Park, Colbert, and Snyder or Do Commedians Have a Social Responsibility?

[BvBPL]

Suey Park is the twitterist who developed the hash tag Cancel Colbert in response to Stephen Colbert's Ching-Chong Ding-Dong joke which was itself a response to Daniel Snyder's Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation. The name of Snyder's organization is offensive to some people who see the term redskin as pejorative or racist.

[URL="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2014/03/twitter-campaign-to-cancel-colbert-report.html]Speaking with Jay Caspian Kang[/URL], Park stated that her campaign to cancel Colbert was tongue in check in that she does not want Colbert's show to be canceled. However, Park did state that "well-intentioned racial humor doesn’t actually do anything to end racism or the Redskins mascot," and that sentiment gave rise to Cancel Colbert hash tag.

Now Park has a lot of good points about how Asians are regularly put upon by liberals and progressives. However, that's not what I want to focus on here. Instead, I'd like to discuss the idea fostered by Park that Colbert, or perhaps comedians generally or comedians who focus on social commentary, have a responsibility to work towards their presumptive goals, that is against the social evils they lampoon. In other words: if you make a joke about a perceived social evil then do you need to make that joke in such a way that does something to combat that evil? Has the comedian taken upon himself a responsibility by making a joke?

Park seems to think so, but I'm not so sure. That seems a heavy weight to place upon an entertainer who is just looking for laugh from his audience. I'm not sure that we place the same degree of responsibility on other entertainers. Take Bob Dylan; Dylan was long a voice of social change as demonstrated by such songs as "When the Ship Comes In," which is decidedly about class conflict. However, few people bat an eye when Dylan takes a generous payday from companies for private concerts, an activity that seems to run against Dylan's progressive sentiments. Nor are there few callouts to entertainers who may give lip service to social movements but do little materially for those movements.

That said, we should be honest that Park played a significant role herself in turning Colbert's joke from a satire of Snyder's organization and to a topic in itself. Take a look at Off-Topic's topic "Stephen Colbert Makes Joke," and you will see very, very little discussion of Snyder's organization. The topic has gone from being about Snyder's organization to being about Colbert's joke. Park's joke about Colbert's joke has turned the conversation from being about Snyder to being about Colbert. At which point we may say that well-intention commentary by twitterists of commedians does nothing to end racism or the Redskins' mascot.

 

[Gori the Grey]

I'm working up a piece that will touch on some of these matters, but the one thing I'll say quickly won't be to the general question but will just be a comment on this particular instance.

The offense against Asian Americans had its only justification in the in the social commentary in the bit. It's the flip side of what I've been saying in the other thread. Only the fact that the segment targeted Snyder's bigotry could justify the offensive remarks made toward Asian Americans (if it in fact does.)

More in a bit. You owe me some answers re: Wu Tang!

 

[BenitoChavez]

Instead, I'd like to discuss the idea fostered by Park that Colbert, or perhaps comedians generally or comedians who focus on social commentary, have a responsibility to work towards their presumptive goals, that is against the social evils they lampoon.

First of all comedians who focus on social commentary are comedians first and foremost. They are looking for laughs and ratings primarily. Social issues are just the particular brand of comedy they focus on.

Also, I would think that the people who watch Colbert and other political shows are generally people who agree with that particular person's political viewpoints. Essentially they are preaching to the choir and any call for social change is heard by those who currently practice said change so no change actually occurs (if that made any sense).

 

[NovaKart]

I think people are taking themselves too seriously. It's just a joke. I don't care if people make gay jokes.

 

[Antilogic]

That said, we should be honest that Park played a significant role herself in turning Colbert's joke from a satire of Snyder's organization and to a topic in itself. Take a look at Off-Topic's topic "Stephen Colbert Makes Joke," and you will see very, very little discussion of Snyder's organization. The topic has gone from being about Snyder's organization to being about Colbert's joke. Park's joke about Colbert's joke has turned the conversation from being about Snyder to being about Colbert. At which point we may say that well-intention commentary by twitterists of commedians does nothing to end racism or the Redskins' mascot.

This is very true.

 

[illram]

I don't think we should place much if any social responsibility on comedians beyond them being funny. Anything additional they do, such as Colbert's SuperPAC, or Stewart's lobbying on behalf of 9/11 first responders, is icing on the cake. If they can be funny while doing that (e.g. the SuperPAC stuff really is funny) then even better.

 

[Formaldehyde]

I think you pretty much already know my opinion from the other thread on essentially the same topic.

It isn't all that difficult to know if a comedian is bigoted or not by their material, especially if they do political commentary. If it is someone whom you have watched for countless hours, it is well nigh impossible to not know.

This is why I don't believe Suey Park's current explanation long after 15 minutes of internet fame have again expired. Nor do I think she is a regular watcher of his show.

 

[Gori the Grey]

So now on the general point. No. All comedians have is a responsibility to make us laugh. They can do that though puns or buffoonery as well as through social commentary. The things that make us laugh, though, often turn out to be things we have anxieties about. The fool transgresses proprieties that the general populace generally exerts energy to maintain, and provides a release valve for the anxious energies holding those proprieties in place. Since those are often aspects of our social situation, a lot of comedy takes shots at various dimensions of our social formation, or has a dimension of social critique. And since the thing we're most hung up about right now is race and ethnicity, a lot of contemporary comedians take that as their subject matter.

 

[El_Machinae]

I think we all have social responsibility. We have this weird idea that multi-millionaires somehow don't.