There is a terrific article in this weekend’s NY Times about The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I’ve occasionally been embarrassed to admit that I watch very little broadcast news – except The Daily Show. However, I’m really not so embarrassed by that anymore, given the deplorable state of most network and cable news programming. I’m more embarrassed when I leave the US and occasionally see references to American broadcasts. Then I cringe at the drivel that serves as “news” – especially on the 24-hour networks.

And loathe as I am to give away my political views, being a Daily Show fan won’t tell you which I way I lean being that “for all its eviscerations of the administration, “The Daily Show” is animated not by partisanship but by a deep mistrust of all ideology. A sane voice in a noisy red-blue echo chamber, Mr. Stewart displays an impatience with the platitudes of both the right and the left …”

Why am I blogging about this – other than to hope that more folks will watch the show? Well, Stewart maintains that his brand of comedic satire is a catharsis, a daily cleansing of his “morning cup of sadness” drunk each day when he reviews the toxins of the world.

I think differently: in this information age, we (and especially our young students) are bombarded by media messages in all forms, some blatant, others not so obvious. We desperately need critical thinkers who will help us filter the messages and provide the context we need in this sound bite era. Stewart and the Daily Show staff do that for us on a regular basis. So what if there’s a fart joke thrown in there every once in a while? We need to help our students learn to think critically about the world, not be passive media consumers. Thank you Jon Stewart for being a role model in that regard.