathan-zittrain http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/40346...). I don't know the editorial overlap between the two these days but they are certainly under the same corporate roof - Viacom.
- leot 15y agoCensorship doesn't require a conspiracy. It doesn't even require an explicit policy. A lack of promotion here, a dinner-party snub there, and pretty soon everyone gets the message and falls in line.
- ja2ke 15y agoI read somewhere that the writers rooms of Daily Show and Colbert rarely cross, at least day to day. I believe they deliberately keep them separate to keep them tonally unique, even though it sometimes results in both shows covering the same topic, and even occasionally making the same joke. (Sorry for no source on that.)
- irondavycole 15y agoI did some UX consulting for The Colbert Report that required me to research their entire writing and production workflow and my understanding is that the executive producers of the shows might check in with each other, but it's true that there's essentially no overlap, and there's no effort to coordinate topics.
- vaksel 15y agoI think part of it is due to the fact that Colbert has confirmed in the past that he is an active redditor, and on there SOPA has been a pretty popular topic. Stewart on the other hand might just get his news from TV, which hasn't really covered it all that much
- danilocampos 15y agoWe're in desperate need of a Ted Stevens moment, here. There has been absolutely no art to show the absurdity of the pro-SOPA position. Without a visual, Stewart has very little to work with. It's not hard – you've got dinosaurs born decades before the internet was conceived trying to make critical policy decisions around it. There's got to be something brief and absurd to be said there. But until we get that soundbite, it's going to be a much more difficult story to pitch.
- redthrowaway 15y ago(Un?)fortunately, the people deciding Internet policy in DC aren't quite as clueless as Stevens, or at least not as prone to gaffs. I think we've gotten all the "Series of Tubes" moments we're likely to see. The next idiotic thing out of a politician's mouth may rile the technorati, but I doubt it will be as easily and widely mockable as the Tubes.
- blahedo 15y agoHard to tell. The "series of tubes" moment was a very strange one to mock, because he was right---the context of that quote is that he was saying it was more like a series of tubes than like a fleet of trucks, which for the purposes of his explanation was exactly right: he was trying to explain bandwidth limitation. There were other things he said that day that were bad, but "series of tubes" is an analogy, and a good one. So it's hard to say what could become a Ted Stevens moment here, or which side it'll come from; someone just has to pick some statement to mock, and get lucky that it goes viral.
- redthrowaway 15y ago>The "series of tubes" moment was a very strange one to mock, because he was right I always felt that way as well, but the way he said it was just so mockable. In the end, that's why it went viral: not because he was a dinosaur who didn't understand the Internet, but because he appeared to be a dinosaur who didn't understand the Internet, to people who themselves did not understand it. Representative Smith can make as many factually incorrect statements as he wants; as long as they appear reasonable to the uninformed public he'll never be called on it in the way Stevens was.
- swombat 15y ago"This content is unavailable from your location" Oh, sweet irony...
- benawabe896 15y agoI don't want to play down the clip as it was humorous, but the actual sopa content was from :17 - :35. Out of a 6 minute clip, I was thinking that there would be more.
- drivebyacct2 15y agoNot sure I understand the headline chosen for the HN submission. "at last"? Jon Stewart is a comedian, it's a disappointing reflection of news, media, and political informedness that we're desperate for Stewart to cover an important political issue.
- pyre 15y agoI think that people are looking for someone to put a good, satirical spin on the whole pro-SOPA movement. The Daily Show is good at that. Most political writers not so much. If The Daily Show can use humor to point out the absurdity of the pro-SOPA position it will definitely sink in with their viewership.
- Helianthus 15y agoI don't think anyone thinks Stewart and Colbert are just "comedians" anymore.