Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Colbert vs. Trump: the ugly reality
By now I'm sure you know about Steven Colbert's disgusting, foul-mouthed on-air rant against President Trump. I won't bother to repeat it here.
All I can say is, if Mr. Colbert is not fired by CBS as a result of this pathetic exhibition, then CBS deserves to go bankrupt. The network should be disdained and ignored by any and every American with a sense of values and moral behavior.
Period.
No discussion necessary. That's just the way it is.
It's not even about Mr. Trump. It's about the Presidency of the United States. I (and many others) could doubtless have said many rude things about former President Obama, but refrained precisely because he was the President. There's a certain respect, a certain deference, due to the office, if not to its occupant. Mr. Colbert appears to have completely lost sight of that reality . . . and for that reason, I hope that we soon lose sight of him, at least on our TV screens.
He deserves oblivion.
Peter
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12 comments:
Mr. Grant. The president does not deserve any kind of deference due his office. The president, no matter who he is, is our employee. He is not our leader. We should not salute him. He works for us. His only job is to carry out the will of the American people as expressed through the laws passed by the Congress. We do not have a king in this country, no matter how much some want one. The American people are sovereign and we are due the respect and deference.
Would that more presidents followed the example set by our greatest president, William Henry Harrison.
I think Chris is correct. The 'respect for the office' concept is important in a military chain of command, so as commander in chief deference due to office maybe has some merit. Maybe. But though his plumbing accoutrements may be gilded I don't think similar deference from civilians is required. That said, the Colberts of the world are still not justified - just projecting. Holster is as holster does.
Was anyone still watching CBS after Dan Rather's 'fake but accurate'? Fake News is so 1990's. or is it 1970's?
Disagree in part, Chris. Mr. Colbert has the right to speak his mind, within the extremely broad limits of the first amendment and the somewhat narrower ones of the FCC and CBS, his employer. I do not wish to put any further limits on *anyone's* speech.
However. Were I an advertiser who had previously bought time on CBS, I would be calling them to withdraw my adspace to give it to another network. Were I someone who watched television regularly, I would similarly modofy my viewing habits. These are things that each person is also free to do on their own.
If CBS takes no substantive action, they will (I sincerely hope) see definite consequences to their bottom line. That is their choice, to act or refrain from acting. ESPN is already reaping the consequences of their choices (namely, inserting politics where people of *all* political persuations go for sports entertainment). Marvel has seen sales falling for similar reasons. These are not small concerns, like the Hugo fiasco. These are big, national and international names.
Also, as Peter said, it is the disrespect to the *office* of the presidency, not the man himself, that matters here. Mr. Colbert at best conflated the two. At *best.* The office of the presidency should be respected, no matter how vile or slimy the occupant of that office may appear to some, or even be in all actuality. The man who serves as that office holder may be humble or a foolish braggart, he may be a saint or a hedonist, but respect for the office matters. If that is lost, a great many more things that matter get lost as well...
I definitely have to disagree with Chris, and agree with Mr. Lane. He IS due the respect of his office. Is your janitor or the street sweeper due no respect because all they do is clean? If you can be respectful to them, you can be respectful to the President.
I would have disbanded the democrats when Bush was President, if I could have. I disliked a LOT of what Bush did, but he deserved the respect of the office. Instead they disrespected him. And we wonder why kids have no respect for people or property.
People talk about equality and respecting everyone, etc., but it is rarely practiced when liberals(socialists) and conservatives are involved. It is all do as I say and not as I do.
Like it or not, the President is our representative, and disrespecting the office is disrespect to the American People themselves.
It is possible to disagree with someone's position without attacking them personally, which is why I never stooped to calling his predecessor any slurs like "Obummer" or any of the other personal attacks that others used. That didn't stop me from criticizing his ACTIONS or his political positions.
First Amendment or not, you display weakness in your own argument when you depart from the issues and begin with ad hominem attacks. That is what the left does when they stoop to using dick jokes or calling southerers names like "ignorant hick" when they are losing the argument, and I refuse to play that game.
Only thing that matters in television-land is ratings. The Late Show is winning its time slot and has been for months.
As for the rest, boy, there seems to be some real amnesia going on as to how conservatives treated the last president.
"As for the rest, boy, there seems to be some real amnesia going on as to how conservatives treated the last president."
I've heard some conservatives say some pretty bad things about Obama, I don't deny that. But I don't recall the MSM attacking him in such a profane and vulgar fashion.
But, since I don't have cable TV I may have missed it.
Colbert needs to join that lame ex-football player Kaepernick or whatever his name was on the unemployment line.
The whole 'respect for the office of the President' is a relatively modern phenomenon. Browsing a few 1800's and early 1900's era newspapers makes that clear. It is a confusion of manners with duty. Civilians have no such duty. Society has more or less tossed manners out the window. All fuel for the daily outrage du;jour machine.
examples abound:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/2/14/1477817/-Presidents-and-cartoons-You-think-Obama-gets-dissed-Look-what-Abe-Lincoln-faced
The only difference with Colbert is the his own bully pulpit, his language, and delivery.
No cable or satellite, and I watch so little television I barely know who Colbert is, and my boycotting CBS would mean only that I stop DVRing Blue Bloods to watch a few weeks after it's broadcast. I could easily live without it, and despite the benfits of fast forward, I'll think about dumping it.
Still, stuff like this is what I expect from the Leftist Media Cabal, which is why I refuse to have anything to do with them, especially anything that would provide support.
Slightly off topic, but between stuff like Colbert (he's an egregious example, but not all that far beyond his compatriots) and the purported links between Kushner and Soros, plus Ryan/Pelosi/Schumer/McConnell, Berkeley et ak, I've reached the point where I think the levels of corruption, disrespect, deviation from reality and sheer insanity have reached such a point that as a society America may have passed the point of salvage.
Alphonse
Well of course you're correct, Alphonse. I mean, a 70% to 90% drop in illegal invasion, and a whole shitload of previous invaders emigrating across the northern border to enrich the environment of North Canuckistan and overturning of EO after EO from the previous administration and telling the IRS to ignore the fines for not having health insurance and the rest are nothing to take as an indication that we still might be able to salvage this country. After all, #NeverTrump!
Or not...
The biggest problem is the foul swill passing itself off as the "Freedom Caucus" who have the ability to remove Ryan from the Speakership, but refuse to do so. Even though they have seen how foul he truly is in that position for over a year now.
Damn them to hell where they belong.
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