by @anarchyroll
4/9/2014
Remember the #CancelColbert fuss? Yeah, me neither.
What do the Tooth Fairy, Twitter Activism, and the happy women from tampon commercials all have in common?
None are real. They are all constructions of our imaginations, advertising campaigns, and ego not necessarily in that order.
The difference between Twitter activism and actual activism is the difference between playing sports video games and playing sports. One can be done sitting on one’s ass, sober or stoned while the other requires physical movement, discipline, practice, organization, and the concentrated effort of a group of people to manifest something into existence in the physical world.
Twitter activism is a joke. Even real activism that was spurred by Twitter like the Egypt uprising has proven to be futile as what we have seen in Egypt for the last three years is the same as the last 40; military coup, military rule, repeat.
Activism also requires competence and a depth of understanding of something outside of reflecting anger and self loathing. Things that the founders of the #CancelColbert movement clearly lack. Not to mention being devoid of what satire is in theory or in practice.
The apology that the #CancelColbert crowd is looking for doesn’t come from the entertainer. They’re looking for apologies from;
- The mean kids on the playground in their youth.
- Insensitive coworkers during the adolescence.
- The douchebags at their local bar from their early adulthood.
- They have internal wounds and want someone to apologize to them, kiss them on their head, and tell them everything is going to be alright.
Well it’s not Stephen Colbert’s problem that these people were the victim of racism at some point(s) in their lives. Colbert says provocative, shocking, and controversial things in every segment, of every show he has done since he was a correspondent for the Daily Show.
The world can be a cold, hard, unforgiving place. More people have been wronged than allowed to live a pain-free existence. But pounding the social media firestorm drum isn’t going to make anything better. You want change? You better be prepared to spend all of your leisure time for the next half decade minimum trying to enact change one millimeter at a time in the physical world.
140 characters and a victim mentality? Neither mean shit to anyone of influence in this world.
Especially not to one of the funniest people in the history of television. Colbert didn’t give an inch, nor should he have. In the end all the #CancelColbert hullabaloo did was give him free publicity and advertising for his show. Two things which in turn help to insure that Colbert won’t be canceled any time soon. More publicity means more viewers means more advertising revenue means more Colbert Report for years to come.
So thank you #CancelColbert Nation. You have done your part to keep Colbert on the air, great work!
Anarchy Journal Constitutional 