Liberal comedian Stephen Colbert is getting a heaping helping of PC brickbats this week. He doesn’t deserve it, and yet he’s a fair target all the same.
Let me explain.
The host of The Colbert Report tried to mock Dan Snyder, the owner of the Washington Redskins, for not changing the team’s name due to politically correct pressure. In doing so, Colbert used an Asian-American joke meant to illustrate how hurtful the Redskins moniker is. Social media erupted in rage, and he quickly retreated.
Colbert was trying to mock those who use derogatory words against groups. He used a similar slur to illustrate his point in comedic fashion. His intent, and this is the part that matters most, wasn’t to insult Asian-Americans. The liberal comic would hate this comparison, but like Rush Limbaugh he illustrated absurdity with absurdity.
He was castigated all the same.
The irony here is that Colbert’s original sketch mocked Snyder, who agreed to start a fund to help Native Americans, for holding firm on his team’s name. Let’s be clear. Snyder’s organization will actively improve the lives of Native Americans. Yes, it’s a move to blunt PC pressure, but the end result is certainly positive. The brand new group, according to The Washington Post, already has donated 3,000 coats to Native Americans and helped a tribe purchase a backhoe.
Changing the football team’s name will do nothing save make some folks a little happier, and possible a tad more smug, for a day or two.
Yet Snyder is the source of mockery.
To me, the crux of the Redskins issue is clear. Fans and sportscasters alike who use the name are referring to the team and its history with no ill will toward Native Americans. Shouldn’t intent matter most in matters of potential racism and hateful behavior? Yet in our politically correct times it often is pushed aside by people eager to be offended first and foremost.
Colbert is simply receiving a punishment routinely meted out by his liberal peers.