Jon Stewart Criticizes Media‘s “Blame Game” Following Mass shootings
NEW YORK – Jon Stewart sharply criticized the media’s response to recent mass shootings, arguing that the rapid descent into partisan finger-pointing has replaced genuine attempts at understanding and preventing future tragedies. In a monologue on The Daily Show this week, Stewart condemned the immediate effort to assign political blame, characterizing it as a “new post-shooting pastime” of asking, “Was this one of yours?”
Stewart lamented a shift from a previously recognized “cycle of helplessness” – marked by shock, sadness, thoughts and prayers, and brief debate over gun control followed by inaction – to a more immediate and polarized reaction. He played clips from both MSNBC and Fox News illustrating the swiftness with which each network sought to attribute responsibility to the opposing political side, citing examples such as claims the shooter was a “right-wing, Trump-supporting evangelical Christian” versus assertions he was a “Biden supporter. Case closed.”
The comedian sarcastically referred to this phenomenon as “America’s new gender reveal tradition,” and expressed nostalgia for a time when networks refrained from amplifying attention to acts ”designed to get attention.” Stewart argued the media’s obsession with a “right-left framing of violence” is driven by a need to keep pace with the speed of social media, but ultimately questioned its relevance, asking, “Who the fuck cares?”
Stewart posited that mass shootings are fueled by a “complex fusion of mental health and access to weapons and attention-seeking, delusional nihilism married to an algorithmic underworld,” a reality that doesn’t easily fit into the established left-right political narrative. He criticized the media ecosystem’s “narcissistic” tendency to view all events through a partisan lens, hindering a more nuanced understanding of the underlying causes of these tragedies.
