Jon Stewart is deeply underwhelmed by America's anti-ISIS propaganda strategy


Jon Stewart has just eight Daily Shows left, and he has apparently decided he can't dedicate all of them to mocking Donald Trump. "As a hard-hitting news program," he joked on Monday's show, "we turn to ISIS," and why the FBI has declared it more dangerous to America than al Qaeda. The reason, it turns out, is Islamic State's superior use of social media, including, according to FBI director James Comey, terrorists available 24/7 for direct-messaging on Twitter.
"Oh, terrorists have online customer support?" Stewart said. "I don't know if that means they've surpassed al Qaeda but they're beating the [censored] out of Time Warner." And what, he asked, is America doing to fight back against ISIS's mastery of social media? Leaflets. "Are you f—ing kidding me? Leaflets?" Stewart asked, incredulous. "That is our newest communication weapon in the greatest war of the 21st century? Dropped leaflets? Floating paper?" Before he's done, Stewart has also managed to rope in Uber and sift through the complexities of Turkey's new involvement in bombing Syria. Watch below. Peter Weber
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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