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Stephen Colbert - Racist

Mumbles said:
And again,not the point. If you call someone "stupid"while interviewing, I immediately stop caring about you. Decent to superb interviewers don't that, the end.

ETA:And frankly, the fact that she sounds very reasonably does't help you. Sorry, but claiming "progressive" doesn't make you a friend...nor does claiming "conservative"automatically make you an enemy.
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Her tone may have been civil, but she was just as patronizing and dismissive as he was. He shouldn't have called her opinion stupid, because an interviewer shouldn't lose his/her composure like this guy did even if the person or opinion is stupid. So I agree it was a poor interview.

But on the other hand, interviewers should ask tough questions, and it's fair to expect the subject to be prepared to explain and defend her position. The impression i got was that any non-softball question would have elicited the same dismissive "you don't understand because you're a white man" response. I don't by any means think that it's always a chicken**** move to point out privilege, but when it's obviously just a reflexive deflection of a perfectly fair question to which the interviewee has no good answer, well, then it is a chicken**** move. It isn't privilege or oppression to expect her to be able to respond to her critics (at least the reasonable and civil ones), and he didn't become unprofessional until after she tried to tell him he doesn't get to have an opinion. People get pissed off when you tell them that, and it would be patronizing not to assume she knew that full well. He was still wrong to call her or her opinion stupid, but that is not because what she said wasn't stupid in the context in which she said it.

EDIT: For the record, I think Colbert was right to acknowledge that the tweet was offensive, and to retract it. There are some jokes that should not be tweeted. Ken Jennings learned the same lesson this week.
 
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Checkmite said:
Maybe - but then, when does Stephen Colbert (real) ever tend to appear or present himself as Stephen Colbert (real)? Anytime I ever see Stephen Colbert (real) it's without exception in-character as Stephen Colbert (fictional).

Sacha Cohen is another one who it seems has decided he cannot be seen in public, or at least cannot interact with the media, except as one of his characters. It's a bit tiresome by now, to be honest.
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True, it's rare when he strays out of character outside of the show. He tends to be himself more in NPR/PBS type appearances. I'm unsure whether that's a deliberate choice or not; I do think he's cognizant of the context when he should be the character and when not.
 
I've been saying it for awhile now but nobody believes me: the Azns are getting to be as annoying as the Jews.
 
I just got back from Suey Park's Facebook page...Can someone explain this "People of color can't be racist towards whites because whites are in power" theory to me? I really don't get it.

I'm trying to get it, but I feel like I'm going to give my self a nosebleed.
 
IDB87 said:
I just got back from Suey Park's Facebook page...Can someone explain this "People of color can't be racist towards whites because whites are in power" theory to me? I really don't get it.

I'm trying to get it, but I feel like I'm going to give my self a nosebleed.
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This theory posits that racism is more than just "dislike or hatred based on difference" but involves a sort of institutional holding back. Thus, only the group in power can be racist. This would be differentiated from bigotry or other hatred (I think).

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/racism

They would be using this definition:
racial prejudice or discrimination
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and arguing that you can't discriminate without power. E.g. that black people lack the power or ability to keep white kids out of college, for example.

they would NOT be using the other definition
a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
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I am probably not explaining it well.
 
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beren said:
This theory posits that racism is more than just "dislike or hatred based on difference" but involves a sort of institutional holding back. Thus, only the group in power can be racist. This would be differentiated from bigotry or other hatred (I think).

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/racism

They would be using this definition:

and arguing that you can't discriminate without power. E.g. that black people lack the power or ability to keep white kids out of college, for example.

they would NOT be using the other definition


I am probably not explaining it well.
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Sounds like special pleading to me.
 
IDB87 said:
Saw this video just now, got a chuckle out of me.

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arthwollipot said:
"I'm not going to enact that labor"?

Who talks like that???
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That's exactly what I thought. That's a pretty pretentious way of saying "I can't be bothered".

Mumbles said:
She also got quite a few racial slurs and rape/death threats from outraged fans - which Colbert himself denounced.
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It's the internet. I'm more likely to believe that any such racial slurs and death threats probably came from trolls who correctly identified a sensitive target.
 
By the way Jon Stewart is now apparently a heartless racist as well.

What's telling is that the author characterises this incident as Stewart "cursing me out". What actually happened was that she asked him why the warm-up comedian used jokes about race and ethnicity and Steward replied "Because it's f___ing funny".

She then describes how his entire mood changed and the atmosphere was thereafter a hostile one.
 
PitPat said:
True, it's rare when he strays out of character outside of the show. He tends to be himself more in NPR/PBS type appearances. I'm unsure whether that's a deliberate choice or not; I do think he's cognizant of the context when he should be the character and when not.
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I've seen him out of character a few times. As a regular viewer of his show, I've seen him either break character (often involving him breaking into laughter and trying to suppress it) or make subtle jokes alluding to him being in character on several occasions.
 
squealpiggy said:
By the way Jon Stewart is now apparently a heartless racist as well.

What's telling is that the author characterises this incident as Stewart "cursing me out". What actually happened was that she asked him why the warm-up comedian used jokes about race and ethnicity and Steward replied "Because it's f___ing funny".

She then describes how his entire mood changed and the atmosphere was thereafter a hostile one.
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Learned a new word from that article: "ableist."
 
squealpiggy said:
What's telling is that the author characterises this incident as Stewart "cursing me out". What actually happened was that she asked him why the warm-up comedian used jokes about race and ethnicity and Steward replied "Because it's f___ing funny".
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That at least gives us a good idea about how to interpret her other claims. For instance, when she says "he stared at me with palpable hostility," I will take that to mean "he briefly gave me an incredulous look." Likewise, I assume "his mood had visibly soured" actually means "he appeared mildly displeased for up to several seconds."

What I find even more telling is that that answer caused her to "[feel] sick all through the taping and for several days afterward." Talk about needing a trigger warning for life...
 
Freddy said:
Her tone may have been civil, but she was just as patronizing and dismissive as he was. He shouldn't have called her opinion stupid, because an interviewer shouldn't lose his/her composure like this guy did even if the person or opinion is stupid. So I agree it was a poor interview.

But on the other hand, interviewers should ask tough questions, and it's fair to expect the subject to be prepared to explain and defend her position. The impression i got was that any non-softball question would have elicited the same dismissive "you don't understand because you're a white man" response. I don't by any means think that it's always a chicken**** move to point out privilege, but when it's obviously just a reflexive deflection of a perfectly fair question to which the interviewee has no good answer, well, then it is a chicken**** move. It isn't privilege or oppression to expect her to be able to respond to her critics (at least the reasonable and civil ones), and he didn't become unprofessional until after she tried to tell him he doesn't get to have an opinion. People get pissed off when you tell them that, and it would be patronizing not to assume she knew that full well. He was still wrong to call her or her opinion stupid, but that is not because what she said wasn't stupid in the context in which she said it.
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Yes, I agree - and saying, basically "you don't understand because you're white" is profoundly weak. If someone goes on a show in order to explain their position, then they need to *explain their position*. In other words, if whiteness creates ignorance (it doesn't, but let's just concede that point and move on for the sake of argument), then when you agree to an interview, you should be ready to fully explain and educate. And I feel that Park completely failed from that perspective.

EDIT: For the record, I think Colbert was right to acknowledge that the tweet was offensive, and to retract it. There are some jokes that should not be tweeted. Ken Jennings learned the same lesson this week.
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Colbert actually came out the best in this fight. I thought the original joke was a bit hackish, but his response acknowledged the problem (the tweet that took his punchline out of context), he punched at the right target (Michelle Malkin, who lost the right to complain about slurs long ago), and did it all in character.
 
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