Twitter, of course, is filling the void left by cable news and other forms of traditional media.  I explored that idea a bit in a post on the Save the Internet blog, but I also was disappointed by another, less traditional news source.

Last night I tuned into to the Daily Show expecting to see an echo of this criticism.  Isn’t this what Jon Stewart is for, to skewer the media to which he’s built a career playing the evil twin?

I guess it was too much to ask.  Instead, we got a few pat lines about Joe Biden’s poor use of words (easy target), and more depressingly, a bunch of dumb jokes about Muslim people, going after women in chadors, illustrating an Iranian student as a dude in non-Western clothes, and generally painting Iranians as a people who’ve barely emerged from the 19th century.  Watch it:

The funny thing is, this whole episode has shown a lot people, including me, what a uniquely modern place Iran is.  Check out the street art that’s showing up in Tehran, including a little dude holding a picture frame, who’s apparently everywhere.

And have you noticed how well-dressed the young Iranian men are?  They look like they’re all wearing Diesel jeans and Armani t-shirts.  Maybe next time the Daily Show won’t have to resort to this kind of crass stereotyping to make its point.