Jeg faldt lige over en et par år gammel artikel fra Washington Post, der omtaler et studie af to amerikanske politologer, som tilsyneladende har data, der viser, at dét at se Jon Stewarts The Daily Show leder til politisk kynisme og måske til mindre valgdeltagelse:

“Two political scientists found that young people who watch Stewart’s faux news program, “The Daily Show,” develop cynical views about politics and politicians that could lead them to just say no to voting.

That’s particularly dismaying news because the show is hugely popular among college students, many of whom already don’t bother to cast ballots.

Jody Baumgartner and Jonathan S. Morris of East Carolina University said previous research found that nearly half — 48 percent — of this age group watched “The Daily Show” and only 23 percent of show viewers followed “hard news” programs closely.

To test for a “Daily Effect,” Baumgartner and Morris showed video clips of coverage of the 2004 presidential candidates to one group of college students and campaign coverage from “The CBS Evening News” to another group. Then they measured the students’ attitudes toward politics, President Bush and the Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.).

The results showed that the participants rated both candidates more negatively after watching Stewart’s program. Participants also expressed less trust in the electoral system and more cynical views of the news media, according to the researchers’ article, in the latest issue of American Politics Research.

“Ultimately, negative perceptions of candidates could have participation implications by keeping more youth from the polls,” they wrote.”

Er det så godt eller skidt?  Det kommer naturligvis an på målestokken.  Hvis man nu mener–hvad denne forsker, debattør og Groft Sagt-skribent godt kan forfalde til–at der er god grund til at være skeptisk overfor politikerne, og at det at stemme (i fraværet på store proces-relaterede fornøjelser) nærmest er fjolleri for folk, der ikke kan forstå sandsynlighedsregning, så er kynisme i vurderingen af selvsamme vel ikke så skidt?  Vel nærmest det modsatte.  Blåøjet idealisme om, at politik ligner et afsnit af West Wing, hvor de gode er en gruppe hyperaktive idealister, der vil bruge statsmagten til at gøre gode ting, og at de gør det ved at være de bedste og mest smarte, er i så henseende nok mere usundt.

Men hvad nu hvis kynismen leder til ligegyldighed?  Ligegyldighed overfor også de dårlige ting?  Hvad hvis f.eks. slaverimodstanderne og frihandelsforkæmperne i 1800-tallet havde sagt “Det nytter sgu’ alligevel ikke noget det hele …”?  Hvad hvis den politiske kynisme snarere stimulerer, “Hvad får jeg selv ud af det politiske system”-attituden?

You tell me.