John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight' • Hacker News Board

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#141

Post by nhangen » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 2:54 PM UTC

pc86 wrote: post #116

zymhan wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People used the "You're a comedian so just tell jokes" line against Jon Stewart for years. There's absolutely no reason someone has to adhere to some arbitrary ratio of comedy to seriousness (edit: or preachiness, etc).

It's important to use the same words when discussing like this, because "preachiness" and "seriousness" mean very different things in this context. We're talking about comedy v. preaching to the audience, not when to make a joke and when to make a serious point. They're completely different discussions. And to the Stewart point, he was perfectly able to explain (using comedy) why he believed something without implyin…

Exactly! It's more condescending and "holier than thou" than anything, with such clear bias that I don't find it fascinating or interesting at all.

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#142

Post by chrisseaton » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 2:56 PM UTC

partiallypro wrote: post #136

ritchiea wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the end of the day it's a comedy show not a news show and his job is to make people laugh. You can't make people laugh with jokes about insider domain knowledge only possessed by experts. If you consider the constraint that Last Week Tonight is primarily a comedy show themed around important newsworthy issues rather than an investigative journalism show it's hard to imagine it done any better.

> At the end of the day it's a comedy show not a news show and his job is to make people laugh He and Jon Stewart keep (kept in the case of Jon) using this excuse when they get things wrong, but when they get things right they take all the glory they can get. The show(s) have to have some sort of accountability. For example Couric was just ripped for adding 6 seconds of dead air on a documentary....but that's literal…

> using this excuse when they get things wrong

That's exactly what it is. It's the equivalent of those people on YouTube who assault someone and then say 'it was just a prank!'

I think making fun of someone and trashing their reputation without being super careful to check all the facts first is really nasty and I don't like watching either of their shows.

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#143

Post by hellofunk » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 2:58 PM UTC

smt88 wrote: post #98

hellofunk wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The show is very entertaining and sheds some light on important issues, but don't kid yourself: you are being manipulated by masterful editing and writing, just like any other compelling "news" program. Everything in the show is filtered through a carefully worded script and is biased as hell. But I still love it. Just be sure you know what you're watching.

Example(s) where that makes the show less factual? I don't watch it and am curious.

It's more a problem of only using convenient evidence and omitting other facts that might make the show's argument weaker. Nothing is so much "not factual" on the show as it is often "incomplete" and "heavily spun." It's genuinely an enjoyable show, however, especially if you side with the attitude it offers. But not unlike some Michael Moore documentaries, a fair amount of it can be tossed up to propaganda.

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#144

Post by CaptSpify » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 2:58 PM UTC

brokentone wrote: post #49

Siecje wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't it still be outstanding on your credit report. It's debt that you didn't pay. How long does it stay on your credit report?

Well defaulted medical debt is in a different category than regular debt.

How so?

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#145

Post by pc86 » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 2:58 PM UTC

mediocrejoker wrote: post #77

bmh_ca wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Often it seems that facts, evidence, and observation are derided as "left". I find John's commentaries to be suitably supported by substance, with constructive conclusions. I worry that characterization as "left" is a defence against cognitive acknowledgements that just happen to be dissonant with neurostatic precepts.

Can you explain neurostatic precepts? I'm unfamiliar with the term and a bit of googling didn't turn up much.

After some googling it seems very likely he just made the term up. The entire comment seems to be quite a bit of "I am very smart."

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#146

Post by return0 » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 2:59 PM UTC

ritchiea wrote: post #111

bko wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My main problem with John Oliver is that he often chimes in on subjects he doesn't know anything about with folksy common sense logic that is often wrong. I remember him mocking some system for using tapes for storage on the belief that a technology that is so old cannot possibly be useful in modern technologies. In his latest clip, he mocks information being passed by Excel. How does he think things happen? Some mag…

At the end of the day it's a comedy show not a news show and his job is to make people laugh. You can't make people laugh with jokes about insider domain knowledge only possessed by experts. If you consider the constraint that Last Week Tonight is primarily a comedy show themed around important newsworthy issues rather than an investigative journalism show it's hard to imagine it done any better.

Its a news show for many. If it were satire it wouldnt be so one-sided.

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#147

Post by AstroJetson » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 3:00 PM UTC

tyoma wrote: post #25

Wont the debtors have to report the forgiven debt as income on their taxes, potenially triggering a very difficult tax situation?

Site is here: https://www.ripmedicaldebt.org/

Actually it's pretty simple. They figure out who needs the debt relief. They then go buy the debt for pennies on the dollar from one of the companies that has it. Then they forget about it. (I'd say they just delete the Excel file it's in, but there is lots of negative karma going on above this post about how wonderful Excel is)

From their website "Through sophisticated data analytics, RIP analyzes its medical debt portfolios to pinpoint those who are most in need of relief and then negotiates to purchase this debt for a significantly reduced amount – rates typically made available only to large organizations in the debt buying industry.

Once this debt is purchased – debtors are unburdened of this unpaid item."

So Oliver just gave them $14+ million in debt that he paid pennies on the dollar for and the are going to ignore it. Remember it's been written off (as a tax benefit) already, so it's only the debt people that care about it. Last guy that cared got paid by Oliver, so he's good to go.

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#148

Post by tlrobinson » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 3:01 PM UTC

evolve2k wrote: post #134

tlrobinson wrote: post #104

Note that this didn't actually cost them $15M, they bought the debt for $60K.

Umm isn't that sort of the whole point.

It's not at all obvious how much they actually paid, and comparing it to Oprah's $8M car giveaway is certainly dramatic but pretty disingenuous. It's unlikely the debtors would have ever ended up repaying anything close to $15M (in fact, presumably closer to $60K)

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#149

Post by defen » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 3:02 PM UTC

bayesian_horse wrote: post #97

ThomPete wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats the reason why I stopped watching it too. No doubt it has something but it's just too one sided IMO. It's bashing from a very specific political angle. I.e. it always possible to know what side of critique he is going to fall down on, and that for me isn't interesting.

Somehow, comedians falling on the "political right" side of the argument are rarely funny or insightful...

I disagree. I don't know Jerry Seinfeld's personal politics but I would argue that Seinfeld was a deeply reactionary show...

Re: John Oliver buys $15M in debt and forgives all of it on 'Last Week Tonight'

#150

Post by lujim » Mon, Jun 06, 2016, 3:02 PM UTC

scrollaway wrote: post #129

lujim wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I think so. Using 60k of someone else's money to buy some token debt and announcing it to the world on a TV show isn't exactly saint status. His take on the refugee debate also seemed to wreak of holier than thou preachy hot air.

Jesus. The guy creates and hosts a weekly political comedy show, researches topics, has a network spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on those topics, and you think it's a fair comparison to someone whose activism extends to "clicking the Like button on facebook". And you're the one calling his attitude "holier than thou".

Ok slow down there. They don't SPEND hundreds of thousands on those topics, they MAKE hundreds of thousands on those topics. Comedy Central/Viacom is not UNICEF and John Oliver is not a career humanitarian. They entertain people. When that is too hard they just pander to the most prominent demographic to gain viewership because that's how they generate revenue.