The Incredible Effect Jon Stewart

2425 Words5 Pages

"Liberal and conservative have lost their meaning in America. I represent the distracted center." proclaimed Jon Stewart (Nordquist 1). The liberal would be the Democrats while the conservative is referring to the Republicans. As the citizens of the United States continue to be frustrated by the government due to the Iraq/Afghanistan wars, the 2008 Recession, and the bipartisan deadlock in Congress, Stewart continues to criticize Democrats/Republicans alike in The Daily Show. To fully comprehend Jon Stewart’s role in the modern political landscape of the United States, one needs about his life, achievements/works, and his impact.
Jon Stewart had a pretty typical American childhood. Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz) was born to Don Leibowitz, a physicist working for Princeton, and Marian Leibowitz, an educational consultant, on November 28, 1962 in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Stewart was raised in a middle-class Jewish family. Stewart attended a yeshiva kindergarten in Trenton and later attended public school along with his brother. Stewart’s comedic abilities was obvious early on, “I was very little, so being funny helped me having big friends,” Stewart remarked (Gillick 2). At age eleven his parents separated which led Stewart’s father being estranged from Stewart. Stewart listed George Carlin and Richard Pryor as some of his early comedic influences early on (Bates 1). Stewart later gained a reputation as a class clown at Lawrence High School and also highly engrossed in politics (Gillick 3). Stewart described himself as “left-leaning” and an admirer of the 20th century American Socialist Eugene Debs. He graduated in 1980 and was described by his twelfth grade English teacher, Larry Nichol as “He was very ...

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...14 Dec. 2013.
Shapiro, Ari. "Jon Stewart's Latest Act: Sept. 11 Responders Bill." NPR. NPR, 26 Dec. 2010. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.
Wapshott, Nicholas. "Faking It: What Is Jon Stewart About? And Why Should We Welcome The Daily Show? Nicholas Wapshott Reports from New York." New Statesman [1996] 10 Oct. 2005: 42+. Student Resources in Context. Web. 6 Dec. 2013.
Carter, Bill. "CNN Will Cancel 'Crossfire' and Cut Ties to Commentator." Nytimes.com. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr., 6 Jan. 2005. Web. 14 Dec. 2013.
Chinni, Dante. "Politics Counts: The Impact of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert."Blogs.wsj.com. Dow Jones & Company, 17 Feb. 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
Morin, Richard. "Jon Stewart, Enemy of Democracy?" Washingtonpost.com. Katharine Weymouth, 23 June 2006. Web. 14 Dec. 2013.
Ryals, Jimmy. "Art and Politics." Web.archive.org. The Internet Archive, 30 May 2006. Web. 8 Dec. 2013

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