Sure, and I'm not disagreeing that his opponents can be ridiculous. But they can also be very intelligent, and the audience will never see that side of them. The audience will see isolated clips that exaggerate their seeming incompetence.
More importantly, if that's his job description than it's not all that conducive to qualified political discussion. If someone really sides with Bernie Sanders, providing an elevated rebuttal to his economic policies is better than making fun of his hair, or the fact that he has a (to some) funny Brooklyn accent.
Likewise, critiquing Trump's policies is good. Making him appear ridiculous and starting every single show with, "President Trump, two words that...{funny joke}" while joking about his hair and fake tan are not conducive to educated discourse. It just further entrenches the demographics into two isolated camps. Sure he cites specific sources, but you begin to wonder how much of the audience really tunes in for that material, since a lot of it just appears to be a reaffirmation of unchallenged beliefs.
Where I do give John Oliver credit is for showcasing problems in society than many people are unaware of. I do frequently give the show a watch, I just make it part of a very diversified set of news and I don't particularly enjoy it all that much when, as another commenter mentioned, he goes heavy into histrionics. It becomes circular.
I guess to put my point more succinctly: John Oliver is not necessarily wrong in his conclusions, and he makes attempts to cite sources. But he arrives at his conclusions in a way that intrinsically encourages the same tribalism he often criticizes, and that tribalism is harder to identify because of the (real or apparent) intellectualism about it.
More importantly, if that's his job description than it's not all that conducive to qualified political discussion. If someone really sides with Bernie Sanders, providing an elevated rebuttal to his economic policies is better than making fun of his hair, or the fact that he has a (to some) funny Brooklyn accent.
Likewise, critiquing Trump's policies is good. Making him appear ridiculous and starting every single show with, "President Trump, two words that...{funny joke}" while joking about his hair and fake tan are not conducive to educated discourse. It just further entrenches the demographics into two isolated camps. Sure he cites specific sources, but you begin to wonder how much of the audience really tunes in for that material, since a lot of it just appears to be a reaffirmation of unchallenged beliefs.
Where I do give John Oliver credit is for showcasing problems in society than many people are unaware of. I do frequently give the show a watch, I just make it part of a very diversified set of news and I don't particularly enjoy it all that much when, as another commenter mentioned, he goes heavy into histrionics. It becomes circular.
I guess to put my point more succinctly: John Oliver is not necessarily wrong in his conclusions, and he makes attempts to cite sources. But he arrives at his conclusions in a way that intrinsically encourages the same tribalism he often criticizes, and that tribalism is harder to identify because of the (real or apparent) intellectualism about it.