It takes stuff like The Daily Show to point out how absurd the typical objections to organic food truly are. The saddest part is that the lies being fed to us by so-called experts are based on studies funded by chemical companies. Big oil, big fertilizer, big pesticide have to convince us that dumping tons of their synthetic chemicals into the environment is the only way to grow good crops in order for their companies to survive.  In fact they even sell genetically engineers seeds that require stronger and more potent doses of their chemicals to grow. Of course, they are going to say whatever they can to ensure they keep selling product – even if what they are doing harms people and the planet.

But people believe what they are sold in advertisements. And these businesses know how to use the language of organic to their own ends – saying that farming without synthetic chemicals is uncaring, unsustainable, and unhealthy. It reminded me of food activist Michael Pollan's recent lament on Democracy Now!. After his recent books have pointed out the health and environmental dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup, he has noticed a number of products advertising that they are made with "real cane sugar" as if it's a health claim. They took his warning about how we are slipping synthetic sweetener into everything as a way to sell sugar as the healthy option. It's not that people are missing the point, it's that the point has been twisted to serve those it originally tried to fight. (Pollan's advice by the way, is to simply don't buy any food you have ever seen advertised.) But Pollan also comments, "the language of sustainability and the critique of industrial food is being picked up by some of the major players within industrial food, either as an effort to co-opt the rhetoric or simply confuse the consumer and the citizen."

It is this deliberate confusing of the public that gets to me. I have no issue with advertising in general – if you've got a product to sell, sell it. I even don't get too bothered by the "buy our wrinkle cream and you too will look as young and sexy as our 19 year old airbrushed model" sort of advertising either. We all know that stuff is a lie, but we buy the stuff anyway because we wish it were true. But having Monsanto claim that over-farming, trends towards mono-crop varieties, and continued use of synthetic chemicals in farming are "sustainable" is a damned lie. Sure people have the right to define words however they like, but this is one of those times where I really don't want the bad guys to win just because they have more money and power.

So once again, thank you The Daily Show, for being the voice to speak truth to power.

On one hand there is nothing new about the comedian being the one to speak truth to power. Historically, that was the role of the court jester, or as it's known in Shakespeare studies, the wise fool. Kings not only permitted, but employed, court jesters not just for entertainment but as the voice of reason. The court jester was immune from punishment and therefore was the only person who could speak with complete honestly. All others simply desired to curry favor with the King or to avoid his wrath – they could not question his decisions, point out his faults, or let on to how absurd his rulings truly were. The Fool held a special dispensation to speak his mind. His words could of course be laughed aside as that of a simpleton, but more often than not they were taken to heart. So what bothers me here is not the fact that Stewart has assumed the role of a modern court jester, but that in our day and age it still has to be the fool who speaks truth to power.

Why did it take Jon Stewart to stand up to the guys playing with our future and security and tell them "I know you want to make finance entertaining, but it's not a fucking game"? Were the rest of us so eager to be picked for the team that we just played along anyway? While I love what Stewart had to say and applaud him for saying it, I find it sad that Christians as a whole haven't been standing up the whole time saying similar things. We have a rich history of calling those who financially prey upon the weak and the powerless to task for their actions. Jesus simply had to have a meal with him for Zaccheous to stop taking advantage of others for his own profit and start give away money to those in need. All along Christians should have been taking a stand for Kingdom economics – finance free from manipulation or oppression, that doesn't hurt others for profit's sake, or that destroys lives as part of the game. Economics that serves the needy not merely the rich and powerful. Economics that doesn't force us to turn our backs on Jesus Christ himself.

But the prophet voice for the Kingdom has been too small. We have the opportunity and the right to be honest to those in power in our country. But too few bother to use that right and speak the truth. And those that are taking a stand have to spend their time trying to convince other Christians that Jesus actually meant the things he said. Too many of us simply want this to be a game that we can win.

And so as we try to win the favor of kings, we are left once again with only the court jester to speak the truth.