Stephen Colbert implies Rand Paul is a racist

[haaaylee]

the link is up:

http://www.comedycentral.com/

 

[low preference guy]

I don't think he is following the race closely, and he's not trying to sway the state for Conway or raise funds for him. So he's pretty apolitical about Kentucky.

Yep. He just wants to paint Rand Paul as a racist. Not that he wants to help Conway, of course.

 

[Knightskye]

At what point did the board start booing and hissing at someone for thought and speech? Ah, that's right; when people we don't agree with are doing the thinking and speaking.

Criticism of speech is not a restriction on speech.

Criticizing someone for making a false statement to an audience of about a million or so people -- is that a good idea or a bad idea?

 

[low preference guy]

At what point did the board start booing and hissing at someone for thought and speech?

At what point did falsely painting people as racist become something you don't want us to criticize?

:absolutely confused:

 

[MelissaWV]

Criticism of speech is not a restriction on speech.

Criticizing someone for making a false statement to an audience of about a million or so people -- is that a good idea or a bad idea?

At what point did falsely painting people as racist become something you don't want us to criticize?

:absolutely confused:

Make it an audience of 999,999. I don't watch the guy in general, though some family members do. It's a "comedy" show. He has said plenty of bad things about most people. I haven't heard a peep when he mischaracterizes something Obama said, or someone the boards don't like. It pops up elsewhere, instead, and it's silly. Television shows are the very easiest thing to show your dislike for. Don't watch them. The entirety of the show is based on taking things that are generally in the news, or were recently, and going to the extreme with them.

Frankly, to me it sounds like he could just as easily be poking fun at the people who've made the "Rand is a racist" thing such a big deal to begin with. The joke flopped; people were unamused and unconvinced.

What I do or don't want criticized is entirely irrelevant. I just feel that there are such bigger fish to fry, and you have a vote with your remote or mouse/keyboard. Rand got a mention on the Colbert Report via a very obscure joke. Maybe a dozen people Googled Rand and figured out what all the to-do was about, and maybe one now knows who Rand is and thinks of him favorably? Do you really think there were a lot of people who love Rand, but watched Colbert and changed their minds based on that joke?

It's a waste of time, but it's your time to waste.

 

[low preference guy]

Make it an audience of 999,999. I don't watch the guy in general, though some family members do. It's a "comedy" show. He has said plenty of bad things about most people. I haven't heard a peep when he mischaracterizes something Obama said, or someone the boards don't like. It pops up elsewhere, instead, and it's silly. Television shows are the very easiest thing to show your dislike for. Don't watch them. The entirety of the show is based on taking things that are generally in the news, or were recently, and going to the extreme with them.

Frankly, to me it sounds like he could just as easily be poking fun at the people who've made the "Rand is a racist" thing such a big deal to begin with. The joke flopped; people were unamused and unconvinced.

What I do or don't want criticized is entirely irrelevant. I just feel that there are such bigger fish to fry, and you have a vote with your remote or mouse/keyboard. Rand got a mention on the Colbert Report via a very obscure joke. Maybe a dozen people Googled Rand and figured out what all the to-do was about, and maybe one now knows who Rand is and thinks of him favorably? Do you really think there were a lot of people who love Rand, but watched Colbert and changed their minds based on that joke?

It's a waste of time, but it's your time to waste.

That's quite different from

At what point did the board start booing and hissing at someone for thought and speech

Saying people are wasting their time is quite different from saying people are "booing and hissing at someone for thought and speech". The latter is outright false.

No one is criticizing Colbert for "thought and speech". People are criticizing him for falsely painting Rand as racist. At least that's my impression, being someone who watched Colbert a lot. And even if we're wrong at this impression, it doesn't mean people are criticizing for "thought and speech".

"thought and speech" =/= "thought and speech that falsely paints a person as a racist"

 

[Knightskye]

That's quite different from

At what point did the board start booing and hissing at someone for thought and speech? Ah, that's right; when people we don't agree with are doing the thinking and speaking.

Saying people are wasting their time is quite different from saying people are "booing and hissing at someone for thought and speech". The latter is outright false.

This.

 

[MelissaWV]

...

No one is criticizing Colbert for "thought and speech". People are criticizing him for falsely painting Rand as racist. At least that's my impression, being someone who watched Colbert a lot. And even if we're wrong at this impression, it doesn't mean people are criticizing for "thought and speech".

"thought and speech" =/= "thought and speech that falsely paints a person as a racist"

Colbert didn't actually say Rand is a racist. He said that a racist wouldn't be tolerated in an administration until Rand was President.

"People who support racial discrimination have no place in government... until Rand Paul is elected."

Does that say Rand's a racist, or does it say that Rand would put policy decisions over someone's personal views (or perceived personal views) on race?

Before you say "well, it's OBVIOUS what he meant" consider what that would imply: you are criticizing what you think he meant when he said the above.

Personally, the statement itself looks pretty true on its face to me. Someone can support racial discrimination, or be a misogynist, or hate whatever-group-is-fashionable-to-hate-right-now... and make sound policy decisions. That hasn't been the view in recent administrations. Just the whisper from the right places that you're a racist can get you drummed out of DC (though if you were in the KKK, that is considered a youthful indiscretion).

 

[low preference guy]

There are interesting discussions on your last post, but I don't think they argue for the claim that forum members are "booing and hissing at someone for thought and speech", which is the point I wanted to dispute. Even if they're wrong in their assessment on what Colbert meant, that means they have a misunderstanding, not that the forum now decided to boo and hiss for "thought and speech". People are criticizing thought and speech that they believe falsely paint Rand as a racist.

 

[MelissaWV]

There are interesting discussions on your last post, but I don't think they argue for the claim that forum members are "booing and hissing at someone for thought and speech", which is the point I wanted to dispute. Even if they're wrong in their assessment on what Colbert meant, that means they have a misunderstanding, not that the forum now decided to boo and hiss for "thought and speech". People are criticizing thought and speech that they believe falsely paint Rand as a racist.

So people aren't criticizing him for what he thought and said, but they're criticizing what he thought and said about Rand because of what they think it means. Obviously that's not the same thing.

Obviously.