"Stop…You're hurting us."

If you have not yet seen Jon Stewart take the Crossfire guys to task, do yourself a favor and watch it — link here.

Which makes me ask: Is Jon Stewart angry? (Rhetorical question — the answer is yes.) But, is it OK for him to be angry? I mean, when he is firmly convinced that shows like “Crossfire” are hurting our democracy, that all they do is allow spin-meisters and political hucksters and sloganeers to come on and shout at each other, that they’re about theater, not debate — I mean, if he’s convinced of all these things, then is he right to be angry?

I only ask this because lately I’ve heard a wave of, “You’re so angry,” and “You emergent people are so angry.” To which I say, if you’re not at least a little angry at the impotence of the church, then there’s something wrong with you.

I sometimes wonder if the you’re-so-angry defense is really a duck, so one does not have to deal with the real issues that the emergent church is raising. As a parallel, watch the clip and see how Begala and Carlson refuse to talk to Stewart about what he wants to talk about.