Drug-Fueled Sex Crimes and Escapism
In 1980, Ronald Reagan was elected President. In 2003, Arnold Schwarzeneggar became the governor of California. Last week, my mother said she wants George Clooney to be our president. And this week, people on Daily Kos are flooding the site with diaries about Stephen Colbert and his stand against the administration and the press.
I admit it; I was one of those bloggers who added to the Colbert hysteria. And, hell, here I am, doing it again. But what did he do? Did he take political action? Did he raise our awareness of problems we need to find solutions for? As I said in my previous diary on Daily Kos, Colbert is a comedian; he’s a satirist. He “exposed” problems that we already knew existed. He showed the absurdity of what the President and media are doing.
Last night on his show, Colbert claimed that celebrities have a job “to provide escapism, period.” Their “humanitarian mission is to get people to watch TV shows about doctors and aliens so they won’t waste all that time worrying about the NSA and immigration.” George Clooney is dangerous because not only is a good actor, writer, and producer, but “in calling for action against the genocide in Darfur, he has unfortunately chosen the unassailable moral high ground.” Clooney is going to influence other people and “spawn a host of latter-day Fondas, Asners, Aldas, and Redgraves.”
You know what? Colbert is right. It is not up to Hollywood (or New York) celebrities to solve our political and societal problems. It is not up to them to take action. If they decide to do so, great. But while we sit at our computers and cheer them on, the problems continue. We can thank Colbert over and over again, we can watch Good Night and Good Luck until our DVDs wear out, but really, what are we doing?
In an age when more people know about The Simpsons and American Idol than about the First Amendment, it is up to us, the heroes, as Colbert would say, to do something. We need to get up off our asses and do whatever we can to solve the problems facing us right now. We need to be active. We need to do more than blog. Right now, we’re preaching to the choir. Most people don’t know about Daily Kos, and the ones who we most need to reach aren’t even remotely interested in it.
I have thanked Colbert for his speech. I thanked him for providing me with a half hour of entertainment. It was absolutely great to see the guy who goes on and on about how “great” Bush is on a nightly basis actually stand up in front of him. But Colbert is not a solution. Colbert is not our god. Colbert is a man doing his job, and we need to do ours.
I admit it; I was one of those bloggers who added to the Colbert hysteria. And, hell, here I am, doing it again. But what did he do? Did he take political action? Did he raise our awareness of problems we need to find solutions for? As I said in my previous diary on Daily Kos, Colbert is a comedian; he’s a satirist. He “exposed” problems that we already knew existed. He showed the absurdity of what the President and media are doing.
Last night on his show, Colbert claimed that celebrities have a job “to provide escapism, period.” Their “humanitarian mission is to get people to watch TV shows about doctors and aliens so they won’t waste all that time worrying about the NSA and immigration.” George Clooney is dangerous because not only is a good actor, writer, and producer, but “in calling for action against the genocide in Darfur, he has unfortunately chosen the unassailable moral high ground.” Clooney is going to influence other people and “spawn a host of latter-day Fondas, Asners, Aldas, and Redgraves.”
You know what? Colbert is right. It is not up to Hollywood (or New York) celebrities to solve our political and societal problems. It is not up to them to take action. If they decide to do so, great. But while we sit at our computers and cheer them on, the problems continue. We can thank Colbert over and over again, we can watch Good Night and Good Luck until our DVDs wear out, but really, what are we doing?
In an age when more people know about The Simpsons and American Idol than about the First Amendment, it is up to us, the heroes, as Colbert would say, to do something. We need to get up off our asses and do whatever we can to solve the problems facing us right now. We need to be active. We need to do more than blog. Right now, we’re preaching to the choir. Most people don’t know about Daily Kos, and the ones who we most need to reach aren’t even remotely interested in it.
I have thanked Colbert for his speech. I thanked him for providing me with a half hour of entertainment. It was absolutely great to see the guy who goes on and on about how “great” Bush is on a nightly basis actually stand up in front of him. But Colbert is not a solution. Colbert is not our god. Colbert is a man doing his job, and we need to do ours.
posted by Liz at 4:29 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home