Colbert vs. Dawkins

[asterroc]

I've never really liked Colbert, and sadly here he gives me more reason to not like him. I'm not entirely a fan of what I've heard of Dawkin's book "The God Delusion" either, but.... *sigh*

Comments

[rosefox]

That was one of the funniest Colbert pieces I've seen, and I don't usually like him all that much. What did you dislike?

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

The first time I watched it I saw absolutely zero evidence that he was anything other than entirely serious and a fundamentalist Christian who believes that ID should be taught in schools. There is nothing funny about that viewpoint, and I am bitterly against anyone who trys to support it. Dawkin didn't have anything new or interesting to add to the argument b/c Colbert was just trotting out the old tired horses that I've heard ever since the ID shit first hit the media fan.

Others have since pointed out Colbert's dry sense of humor, but I never saw it at all in this segment, he was entirely deadpan so I took him 100% seriously. I see no reason to watch this clip a second time. It won't get funny; I'll still hate willfully close-minded fundies (I *hate* hating things); the arguments will still be old. Now, I was wondering if perhaps this particular topic is what hit a nerve with me, so I tried to think of other times I've watched Colbert. I have to admit I haven't all that much, but the few times that I have, I quickly lost interest. I found that I never perceived his delivery as funny or witty, and he never had anything new to say.

[rosefox]

Hm. You probably shouldn't look at the Landover Baptist site, then, if parodies of offensive things upset you so much.

As with any parody, context is crucial.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

[looks at Landover Baptist site]

Ah, but see like The Onion the Landover Baptist site is so over-the-top not even I will miss that it's parody. The delivery on The Onion grabs me, while Colbert's did not.

As for being offended by certain topics, it's not the idea of ID itself that offends me, it's the idea that people would swallow it whole without any critical thinking, and the idea that people would misrepresent something without making the effort to learn more about it first. Of course, I do understand that those criticisms of people who believe ID could also be applied to myself to some extent. Perhaps the awareness of my own hipocracy helps fuel my distaste here. :-\

Meanwhile, the Science Quiz has some errors in the sciencey choices.

[meredithanne42.livejournal.com]

He's basically imitating O'Riely's show, The Factor, or Scarbourough Country (sp), or another such show. To me, it's awesome to see someone go on his show and successfully defend their viewpoint against Colbert's mock conservatism--that's like the whole point, right? Colbert is making fun of the conservative shows with parody, which seems to be lost on some (it was certainly lost on the White House when he was invited to speak at the Press Association dinner!). But maybe what you're saying here is that you just don't find the parody funny?

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I'm saying that to start the parody WAS lost on me, and now that I've been put on alert by everyone on my friend's list :-P , I am now aware that it is parody but that the same things that made me not aware of it being parody before, now make the parody not funny.