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Ok, lib. I will give you that. (hexbear.net)

submitted 4 months ago by Yuritopiaposadism@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

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[-] trashxeos@lemmygrad.ml 68 points 4 months ago

Honestly, that entire segment goes right to the precipice of getting it and then stops short. It's right fucking there, John, just take that last step and explain that capitalism will always do this shit. It's not hard, you're 99% of the way there every fucking week! So frustrating, it's like libs just enjoy edging about that shit day in and day out.

[-] SacredExcrement@hexbear.net 48 points 4 months ago

That's most of John Oliver tbh

Right on the edge of 'getting it'

[-] jaywalker@hexbear.net 31 points 4 months ago

Watch the segment he did on Venezuela a few years ago, he's pretty fucking bad at seeing capitalism for what it is

[-] barrbaric@hexbear.net 16 points 4 months ago

He's okay at seeing the problems of capitalism domestically but when it comes to "foreign policy" he buys in to the state department propaganda 100%.

[-] Weedian@hexbear.net 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I dunno if it's the same one but he talks about how Venezuela is undemocratic because opposition leaders had been banned from running for president but if you look up who those individuals are they literally did coup and assassination attemps against Chavez

I'm 90% sure there's a Eugene V Dabs video with it

[-] mathemachristian@hexbear.net 22 points 4 months ago

His recent episode of modi was especially infuriating where he talks about a critical tv station getting turned over to a billionaire friendly to modi.

0.00 self awareness.

[-] Thordros@hexbear.net 18 points 4 months ago

He runs the ball to the one yard line, then takes a knee and says, "... and that's why it's so important to vote!"

[-] TheDoctor@hexbear.net 6 points 4 months ago

Reverse Lucy

[-] RyanGosling@hexbear.net 6 points 4 months ago

Look up who his wife is. Then you’ll understand why he won’t say anything

[-] trashxeos@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 4 months ago

I'm sure it'll shed additional light but he works for a capitalist TV network, he'd probably still be a capitalist lib either way because as someone else pointed out, his job depends on that.

[-] AOCapitulator@hexbear.net 2 points 4 months ago

It is hard, the point of his show is to never ever get it

"talking about the symptoms of capitalism while never addressing the root cause with John Oliver"

[-] trashxeos@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 4 months ago

Best description I've ever seen.

[-] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 53 points 4 months ago

John Oliver got some decent jokes. He just really likes to stop short of what really needs to be done.

[-] GarbageShoot@hexbear.net 5 points 4 months ago

No he doesn't, he just does his dogshit pseudo-journalism and then goes on some tangent about how fuckable an animal is or yelling about how bad spirit airlines is before returning to the "substantial" part.

[-] Hatandwatch@hexbear.net 45 points 4 months ago

You do not, under any circumstances, "gotta hand it them".

[-] Utter_Karate@hexbear.net 38 points 4 months ago

John Oliver is doing communist edging. The point is to get as near as possible to understanding the underlying systemic issues that are the actual cause of everything he looks at, without ever actually getting there.

[-] JuanGLADIO@hexbear.net 16 points 4 months ago

He would be filtered out if he said something that anti-capital. It's similar to the Manufacturing Consent model, except John Oliver and that type is the furthest left the system can tolerate. Jon Stewart getting kicked off Apple comes to mind.

[-] marxisthayaca@hexbear.net 9 points 4 months ago

Jon Stewart wanted to do "investigative" and critical pieces on both China and artificial intelligence. I dunno if it would have been left-wing.

[-] rio@hexbear.net 16 points 4 months ago

Deification can work both ways.

The fact the Dems are to the right of Reagan and well to the right of Nixon is obscured by the fact that Reagan and Nixon were republicans.

[-] Alisu@hexbear.net 7 points 4 months ago

Just like Achilles and the turtle

[-] Greenleaf@hexbear.net 37 points 4 months ago

That’s honestly pretty bold, given how so many Democrats will say he’s “the last good Republican president” and how he’s generally been canonized as a someone you are supposed to respect regardless of your political leaning.

[-] BelieveRevolt@hexbear.net 24 points 4 months ago

I wonder if he and his wife ever get into fights over his ultralibbery?

[-] FALGSConaut@hexbear.net 34 points 4 months ago

Naw, at home he rolls over and shows his belly like the loyal dog of empire he is. He readily admits he doesn't push back at all against her lmao

It's one of the reasons I can't take anything he does seriously, even if he is one of the broken clocks that is right a couple times a day. Every other segment he does is basically "here's why the problem is capitalism but I won't say that so I'll either end the segment abruptly or redirect the blame to a single person/entity instead of anything systemic

[-] BelieveRevolt@hexbear.net 20 points 4 months ago

lol, figures that he wouldn't, I bet they agree on most things anyway.

Even if he wasn't a lib, I doubt he'd be allowed to have a show on American late night TV where he says capitalism is the problem. I also have to say that politics aside I don't find Oliver that funny, especially not that "This is just like (non sequitur)" thing he does that he thinks passes for a joke.

[-] FALGSConaut@hexbear.net 19 points 4 months ago

Oh yea, just the way he frames her military service as positive gives it away. He can criticize the American Empire all he wants but at the end of the only part he has an issue with is the optics and aesthetics, not the core concept. If he actually had a problem with America he sure as hell wouldn't have married a completely unrepentant war criminal.

I used to like him back when his show first started and I was at the tail end of my liberalism, but I haven't watched any of his stuff from recent years. His humor began to grate on me and I got tired of the whole "I'll outline the problem and why it's capitalism's fault, but I'll just blame this one ceo/company instead of capitalism itself" cycle

[-] BelieveRevolt@hexbear.net 10 points 4 months ago

I haven't watched his show since probably around 2018 or so, also at the tail end of my liberalism. Even back then, it irked me that he framed these inherent problems with capitalism as just the doings of a few bad apples, and of course ~~Trump~~ Drumpf as the reason America was bad now instead of just a part of the problem.

[-] FALGSConaut@hexbear.net 8 points 4 months ago

I will admit he was a factor in my radicalization, in part because he wasn't able/willing to explicitly state that capitalism is the problem. This was probably 2015ish, when Trump was still being treated as a joke and Hillary was the obvious shoe-in lenin-dont-laugh . I won't give him full credit, obviously most of the heavy lifting was done by reading theory and just paying attention to the world, but he did show me that even the best libs support the status quo and won't entertain alternatives

[-] RyanGosling@hexbear.net 7 points 4 months ago

Even if he wasn't a lib, I doubt he'd be allowed to have a show on American late night TV where he says capitalism is the problem.

This isn’t controversial at all. There have been multiple popular and successful “capitalism bad” shows and movies. Capitalists literally do not give a shit what you make as long as they make money from it. Jeff Bezos will allow you to make communist propaganda and depict him getting beheaded on Amazon Prime if you can guarantee the movie makes $300 million.

[-] laziestflagellant@hexbear.net 22 points 4 months ago

I don't put any stake in being pandered to but I will admit it does feel good on the rare occasions it happens

[-] RyanGosling@hexbear.net 22 points 4 months ago

jesse-wtf Reagan and Kissinger are safe targets for liberals to hate. They’re on the whitelist. It’s the equivalent of saying “thanks Obama” for liberals

[-] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 8 points 4 months ago

Unless you bring up how Hillary considered Kissinger "a good friend and mentor".

[-] grandepequeno@hexbear.net 18 points 4 months ago

Wait until he says tankie

[-] plinky@hexbear.net 17 points 4 months ago

go after bush next soviet-huff

[-] crispy_lol@hexbear.net 14 points 4 months ago

watched a clip from him circa 2015 and mf been aging like milk looks like a presidential before and after

[-] CloutAtlas@hexbear.net 25 points 4 months ago

It's called being Anglo.

He's a few months younger than Shakira, Psy and Richard Ayoade, who all appear younger than him by a lot.

[-] SpiderFarmer@hexbear.net 17 points 4 months ago

Being Anglo means you got a 95% chance to age like milk, 5% chance to age into wizard. It's a rough trade.

[-] CaliforniaSpectre@hexbear.net 10 points 4 months ago

sadness

[-] BelieveRevolt@hexbear.net 14 points 4 months ago

WTF, he's still in his 40s? I thought he was closer to 60.

[-] coeliacmccarthy@hexbear.net 12 points 4 months ago

why does this keep being posted, who fucking cares that a person who guaranteed our agonized pointless deaths has been dead for a long time

[-] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 4 months ago

Honestly I think JO is more positive than negative even from a far-left perspective, he often does deep dives into obscure issues and not only speaks truth to power about things like institutional racism and bigotry - even placing it in a historical context (rather than simply going all slay slay girlbossx in an aestheticly liberal way) - but also gives practical immediate solutions that while not solve the issue entirely - can help alleviate the pain experienced right now, which is still a force for good.

Sure addressing the cause of a bleed is desirable and the only true solution in the end, but if someone is going around handing out bandages and plasters in the meantime to those bleeding profusely and maybe forgotten or neglected by those with bigger ideas - it's not a bad thing.

We live in a world of shades of grey, it's fine to dunk on libs, but it's disingenuous to pretend at least some of them aren't dedicated to acts of good at least in some respects. I think as far as late night TV entertainment goes, this show hits that spot.

His team of writers is clearly diverse and has lots of representation of women and PoC which really started to shine circa 2020 and I've thoroughly enjoyed everything they've done and learned a lot - especially with regards to racism and how it affects actual real specific people with names and faces today in practice - even though ultimately liberalism is not good.

[-] Thordros@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago

Honestly I think JO is more positive than negative even from a far-left perspective

I misread this at first, and was like, "Hell yeah! I get to charge my crystal instead of listening to a liberal!"

[-] GarbageShoot@hexbear.net 5 points 4 months ago

I don't care how diverse his dogshit writers are or aren't when they are still stooges to imperialism, which JO consistently is whenever they start discussing foreign policy. He doesn't "speak truth to power", he just kind of complains in circles while failing to produce the one thing that might actually constitute speaking truth to power: a real, systemic critique.