Thursday, August 31, 2006

Sorry, I Still Don't Get It

Maybe I'm just completely out of touch, but I still can't figure out what all the fuss is about.

I mean, come on. It's a TV show. The guy plays a role on a TV show. He acts the part of a character on a TV show.

And the character he portrays is a parody of religious conservatives.* On a TV show.


*As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am particularly thin-skinned about political humor, so it's probably just me.

But, on the other hand, take the "Godless sodomites" reference in the linked video. Does anyone REALLY believe that Stephen Colbert thinks of Hollywood as a bunch of "Godless sodomites"? The more likely explanation is that he is demonstrating the "absurdness" of middle-American traditional values (and the cognitive disconnect with the "values" Hollywood portrays) by showing those traditional values to be "bigoted".

Again, I am fully prepared to accept that the problem is all mine and my ill-formed sense of humor regarding such subject matter.



UPDATE
At least I'm not the only one who feels this way.


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
You're On Notice

You're On Notice (Part 2)

5 Comments:

At 8/31/2006 12:28 PM, Blogger Christine the Soccer Mom said...

Oh, I know he wasn't serious then. (If he was, would he really have been there?) But I still laughed at it.

Even if he doesn't hold those views, the mere fact that he actually asks those questions on his show makes it worth watching most of the time. I mean, even if he doesn't press for real answers, we at least get to see the lame attempts at answers given by some of our political foes. Besides, I really like his geeky humor most of the time.

 
At 8/31/2006 4:35 PM, Blogger Jeff Miller said...

It just seems to me that his stuff is a persona that may have little to do with what he believes himself. Of course that is often the way it is with comedians.

 
At 8/31/2006 8:44 PM, Blogger Fr Martin Fox said...

Either he's really simple -- and he's just mocking us -- or he's really subtle, in which case, the joke is on the liberals who think it's just a big joke on the conservative and religious types.

I haven't decided; and give Colbert his due for that.

He calls them "godless Sodomites" . . .

Then he says, "kneel before your god!" (the Emmy) . . .

And you know what? Both are dead-on true!

 
At 8/31/2006 9:05 PM, Blogger Pro Ecclesia said...

"And you know what? Both are dead-on true!"

They certainly are that.

 
At 9/02/2006 1:48 AM, Blogger Fidei Defensor said...

Colbert speaks the truth. He is our stealth-insider. Come on youngest of 11, devout Catholic, the only way this guy could survive in the media is if he said his views in such an over the top manner that they seemed to be a joke. If Colbert said something about "homosexuality being an intrinsic disorder" etc he never would be on TV Again. When he says Godless Sodomites he makes a point and gets a laugh. When was the last time you saw anyone on TV say Sodomoites or refer to the golden calf? He is one of us and he is beating them at their own game!

 

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