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#FireColbert Is a Terrible Idea
Many are infuriated with CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert for his insulting and vulgar rant against President Donald Trump. Some have called it offensive, while others think Colbert has engaged in anti-gay slurs for calling Trump Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “c*** holster.”
Firing Colbert is a terrible idea. What good will it do? If you want to do something about people like Colbert getting late-night hosting gigs, you need to beat him. And that requires investing in and creating competition. I went on a bit of a rant on the issue Wednesday morning. You can watch the video here; below is a partial transcript:
Published in EntertainmentYou don’t fire Colbert; you compete with him. If you get rid of Colbert, what do you think comes in his place? And you still have Seth Meyers, and you still have Samantha Bee, and you still have Bill Maher, and you still have John Oliver, and you still have Rachel Maddow, and you still have Chris Matthews, and you still have Lawrence O’Donnell, and you still have Chris Hayes, and you still have, and you still have, and you still have.
Tell me what you get from being the reactionary sort of people who scream for people to be fired? No. You gotta scream for people to be hired.
You gotta start finding content creators you like — and people that you think can deliver a better message, a funnier message a more powerful message. Be more entertaing, be more out there, and garner a larger audience — and you have to financially support them and create the content.
You have to be someone who says, “I’ve had enough!” And you got to put your money where your mouth is, and then you have to go out and create the content.
We can compete on radio; why aren’t we competing with more television? Why aren’t we competing with more video? You don’t fire him, you compete with him. Start supporting content creators. If you want to know how, email me, tony@wibc.com.
exactly. you are they now.
Excuse me, but as conservatives, are we supposed to approve of calling people “[CoC] holsters”? I feel that regardless of our feelings on homosexuality and the ensuing issues, saying that such language is inappropriate is one of the few things we ought to be able to agree with SJWs about. And yes, it is “homophobic” as the word is commonly used, meaning that it treats being homosexual as derogatory. (I think “homomisoic”/”same-hating” might be the more accurate Greek, but whatever.)
Nope.
Thanks, I like easy questions.
I like Amy’s idea of encouraging in-fighting. The left will devour themselves if (to use her imagery) you pour enough gravy all over them.
So sure, encourage them to object on homophobic grounds. We can object on the grounds of broadcasting inappropriate language for public discourse, or whatever. (Heck, get the FCC involved and level a fine.)
Get CBS fighting a two-front war. Sounds like a lovely time.
Or Klavan could at least write for such a show. But then would he lose his “Hollywood connections” if he did a conservative show?
Sure, that, too. “Embrace the healing power of ‘and.'” There are lots of excellent approaches being offered.
Unilateral disarmament. Always a winning strategy.
What I’m finding annoying is how this is being reported in the media. The word used to describe Colbert’s foul anti-Trump rant is “joke.” In what way could that possibly be called a joke? (Except, you know, Colbert himself being the joke.) Colbert defends his actions by referring to his tirade as “jokes.”
So . . . anyone have any good “jokes” about Stephen Colbert? I do. Except Ricochet’s auto-nanny will blot them out.
I have only so much time and energy to give to outrage. Many people seem to think we need fight these battles. You know who you are and I’m sure you have your reasons. Personally, I have always thought that the strength of conservatism is that we have lives. We have jobs and marriages and kids and grandkids and – you know – stuff going on that is positive and joyful and life-affirming. Being outraged all the time no fun and spending time flaming people in “The Comments” is a joy-killer. I am a conservative, but my political beliefs do not function as a religion in my life and therefore, there is only so much emotional energy I’m willing to give to it. I’d rather save my strength for a real outrage. I’m sure I’ll know it when I see it.
Drew,
The left has no shame. They have no philosophy. Vicious personal attacks without regard to any standard of discourse are the stock & trade of the left. Of course, I don’t want to waste lots of effort & time on Colbert. However, if a large rock gets dropped on this hideous reptile it will be just fine with me.
He doesn’t care and neither do I.
Regards,
Jim
I would disagree that this is a winning strategy.
As mentioned above, in normal times, that’s the proper approach. These are not normal times. We are on war footing, and we’re fighting for the soul of America.
:: cue patriotic martial fanfares ::
In any war, there are soldiers who will need to do the actual fighting, getting themselves bloodied, and doing the enemy as much harm as possible. These are the proverbial “rough men who stand ready to do violence” so that you don’t have to. And so some will engage the enemy and take the battle to them and destroy them, because it is necessary. Because our cause is just and to do nothing at all is to inflict great harm on the innocent.
We honor those who have to fight this fight, and when the enemy is defeated and they return home and once again seek a quiet life, we should help them back into civilized society, always respecting them for doing the job that needed to be done.
:: patriotic fanfare crescendoes ::
The number of people Colbert offended with his ‘joke’ is greater than the number of people who might rethink things because of Colbert (that number is zero) so ultimately this is a win for conservatives. He is helping Trump in 2020.
Explain what you mean by this.
Leftism is the soul of the Soviet Union. So . . . the opposite of that.
Delusions, please.
Although I make no apology for forcing the left to live up to its own rules. CBS needs to fire Colbert. And it’s all about the language of his attack. The object of his crudeness is immaterial.
…except inasmuch as it illustrates the double standard.
Drew,
I disagree. CBS needs to fire Colbert and they can choose any reason they’d like. I don’t care.
Regards,
Jim
Right, right.
We need to change the incentive structure for the culture. There is a large audience of people who revel in the liberation from any decency that they think their politics entitle them to. Getting Colbert fired because he’s a hypocrite doesn’t solve the problem. There’s a good argument for in-kind retaliation. But if you’re objective is to get back to some kind of decency in our culture, I’m not sure that makes things any better.
There are many opposites to that.
If we are indeed in the fight you claim we’re in then we need to fight the opposites of us.
He’s trolling and we needn’t buy into it. That night he really had nothing to say.
Our thing, the American thing, is free speech. You needn’t watch him. I don’t.
Don’t even give him outrage. His comments are irrelevant.
I disagree. Its not a terrible idea – its necessary. Its about Saul Alinsky, make your opponents live up to their standards. IF anyone said anything even remotely as vile to or about a liberal/leftist or democrat they’d be fired – NO questions about it.
Secondly, Liberals spent the summer of 2016, whining about the lost civility in politics. Now the same liberals are cheering a vile monologue… I bet there is an interesting montage that could be made from those 2 points… Just to make their hypocrisy plain. It also make a quick reply to what happened to the civility in politics – there is a high (or low) light reel to play in response.
Third, if there are no consequences for this vile SH-storm it’ll happen again and again – with each iteration being more vile, revolting and perhaps eventually violent.
If we have an opportunity to take these guys out, make them pay for their control and their crude partisan nonsense we must take it. How is that the left got control of the media, primary, secondary,university and post graduate education, foundations, and government? By always being on the attack, by punishing those they disagreed with. It does not work to show that we are nice. That’s been our game, that’s why they like to portray us as mean spirited, racist, homophobic etc. they get us to try to show we’re nice and in the process we cede them leverage and position. This aint bean bag folks. When we say they’re the evil party and we’re the dumb party, this is why. So they go after the guy who knows it’s war, Bannon and we join them when we should find a half dozen more like him.
Calls to fire Stephen Colbert increase his popularity with his target audience, thereby improving the ratings of his terribly-unfunny show which is broadcast via a dying medium, thereby providing CBS with a disincentive for firing him.
Conservatives have a much better chance of removing Colbert from the airwaves by studiously ignoring absolutely everything he does.
Sadly, this will never happen.