I must say, in the last year, John Oliver has become one of my heroes. Not only is he hilarious, but he has a unique ad-free platform that he is using to inform the public on all sorts of vital - but often ignored - topics.
From the confederate flag and police states, to the state of the U.S nuclear arsenal, FIFA, the internet, property siezure and global warming, Oliver has informed and entertained in a way that's importance cannot be overstated in the quick-hit media-saturated world we live in.
If you haven't seen him, what makes him so good is that he devotes time - like ten or fifteen minutes sometimes - to topics that the public is woefully under-informed about. Not only does he provide an unheard of .960 SJA (Successful Joke Average) but he also explains why things are important in a way that is unique in a society that is divided along Liberal/Conservative lines in the extreme.
Like an advanced statistician, Oliver provides facts free of prejudice and political party posturing. In short, he's taken up for the failed corporate sponsored news.
Anyways, the reason I'm talking about this is that last night he took on a topic that is interesting to most sports fans: stadium building and the Arizona Coyotes.
Now, I always thought that sports teams and stadiums brought money to the cities in which they played, but according to Oliver, this just isn't true. You have to watch the whole thing, so there's no point in me summarizing it, but basically, he showed that having the public pay billionaire sports owners to stay in their towns is actually quite sick and twisted.
He gave a full show of support to the city of Glendale and (deservedly) mocked the annoying lady who yelled at the mayor and then tazed him for charity. I have knocked the city of Glendale repeatedly because I like the Coyotes and prefer that they don't leave, but after becoming more informed, I have to say, I now commend them for being one of the only towns to stick up for their tax funds against predatory billionaires. (Although, that being said, I still don't want the Coyotes to move).
Bottom line, in a world people routinely complain about welfare cheats (although facts show that less than 2% of all payouts are fraudulent) it's crazy that we constantly give out billions in corporate welfare to people who are already billionaires. I mean, at least people on welfare have the excuse of being poor.
Hopefully Oliver will inform enough people about the problem of public funded stadiums and arenas that in the future this can't happen.
Check it out, but just a warning, there may be adult language and jokes as it is HBO. Still, if you can handle that, please do yourself a favor and check this out. It's fantastically informative and quite eye-opening.
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