News Covering: March 28, 2025 – April 3, 2025
This week we saw our hosts focus on reciprocal tariffs, Trump’s consideration for a third term, more ICE detentions, and the supreme court election in Wisconsin.
A few weeks ago, in my post on March 16th, I mentioned that Media Studies is “an unusual combination of history, psychology, philosophy, regulation, and practice,” to quote myself. So, this week, I thought perhaps I may get a little more philosophical. How fun!
When I was in university, I personally found these conversations and classes to be some of my favourites. When we talked about philosophy in a communications sense, we talked about Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, and John Stuart Mills, to name a few. But we also discussed concepts like Media Ethics or how communication or arguments are undertaken. Comically enough, my only actual philosophy course was PHI 1101 – Reasoning and Critical Thinking. This course was, what I would call, logic mathematics. There was a lot of “If A then B” and “If B then not C” sort of thing.
My Media Ethics class was really where I was more deeply introduced to philosophy in communication. Our professor suggested a book to us during that course called On Bullshit. It’s an essay written in 1986 by Harry G. Frankfurt. This essay goes on to discuss the concept of bullshit, and what it is, and how the world is more full of it than ever before. Of course, this was 1986, certainly not the world we live in today, as now we have the wonderful world of the larger scale internet, and I’d argue, a more polarized world.
Now, when it comes to the idea of what bullshit is, Frankfurt suggests that bullshit is devoid of care of truth or fact, that its only purpose is to serve the person doing the bullshitting:
“For the bullshitter… he is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all… except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting away with what he says. He does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose” (Pg. 56).
The reason I’m quoting Frankfurt here, is because when I look at the shows we’ve been discussing over the last few weeks and I see and hear these completely absurd things, all I can think of is this essay. Some things we’ve heard are just simply put: bullshit. Even two weeks ago, on March 25th, we had Jon Stewart saying:
“Cause as you know there are certain hypocrisies and absurdities that we find in our cultural moment that make for great fodder for humorous dialogue, a facial expression, a nod and a wink. Then there are other pronouncements by our elected officials, actions by our government that are so baldly bullshit.”
Stewart himself is calling out the bullshit. To me, I find that a good identifier of bullshit is when I hear or read something that makes me genuinely just say “what?” with upmost confusion. Take for example this week, Howard Lutnick saying the following phrase when talking about the EU and American meat products:
“They hate our beef, cause our beef is beautiful and theirs is weak.”
When I heard this, all I could think of genuinely was “what?” I mean sure, there may be truth in the statement of the EU perhaps not wanting American beef, but to me the statement really is bullshit, and if it’s not bullshit, it’s certainly an odd thing to say.
So, starting with the truth in the statement. The EU does a restriction on artificial growth hormones that are often found in American beef, so that beef cannot be imported into the EU. In 2012 a solution to that trade dispute was resolved by allowing more non-hormonal beef to be imported into the EU from the US. While there is a quota system for imports on American beef to the EU, as far as I can tell that quota has never been met, and was not nearly met in 2022. Just as an observation, the quota may not be met due the cost impact of farmers not using growth hormones, it may just not be worth it. The purpose of hormonal beef is to increase the quality of the beef and reduce cattle size. Canada also has approval for hormonal usage in beef and explains it a little here.
There is some potential truth to his statement: the EU has a restriction on hormone usage and they have a quota for non-hormone (High Quality Beef).
Now, using that information and looking back to what he said, here’s how I would break it down:
- They hate [American] beef -> The EU has a restriction on hormone usage and have a quota for non-hormone beef.
- They hate [it because American] beef is beautiful and [EU beef] is weak -> The EU has a restriction on hormone usage, hormones make American beef “better” and “stronger” than EU beef.
After a little bit of massaging, I think we got to the real message behind the statement. In short, we can see that Lutnick is complaining that the EU has restrictions on beef that uses hormones, and that the use of hormones makes American beef better.
But the statement itself is still bullshit, even if it rings with some truth. Even after looking things up, fact checking, and breaking down his single sentence argument I’m still left saying “what?” even though I understand the message he was trying to convey. “They hate our beef, cause our beef is beautiful and theirs is weak” is still an absurd statement to make, because it makes no real sense. They hate your beef because it’s beautiful? Are we to assume that the EU is jealous of American beef due to its beauty?
While I was writing for this particular week, I actually found out that Frankfurt appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, I believe in 2005, the same year his book version of the essay came out. While I haven’t seen that episode, I did see a short exchange with Frankfurt and an interviewer talking about Bullshit and the usefulness of Late-Night shows like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. He suggested that perhaps one way to get rid of bullshit is to make fun of it, and to humiliate and laugh at those pedaling it. You can view that exchange here.
So, this is where I come back to one of the original ideas of this project, to ask the questions: Are Late-Night shows a good thing? Are they good at relaying information to an audience? And today in particular: Are they good at pointing out absurdity where it is?
I think in a world of misinformation and disinformation, and information overload, perhaps it’s harder than ever to pick out the bullshit, or perhaps it’s just too common.
With that, let’s take a look at what folks covered this week.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Episode 6 – Monday, March 31, 2025
Minor Story Mentions:
- Canada’s snap election.
- Turkey’s crackdown on protests against their government.
- Britain Paddington statue being vandalized.
- Signalgate.
- The arrest of a Tufts University student.
- The arrest of individuals without due process.
Main Story – Tasers:
- The company that makes tasers is Axon.
- When the rights for tasers were purchased, they changed their firing mechanism from using gunpower to using nitrogen, thus no longer being subject to gun laws.
- Axon also controls the bodycam market.
- The CEO of Axon, Rick Smith, claims he was inspired to create the taser as he had two friends get killed during a traffic stop. While friends of the deceased claimed they had no idea who Rick Smith was. While they did go to the same school, they didn’t go at the same time.
- The main claims from Axon are that tasers are effective and safe.
- Effective
- At what?
- In what instance?
- Multiple events of police tasing children.
- Safe
- Studies began to emerge suggesting that the tasers can impact the heart negatively.
- The company changing liability rules to ensure they are not liable for misuse of tasers, which includes a vast array of usage rules.
- Excited Delirium being used to cover deaths by tasers. Oliver suggested that this phrase helps cover both Axon and police departments from responsibility should someone die.
- Investigators being pressured by Axon to not blame tasers for deaths.
Monday, April 1, 2025
Jon Stewart on Trump’s 3rd Term Plans & Signalgate Lack of Accountability | The Daily Show
Stewart covered:
- Trump considering options to serve a third term.
- Elon Musk giving money away at a rally for supreme court election in Wisconsin.
- The firing of workers at the Department of Education, the IRS, Social Security Administration, the U.S. Postal Service, HHS, Department of Veteran Affairs.
- Trump not intending to fire anyone over “Signalgate.”
- Everyone in the Signalgate group chat blaming one another, rounding out with Trump laying the blame squarely on National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.
- Stewart created a nice guide to avoid being fired by DOGE:
- Step 1: Blame Biden for failures, if that doesn’t work, Hillary Clinton.
- Step 2: Say you were tricked by lamestream the media.
- Step 3: “Confidently, and definitively, admit nothing, thank you all for coming.”
- Step 4: “I’m awesome.”
- Step 5: Bombed the Houthis
- Step 6: “What?”
- Trump claiming the administration would be transparent and accountable, and then suggested he knew nothing about the group chat.
MAGA Becomes TIT | Why Trump Wants A Third Term | J.D.’s Stupid Greenland Trip
Colbert covered:
- The economic uncertainty surrounding Trump’s tariff plans.
- The 25% tariffs on auto-parts, and the possible impact on car prices.
- Trump considering options for a third term.
- Vance visiting a U.S. military base in Greenland with his wife.
- Trump targeting “improper ideology” at the Smithsonian Museum and National Zoo.
Trump Plots Unconstitutional Third Term, Signal Scandal Grows, Musk Whines About Walz: A Closer Look
Meyers covered:
- Trump’s continued displeasure for the portrait of him at the Colorado State Capitol.
- Trump’s apparent lack of knowledge regarding the Signalgate incident.
- Mike Waltz claiming to have not had Jeff Goldberg’s number.
- The interest that American’s have in Signalgate, noticeable via Republican town halls and Google searches.
- Tim Walz getting under Elon Musk’s skin.
- Trump suggesting he is serious about running for a third term in office, and that “there are ways to do it.”
- The arresting of another international student by ICE.
Tuesday, April 2, 2025
Trump’s Tariff Spectacle | Good Climate Change? | Everyone Is At Risk Of Being Sent To El Salvador
Colbert covered:
- Trump’s intended “Liberation Day.”
- Trump randomly changing topic during an interview to stating that someone called him kind.
- Idaho criminalizing public breast exposure.
- Trump’s claiming that climate change is not happening, and that, really if anything carbon production has been a good thing.
- ICE having incorrectly deported someone to El Salvador due to “administrative error.” This was despite the fact that ICE had been aware of the man’s protected status, and now claims that “the court has no ability to bring [him] back now that he is in Salvadoran custody.”
Meyers does not have a closer look on Tuesdays.
Wednesday, April 3, 2025
Trump Risks Historic Economic Damage | Musk Crushed In Wisconsin | Sen. Booker’s Marathon Speech
Colbert covered:
- Trump’s launch of tariffs. For most countries they received 10% or higher.
- Democratic judge Susan Crawford winning the Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
- Senator Cory Booker delivering a 25-hour speech in which he protested Trump’s policies and reading letters from constituents.
Musk and Trump Lose Big in Wisconsin After Spending Millions to Buy Votes: A Closer Look
Meyers covered:
- Trump’s executive order to crack down on the Smithsonian and National Zoo to remove “improper ideology.”
- Democratic judge Susan Crawford winning the Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
- Musk support of the Republican Supreme Court election, delivering speeches, funding, and doing multiple million-dollar giveaways.
- A montage of Republican’s claiming the Democrats were buying votes throughout the election and Biden’s term. While showing the comparison between what Musk is doing via the giveaways.
Thursday, April 4, 2025
Trump Jets Off To Watch Golf After Triggering Global Market Meltdown | No Tariffs On Russia
Colbert covered:
- The Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq having the largest drop since 2020.
- The response of other countries on these tariffs.
- The method which the Trump administration appears to have determined tariff percentages. Which, interestingly enough, is the same way chat GPT seems to offer tariff percentages when asked.
- The tariffs on the uninhabited Heard Island and McDonald Islands.
- Russia’s absence from the tariffing.
- The Trump administration complaining that other countries don’t take their agricultural products, including the Howard Lutnick saying: “They hate our beef, cause our beef is beautiful and theirs is weak.”
Trump’s Insane Tariff Plan Tanks Stock Market, Risks Economic Collapse as Prices Rise: A Closer Look
Meyers covered:
- Trump’s launch of tariffs.
- Trump having acknowledged that he won the election based on his claim that he would solve the affordability crisis, but then now stating that he didn’t really care if there was an increase in price of goods.
- Trump’s tariff list. This included the tariffing of Heard Island and McDonald Islands, which have a population of 0, and export nothing.
- The Trump administration complaining about the EU not taking their meats (as you can see above).
And there you have it…
Another busy any chaotic week covered comedically.
Comedy Communications 