So I watched the Colbert clip from Wednesday. And I read some of the numerous tweets about it. Here are my thoughts, Facebook. Please let me know if Ive been blinded by my privilege (possible, I suppose). First off, the story: cleveland/nation/index.ssf/2014/03/stephen_colbert_mocks_washingt.html Dan Snyder (owner of the Redskins) has started a charitable organization called Washington Redskins Original American Foundation (yikes) in order to assuage concerns that the name of his team is totally racist and that (perhaps more importantly) he doesnt really seem to care. The organization has given out some winter coats to tribes and paid for SOME of A PIECE of construction equipment, suggesting this is a very half-hearted gesture. And even if the organization was doing more earnestly charitable work, the bigger problem with it is that it doesnt address the nature of the controversy around the team name. It attempts to distract from it. Colbert, in that tongue in cheek way of his, defended Snyder on his show. He also said that he has come under fire for The Colbert Nation mascot Ching Chong Ding Dong. Following the brave lead of Snyder, Colbert started the Ching Chong Ding Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever. He also played a clip of him doing the character Ching Chong Ding Dong from 2005. Then Twitter exploded, as it is want to do. Heres my thing: Colbert is portraying an exaggerated and fake racism (that he does not actually posses) in order to shine a light on the actual real racism that informs the Redskins name controversy. As is usually the case with satire, he is going hard to make the point that what he is doing and what his target are doing are the same. Granted, his character portrayal is cringe-worthy (although, full-disclosure, I did laugh), he isnt doing it to mock Asian Americans (or any people of Asian decent). Hes doing it to mock the people in positions of power who are unwilling to examine the possibility that they are being racist by equating their (to them, benign) behavior to Colberts (obviously racist) behavior. He is showing that the emperor is naked by getting undressed himself. This the the point of satire, yes? SO. Facebook. Do the ends justify the means here? I think they do. Have at me.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 15:29:16 +0000
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