The revolution will be televised

I have heard several refrains regarding the tent camps springing up across Israel in protest of high housing costs, and one of the most common is, "I support the protests, but I can't stand so-and-so." More than two weeks after the first tents went up on Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard, sweeping us all up in their revolutionary fervor, the logical and critical parts of our brains have resumed their functioning.

This should have occurred a lot sooner, but the Israeli media, which made the protests possible in the first place, offered nearly unequivocal support to the legitimate public outcry. Their support brooked no debate. Everyone fell in love with the revolutionary slogans dusted off from the Bolshevik attic. Every newscaster wanted to outdo Che Guevara and every anchorwoman acted as if she were hosting a reality show called "Israel's next social justice leader."

Critics of the protest movement were not silenced. Some made good points. Others said and wrote nonsense. But, overall the critical voices remained in the margins. They were lonely voices in the wilderness. The culmination came last Saturday night when nearly 150,000 citizens marched across the country. Even I, a passive supporter of these protests, was uncomfortable watching the commercial channels' live broadcasts.

Restraint, doubt, reason and critical thinking all took a long weekend. Instead, we were treated to "The Revolution, Next Generation, Live." In my view, journalists behavior was tantamount to an entire profession shooting itself in the foot. The watchdog of democracy went on a rampage.

Many people claim that the media is driven by political motivations. "They're leftists," people often complain. In my opinion, Left and Right is not the issue. The concern is far more serious and was articulated well by Jon Stewart, the U.S.'s leading political satirist.

During a combative interview with the conservative Fox News channel, the left-wing Stewart rejected the accusation that the U.S. media are liberal, which in the United States is a synonym for leftist. In Stewart's view, U.S. media's central flaw is a combination of laziness, sensationalism and seeking out conflict at every opportunity. Stewart didn't know how right he is, especially when it comes to Israel.

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