Watching HBO's "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver"

I rest my case.

 

The sex ed tape at the end needs to be required viewing in all middle schools in the US.

 

Still way too tame and PG rated. Where is Planned Parenthood's sex ed for home-schooled kids along with medically accurate information from doctors and the CDC? How about the porn companies actually make a reality based sex education class that is X-rated. It's not like any teenager hasn't seen hardcore porn on-line. And have gay/lesbian/trans sex education courses (do those exist?) Although I'm not sure straight students need that extra info, and if the gay students need all of the info the straight students are getting.

It is the relationship education that is really lacking. But with the divorce rate over 50% in this country, it looks like a lot of people need remedial education. And this is the area where I agree with the abstinence educators and not with the feminists.

 

I love a lot of things Jon Stewart likes, John Oliver included. Have only seen the opening minutes of his show this summer but I always love his work. He is my kind of British expat. He's been married to an American war veteran for some time which enhances for me, the way he presents the political pieces in particular. I'll plan to watch this weekend.

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I agree, it is appalling. Is there a solution or shall the business of news gathering and dissemination continue to change as vast technological and sociological changes violently buffet it? When I try to think of what could stop (or slow) these changes, the idea of government intervention pops into my head but no, in a free journalistic society we don't want that. Who or what then will save journalism? Shouldn't that be exactly who is killing it--us?

The business of journalism needs to create for itself a viable business model. If it is worthy enough, we will pay for it. The rest will continue fall by the wayside. Of course, there is a very deep cost to being ill-informed, as Oliver points out. And though he made a slight joke about it, even entertainment news is not free--unless it is. As long as we can get what we want without any cost, like watching the best parts of Oliver's show for free where he freely uses the meatiest parts of real news outlet's work, everything is worth nothing.

 

The tricky part is that most people don't want to know the truth, and the media isn't capable of finding out the truth in the short time frame they have now before people move onto the next story. There are also well funded groups actively trying to change what people think.
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And when those companies spend millions buying advertising that keeps the lights on, they aren't going to call them out or put up the statistics that prove what is really happening.
You also have the conservative media that tries to spin everything to agree with their point of view, and the corporate media that protects the rich.

And the media can't investigate stories for months to prove that what they covered and made national news was actually a ploy to get a big payday from a major car maker. They can't fund large government investigations and get access to all the information.
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Now, where does the media go from here, I don't know. I would like to see them get more access to oversight committees and the ability to get access to records. They should almost be an extension of the police detectives or FBI.

The one thing missing from Oliver's piece and very few people ever talk about is holding the media accountable and watching what they are putting out there. The Daily Show used to be really good at digging up past clips and showing how the media got things wrong, but the big networks don't do that to each other. Or when they want to get more viewers and have to sensationalize the news even if it isn't real.
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While technically, it might not be 50%, 30% divorcing by their 15th anniversary isn't much better. 45% by their 30th anniversary. And that doesn't account for all the breakups after a long term, non-marriage relationship since those are more common now than in the past.

There are also less people marrying, and the women still want the male to earn more money and be successful. The women also initiated 2/3rds of the divorces. I don't know if that is because the guys cheated on them, stopped making money, or if they just turned into lazy slobs.