Rage over a variety of issues is what now fuels our politics. And rage can be fueled to be even greater if it involves something considered to be offensive to a group — even if it’s said as a joke that lampoons those who use offending phrases. Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert is now getting a lesson in rage 101 due to a line plucked out of a satirical comedy bit he did that was put on Comedy Central’s Twitter account.
Talking Points Memo has a fascinating post on this and it’s worth looking at it in detail:
Twitter users aimed to get the hashtag #CancelColbert trending on Thursday night after the official Twitter account for “The Colbert Report” posted a joke about Asian stereotypes out of context.
The now-deleted tweet read “I am willing to show #Asian community I care by introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever.”
That was a quote taken directly from a segment on Wednesday’s show that lampooned Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder, who announced he created the Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation to aid Native American tribes while ignoring calls to change the football team’s much-maligned name.
Even as satire, Colbert was playing with PC fire. In 2006 Rosie O’Donnell did an Asian joke using the same phrase on The View, it sparked a firestorm and she apologized.
TPM offers the joke as presented in its full context on Colbert:
Folks, this move by Dan Snyder inspires me, because my show has frequently come under attack for having a so-called offensive mascot. My beloved character Ching-Chong Ding-Dong…the point is, offensive or not — not — Ching-Chong is part of the unique heritage of the Colbert Nation that cannot change. But I’m willing to show the Asian community that I care by introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitive to Orientals or Whatever.
TPM’s headline says some folks now want the show pulled off the air. Fat Chance. If AMC wouldn’t kill the golden calf “Duck Dynasty” after a cast member’s homophobic statements and a major campaign, Comedy Central most assuredly will not cancel The Colbert Report due to a Tweet that didn’t show the satirical, and actual disdainful, point Colbert was making about stereotypical ethic references.
But that really isn’t the issue in our politics.
It’s not about the point, or the issue. It’s increasingly about showing rage and anger and confronting and by taking an angry position making a statement.
On this issue, it’ll be interesting to see precisely WHO will be demanding the show be yanked off the air 24 hours from now. Will it be members of the Asian community? Or conservatives who’ll suddenly champion something they usually reject? (P.C.) If you go by the tweets, some conservatives who blasted PC when Republicans have been accused of going over the line have suddenly point to Colbert’s comments and sometimes are tsk tsking. But Colbert is also being attacked by some who until-now praised him.
Reality: Colbert was knowingly treading into delicate territory, even with satire. I’m Jewish and can make jokes about Jews going to Chinese restaurants and maybe even some other stereotypical things and p-a-r-t-i-a-l-l-y get away with it; some Jewish friends would be furious, saying I was perpetuating stereotypes. Someone who isn’t Jewish would be seen by many more folks as disdaining Jews. But in this case, he was making a statement about someone’s tweets about Native Americans — a tweet he found absurd.
Colbert didn’t let this controversy linger, noting that neither he nor his network had anything to do with managing that account:
This is a Comedy Central account, with no oversight from Stephen/show. Here is quoted line in context http://t.co/UFnaFfOSpn #cancelcolbert
— The Colbert Report (@ColbertReport) March 28, 2014
A cross section of tweets:
Comedy Central should replace Colbert with Duck Dynasty because a living satire of prejudice is obviously better than satirizing racism.
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) March 28, 2014
"You need to watch the whole Colbert segment to understand why the joke wasn't offensive to Asians." HAVEN'T WE SUFFERED ENOUGH ALREADY.
— Adrian Chen (@AdrianChen) March 28, 2014
Sadly the lesson learned here for people like Colbert: don’t mock racism because your “allies” will take you out of context and attack *you*
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) March 28, 2014
ICYMI; Tea partier @suey_park has NO PROBLEM with #SouthDakota attacking Asian immigrants but she DOES have a problem with #Colbert satire
— Jonathan Jewel (@JonathanJewel) March 28, 2014
Stephen Colbert should be arrested and charged with hate speech!
– Twitter in 10 Years
— ??? (@Gus_802) March 28, 2014
"Colbert Report" accused of racist joke on Twitter, leads to #CancelColbert http://t.co/4fSSwdo4Jq
— Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) March 28, 2014
If someone other than a left-wing Palace Guard like Colbert made that joke… BOOOM!!!!
— John Nolte (@NolteNC) March 28, 2014
Stephen Colbert versus the humorless, bad faith hashtag activists: http://t.co/5qmorUnRYy pic.twitter.com/ytMtWO5zSz
— Slate (@Slate) March 28, 2014
This is doubly clueless because Colbert was taking a mega rich white guy’s clueless defense of a racially charged thing out to the woodshed
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) March 28, 2014
The #CancelColbert campaign is absurd, and damages the credibility of APA activism. Let's please fight real enemies. http://t.co/Uv6rEXpbEv
— Jeff Yang (@originalspin) March 28, 2014
Colbert parodies bigotry to make bigots look foolish. He does this very well.
— Touré (@Toure) March 28, 2014
Stephen Colbert parodies Daniel Snyder's patronizing nonsense. Twitter doesn't get the joke, freaks out. https://t.co/vzLabc5ZW6
— Radley Balko (@radleybalko) March 28, 2014
.@georgecorsi I kinda thought Colbert was supposed to be satirizing conservatives, but I'm unclear on which GOP guy mocks Asians. Help?
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) March 28, 2014
Thank you random white people on the internet for defending Asians from Stephen Colbert's racist onslaught. Couldn't do it without you.
— Gary He (@garyhe) March 28, 2014
attacks on colbert and self magazine are ridiculous. you're allowed to make fun of asians and people with cancer. that's how comedy works.
— Bryan Yang (@bryanyang) March 28, 2014
That's why Michelle Malkins Twitchey Flying Monkies starte the whole "Cancel Colbert" @drskyskull tweet from a fake account to start it off
— AlwaysThink (@AlwaysThinkHow) March 28, 2014
I had to say it, but this call to cancel Colbert looks paper-thin to me. Liberals: we need to be wiser than this.
— Gwydion Suilebhan (@GwydionS) March 28, 2014
All the people yelling to cancel Colbert are the same people who post angry Facebook rants about Onion articles.
— Michele Catalano (@inthefade) March 28, 2014
Isn't it funny how those calling racism and demanding to Cancel Colbert are all a bunch of white people?
— Ace Trainer Chris (@Tsukento) March 28, 2014
I'm not racist, some of my best friends want to cancel Colbert.
— $pencer (@13spencer) March 28, 2014
if i see a "cancel colbert" tweet from u, you're immediately getting unfollowed…. i don't care 4 ppl with no understanding of humor
— Ari Snaevarsson (@ThePak77) March 28, 2014
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Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.