All The More Reason

Here’s an interview with Stephen Colbert. He is an American comedian who has a show which is a sendup of the news of the day. His twist is that he takes on the persona of a right–wing crank. Stephen Colbert the man, though, is anything but a right–wing crank. And so, this show has earned a lot of popularity with the Left because they’re in on the joke, and think that this caricature of right–wingers is hilarious. Here’s a quote which shows some of the difficulty that comes from dancing with two public personas (click the “print this” link to have the whole article one page).

Colbert’s character is a comedic high-wire act, and as the crowd beneath him gets larger, and louder, and more distracting, the act gets trickier still. “We share the same name. But he says things I don’t mean with a straight face. On the street, I think people know the difference. But I’m not sure, when people ask me to go someplace, which one they’ve asked.”

Well that is a devil of a pickle, isn’t it? Obviously actors have faced this dilemma before, and some refuse to play roles that they feel puts themselves in a bad light. How can we look at this without falling all over ourselves spouting contextuality, perspective, and obscure references to Kurosawa? I’m not sure it’s entirely possible.

Having said that, how different is what he’s doing from what spies have done for ages? One is required to say things with a straight face that one doesn’t believe in, and to do this again and again and again. I realise that some people are more immune to the effect this could have on their own psyche than others, but all playing this game have to hope the home side never forgets whose side they’re on.

Jonathan Smith