# Cancel Colbert? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 28, 2014, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759 "2014-03-28T13:43:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/81 "2014-04-02T01:04:57Z")
I personally was amused that they said “shit” twice, uncensored. Anyone know if it was bleeped out in the daytime re-runs? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/82 "2014-04-02T01:21:14Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Right: I agree with every word of what you just said. My point has been that there is an argument for the view that the joke shouldn’t be told which I find more plausible than I expected–and that argument turns on an analogy between “ching chong ding dong” and “nigger.” And that’d be a valid point for discussion even though it has some confusing implications - I don’t think you can satirize racism this way without using any offensive words. But of course that’s not where the discussion went; the demand was that Colbert be fired for saying something someone didn’t like. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/83 "2014-04-02T02:19:52Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Do you think it would be acceptable to make a joke using the word “nigger” in much the same way Colbert used the phrase “ching chong ding dong”? Absolutely. Words are there to be played with for sport and mirth, including the hateful ones. If, for example, Colbert announced that he’s using his superPAC money to get into baseball and found his dream team, the Washington Niggers, that would be funny. To me, at any rate. The funny part in that joke is not about black people being called niggers (much like the funny of the original not being calling Asians Ching chong), but the Washington Redskins being horribly racist. Though I guess the point is moot now. #CancelColbert has been in the news, Suey Park has been on teevee and now has a Wikipedia page (blech). Mission accomplished. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/84 "2014-04-02T02:59:39Z")
> [@Orr\_G](#): > > “People tell me I’m white and I believe them because I just devoted six minutes to explain how I’m not a racist.” “…And that is about the ‘whitest’ thing you can do.” ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/85 "2014-04-02T03:17:23Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Absolutely. Words are there to be played with for sport and mirth, including the hateful ones. If, for example, Colbert announced that he’s using his superPAC money to get into baseball and found his dream team, the Washington Niggers, that would be funny. To me, at any rate. > > The funny part in that joke is not about black people being called niggers (much like the funny of the original not being calling Asians Ching chong), but the Washington Redskins being horribly racist. > > Though I guess the point is moot now. #CancelColbert has been in the news, Suey Park has been on teevee and now has a Wikipedia page (blech). Mission accomplished. From other posts of yours in other threads, I’m not surprised that you are consistent about this point. I myself have to admit I think it’s better to think of words the way you’re describing, and that if you think of words otherwise, you’re giving those words power you don’t have to give them. But knowing most people _don’t_ think about words this way, and that there’s no way to get someone to see them differently overnight, it seems unnecessarily cruel to me to insist on my own right to use them the way I see fit. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/86 "2014-04-02T05:35:27Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > From other posts of yours in other threads, I’m not surprised that you are consistent about this point. > > I myself have to admit I think it’s better to think of words the way you’re describing, and that if you think of words otherwise, you’re giving those words power you don’t have to give them. My opinion on these matters is/was strongly influenced by French comedian Pierre Desproges, who had a both a truly marvellous way with words and a dark, scathing satiric style. Somewhat like Colbert, he affected absurd and misanthropic personas the better to poke fun at and excoriate the popular people and ideas of his time. He was a profoundly humanist, caring, antiracist and anti-antisemite man, but often played over-the-top racist characters the better to underline their stupidity - the ambiguity of which naturally caused him some ire in the press, and from people who didn’t know the man or took what he said out of its proper satirical context. In part to address these criticisms, in one memorable occasion ([during which](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ0csrxB5n4) he also happened to crap all over LePen to his fat face) he said : > [@Desproges](#): > > La question est donc, peut-on rire de tout ? Je répondrais oui, sans hésitation […]. S’il est vrai que l’humour est la politesse du désespoir, s’il est vrai que le rire, sacrilège blasphématoire que les bigots de toutes les chapelles taxent de vulgarité et de mauvais goût, s’il est vrai que ce rire-là peut parfois désacraliser la bêtise, exorciser les chagrins véritables et fustiger les angoisses mortelles, alors oui, on peut rire de tout, on doit rire de tout. De la guerre, de la misère et de la mort. Au reste, est-ce qu’elle se gêne, elle, la mort, pour se rire de nous ? Translated : “The question is, then, can we laugh at anything ? I would say yes, without hesitation. If it is true that humour is the politeness of despair ; if it is true that laughter, the blasphemous sacrilege that bigots of every stripe call vulgar and in bad taste, if it is true that that very laughter can sometimes desecrate idiocy ; exorcize true sorrows or appease mortal anguish then yes, we can laugh at anything, we must laugh at everything. At war, at misery, and even at death. Besides, does Death ever hold back from laughing at us ?” As you say, when we hold things too sacred or serious to be laughed at, we give them power and importance. Nigger is an ugly word, and the people who use it in earnest are ugly people - which is why the word _should_ be used in ways that make that crystal clear, to everyone. Then it won’t have to be used at all any more. > [@](#): > > But knowing most people _don’t_ think about words this way, and that there’s no way to get someone to see them differently overnight, it seems unnecessarily cruel to me to insist on my own right to use them the way I see fit. Well, I wouldn’t go out of my way to keep making offensive jokes right in the face of people who have declared themselves offended by them or anything of the sort - the skit quoted above continued with “but we can’t laugh with everyone” ;). I do have a sacrilegious, iconoclastic streak about me which I’m rather fond of, but if and when some people don’t dig that then that’s fine by me. I will only \*privately \*think a little less of them :). At the same time, both in my humble position as a shitposter on an internet message board and in Colbert’s as host of a popular TV show, I don’t think offending the sensibilities of a subset of people is any reason to hold back either. To quote Georges Carlin, “Did you know there are two knobs on your TV set, Reverend ? One of them turns it off, and the other one changes the station. It actually changes the station !”. By which I mean than any outrage, offence or anger resulting from listening to my tedious, not-as-funny-as-I-think-it-is crap or watching Colbert is largely self-inflicted. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/87 "2014-04-02T11:36:47Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Why are you certain of this? Other people have made that comparison, they just don’t have cable TV shows. It’s interesting to compare the “Ching Chong Ding Dong” joke to the [“Laser Klan”](https://showyou.com/v/h-BUm-pASa5_h3RhIT/laser-klan) joke. It pokes (offensive) fun at racists while managing to avoid ethnic slurs. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/88 "2014-04-02T13:05:40Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Right: I agree with every word of what you just said. My point has been that there is an argument for the view that the joke shouldn’t be told which I find more plausible than I expected–and that argument turns on an analogy between **“ching chong ding dong” and “nigger.”** Is **this** really a good analogy though? I would think that “Chink” would be more apt. Anyway, I still think it’s much ado about nothing and that the activist just made herself look silly and humorless. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/89 "2014-04-02T13:14:31Z")
> [@Orr\_G](#): > > [Colbert puts an end to the controversy.](http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/full-episodes/u4jfik/march-31--2014---biz-stone) > > Pretty cute episode. He did his usual great job of roasting the ridiculous situation, although he was remarkably gentle towards the hashtivists who stoked the fires, IMO. > > “People tell me I’m white and I believe them because I just devoted six minutes to explain how I’m not a racist.” I thought he handled it absolutely perfectly (and hilariously of course). He explained what happened, understood why people were upset, and pointed out how no one seems to be upset about the whole point of the bit- Dan Synder’s organization. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/90 "2014-04-02T13:37:58Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > Is **this** really a good analogy though? I would think that “Chink” would be more apt. That’s a fair point. The bit is more analagous to the “lookee here” Amos ‘n’ Andy style dialect. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/91 "2014-04-02T13:47:24Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > It’s interesting to compare the “Ching Chong Ding Dong” joke to the [“Laser Klan”](https://showyou.com/v/h-BUm-pASa5_h3RhIT/laser-klan) joke. It pokes (offensive) fun at racists while managing to avoid ethnic slurs. Huh, I must have missed that episode. That was hilarious, if a bit disturbing when the audience was cheering for the Klan as it destroyed the aliens ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/92 "2014-04-02T13:57:09Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > I thought he handled it absolutely perfectly (and hilariously of course). He explained what happened, understood why people were upset, and pointed out how no one seems to be upset about the whole point of the bit- Dan Synder’s organization. That was funny in a sad sort of way – people are more upset and spending more energy on a joke than on the thing that spawned the joke in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/93 "2014-04-02T14:58:38Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > That was funny in a sad sort of way – people are more upset and spending more energy on a joke than on the thing that spawned the joke in the first place. Because being angry at the Redskins only makes you part of a legitimate movement about a genuine example of overt racism, but pretending to be outraged about Colbert gets you 15 minutes of fame. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/94 "2014-04-02T15:24:50Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > “…And that is about the ‘whitest’ thing you can do.” People tell me I’m white, and I believe them because I compare myself to Rosa Parks constantly. > [@Frylock](#): > > Right: I agree with every word of what you just said. My point has been that there is an argument for the view that the joke shouldn’t be told which I find more plausible than I expected–and that argument turns on an analogy between “ching chong ding dong” and “nigger.” One point I’ve seen made elsewhere is that Suey Park doesn’t want Asians to be safe to substitute in such a formula. ---
**Author:** ![KAndre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@KAndre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KAndre)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/95 "2014-04-03T02:42:00Z")
I had a little sympathy for Suey Park at the beginning, but rapidly lost it with her “you’re a white man, you’re not allowed to have an opinion” and “I speak for all people of color” and now it’s seems to be all about her and a made up organization instead of the cringe-worthy “Dan Snyder’s Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation”. It does make her appear to be very fame-whory. I have to agree with Stephen on the “Twitter seems to be fine with [the Redskins name and foundation], because I haven’t seen shit about that”, and then I read this [blog](http://ladyhoneybea.blogspot.com/2014/03/cancelcolbert-collateral-damage-to-eonm.html) on how her hashtag pushed aside the ones trying to capitalize on Colbert’s original issue. I really don’t see what Park was trying to accomplish - she doesn’t seem to be interested in doing anything really constructive. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/96 "2014-04-03T15:39:53Z")
[Salon had an interview with Park over the issue.](http://www.salon.com/2014/04/03/cancelcolbert_activist_suey_park_this_is_not_reform_this_is_revolution/) I’m not sure what to make of how distracted she comes across. I assume in interviews they usually edit out details like ‘the interview stopped because the subject saw a bird’. But it does confirm that she didn’t actually want Colbert cancelled, as I suspected. She just didn’t think anyone would pay attention to anything less strident. Park doesn’t seem to have a coherent idea of what she hopes to accomplish. First she says, “This is not reform, this is revolution.” But she later says, “The revolution will not be an apocalypse, it’s gonna be a series of shifts in consciousness that result in actions that come about, and I think that like, at this point is really like, ride or die, in terms who’s in and who is out.” Well, a gradual shift in consciousness sounds like reform to me, even if its wrapped in swaggering braggadocio. I mean, I get it. Suey Park wants to incrementally shift the living shit out of this paradigm! I am holding on to my hat. I remember being in my 20’s. I raised a bit of shit at my college, and started conversations across the campus. It was fun, even for the people who stood against me. Nobody explained to me how much of what I was doing, even when I was right, was incoherent and inextricably tied to gratifying my ego. If they had, I might never have grown out of it. Because I figured it out for myself, I was very receptive to the message that my rebellious shenanigans were vacuous self-entertainment. Suey Park will perhaps resist this sober assessment coming from the outside no less than I’m sure I would have. Thank fucking Christ they didn’t have Twitter when I was a hothead. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/97 "2014-04-03T16:13:56Z")
God. I honestly thought you were kidding about the bird thing. I haven’t seen her interviewed live, but parts of that Salon transcript border on complete incoherence. It’s like lefty activist word salad. The overarching theme, as far as I can tell, is that she basically likes being a contrarian and is mad at whitey. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/98 "2014-04-03T16:46:03Z")
The linked Salon article describes Park as a “writer, **comedian** , and activist.” (Emphasis added.) Is it possible her public persona is a Andy Kaufman-esque put-up job? :rolleyes: Which if true would be simultaneously appropriate and ironic in the context of Stephen Colbert. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/99 "2014-04-03T17:12:00Z")
For a dimwit, she is able to string together a lot of words in a syntactically correct fashion. They don’t add up to make much sense though. I want to hear some of her comedy so fucking bad! Reading her take on Colbert, I was reminded of Dennis Miller’s bit about playing a comedy club in the “deep” south called called “I Don’t Get It.” ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759/100 "2014-04-03T19:47:30Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > For a dimwit, she is able to string together a lot of words in a syntactically correct fashion. They don’t add up to make much sense though. > > I want to hear some of her comedy so fucking bad! Reading her take on Colbert, I was reminded of Dennis Miller’s bit about playing a comedy club in the “deep” south called called “I Don’t Get It.” I like that she has been a comedian for “a long time”. She is 23. She hasn’t been anything for a long time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-colbert/684759.md?page=6)