Colbertgate: Racism, Righteous Indignation, and Rubbish

by Gerard Emershaw

Stephen Colbert, the host of Comedy Central’s satirical “Colbert Report” found himself at the center of a social media firestorm after airing a segment which was clearly intended as satirical anti-racist mockery of Washington Redskins team owner Daniel Snyer and possible racism against American Indians. The segment, which was also publicized on Twitter without the full context, involved the politically incorrect faux conservative pundit declaring: “I am willing to show the Asian community I care by introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever.” This was aimed at Daniel Snyder, who in an attempt to improve his and his team’s image in the face of continuing controversy involving the alleged racism of the name “Redskins,” recently formed a charity aimed at helping American Indians.

The fact that so many on Twitter immediately leaped to the keyboards of their internet enabled devices and began hashtagging “CancelColbert” demonstrates many problems with much of contemporary American culture. For one thing, this demonstrates that so many progressives are conditioned like Pavlov’s dogs toward reacting to anything in a stereotypical politically correct fashion. Only a child would confuse Colbert’s satirical bit with actual racism. In fact, the segment was attacking racism, not endorsing it.

Another problem that this highlights is the limitation of social media platforms such as Twitter. 140 characters simply cannot tell a whole story. This limitation makes many individuals unwilling to do the extra work necessary to fully understand complex contexts. Therefore, this fuels the fire.

However, the most disturbing thing about Colbertgate is that it illustrates the racism gotcha game that is so prevalent among progressives. Racism is bad. There is no doubt about that. It is the, as Ayn Rand said, the most primitive form of collectivism. Racist words can injure deeply. Racist actions can lead to evils like slavery and genocide. But it is not any of this that those who jumped all over Colbert had in mind. It was something much more juvenile. The racism gotcha game is akin to the child who overhears his or her brother use profanity and screams to mother: “Mommy, Tommy used a bad word!” The child who is tattling on his or her brother Tommy is obviously not considering what the “bad word” might mean or why it might be inapprorpriate. He or she is just playing “gotcha.” It is this rather than any logical and/or empathetic understanding of racism and its historical context which is all too prevalent in discussions about race.

The knee jerk reaction—by both those on the poltical left and right—to immediately demand a boycott or the removal of someone who says something poltically incorrect is also problematic. Of course human beings have the natural right to speak their mind. However, a far more adult and far more appropriate way of dealing with hate speech of any kind is by battling it with logic. More speech is always better. Free and open public debate on such important matters is what will benefit the nation the most.

The problem with this racist gotcha game is that it is essentially nothing more than a form of histrionic moral self-indulgence. Lost in the mess that is Colbertgate is any actual discussion of racism. There really has been vile racism aimed at Chinese individuals in the United States. There really has been vile racism aimed at American Indian individuals in the United States. Stephen Colbert’s comedy bit was neither of these. As long as the racism gotcha game continues to be so widely played in the United States, real racism will fly under the radar and will grow unabated.