The Daily Show: Actual Democalypse 2012

Leah Petrovich
lp183908@ohio.edu

My last post was about if guests on The Daily Show are chosen to influence the election.
The election wasn't mentioned exclusively, but foreign policy was written all over the episode.
                                                   The Daily Show: Kofi Annan

The Power of YouTube
This week host John Stewart refers to the internet as, "the magical force that showered democracy on the Middle East." The violence that broke out in over a dozen nations about the "Innocence of Muslims", a video on YouTube, has been felt around the world. The short American-made film depicts the prophet Mohammed as a dope and a pedophile.

This week, The Daily Show mocked that this has brought about the "actual democalypse."
Stewart jokes that it's as if leaders in these nations are exploiting the material to their populists for their own political gain. "You really are getting the hang of this democracy thing, " Stewart says.

Photo courtesy of The Washington Times

Stewart points out that politicians like, Bush, Palin, and President Obama, say that democracy is growing in these nations; however, it is the lack of democracy that causes outbreaks like this.

Stewart plays old news stories from 2004 in which the correspondent is saying the democratic experience is progressing. Where as the same correspondent in 2012 says that the democratic experience is a disaster in Arab-Muslim countries. No political visionary has been able to successfully establish democracy in these nations.

Enter Kofi Annan
The guest on the show, Kofi Annan, was able to share his thoughts about the unrest in the Middle East. As a retired Secretary General of the U.N., Annan said that the whole region is divided, including the security council members that are supposed to be encouraging unity. He calls for cooperation by saying, "they need to work together. If they don't, then God bless us."

Obama vs. Romney
President Obama and republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, had opposing thoughts when their administrations responded to the September 14th attacks on the U.S. missions in Libya and Egypt.

Here is a link to an article from Business Insider describing the debacle.

Also, check out this article from the New York Times which shows how various political figures responded to the attacks that left one American dead. It's very interesting.