#CancelColbert for Lampooning Racism?

The
Internet is, for better or worse, an amplifying device.
Especially on Twitter, whether its #FreeBieber and #FreeAlaa,
people can really crank their opinions up to 11. Amplification does
not mean clarification though, and everyone’s favorite
microblogging site is at the center of another a hot mess, fighting
about Stephen Colbert, racism, and the stinging impact of
satire.

The Comedy Central pundit ran a
segment about the Washington Redskins on Wednesday, mocking the
team’s owner for starting the Washington Redskins Original American
Foundation. To hit home his point that the charity is an empty
gesture, Colbert joked about starting his own Ching-Chong Ding-Dong
Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever. The next day,
someone in control of the Colbert Report’s official twitter account
wrote about the satirical foundation.

Cue the outrage.

Suey Park, a self-described writer and
activist, saw the tweet and wrote back, “The Ching-Chong Ding-Dong
Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals has decided to call for
#CancelColbert.
Trend it.” She also blamed “white liberals” for not doing enough to
end racism.

Cue the outrage getting messy.

Today, #CancelColbert is trending in the U.S. and worldwide. The
mosaic of 140 character statements in solidarity with Park
constitutes an argument that Colbert’s attempted anti-racist satire
is still hurtful and racist because it relies on racial
stereotyping, and is therefore unacceptable. On the other side of
the kerfuffle, people are angry that others want a jokester off the
air for making a joke. Given the nature of the debate, a lot of the
outrage seems to be satire-on-satire posturing. Even Colbert
called for
canceling his show while noting that he didn’t send the original
tweet.

Blurring more lines, Park hasn’t shied away from using the same
kind of ironic humor Colbert does to address race-related issues.
She previously started a Twitter campaign called
“#NotYourAsianSidekick” and embraces
Asian stereotype jokes to make her point in the current
argument. She contends that it’s not a two-way street, though,
because of minority marginalization.

“As a white man, I don’t expect you to be able to understand
what people of color are seeing,” Park
charged against HuffPost Live‘s Josh Zepps, who
interviewed her today.

Zepps retaliated on
Twitter that Park is a “professional umbrage-taker” and “pretending
that a silly idea isn’t silly because of the race of the person
holding it is condescending and racist.”

Some Native Americans are mad that the #CancelColbert
indignation has overshadowed the Redskins affair.

The caps-lock-because-I’m-shouting confusion
hit new highs when Fox News’ Michelle Malkin retweeted Park,
and people started blaming conservatives for starting the
anti-Colbert push.

At Salon, Mary Elizabeth Williams,
describing herself as a “a full-time, professional offended
feminist” offered some advice: “You don’t like what you see in the
world? Speak up about it. Shine a light on it. But don’t insist
that other people be shut down.”

Park is well within her First Amendment right to speak out
against the perceived threat that Colbert poses. But, policing
humor threatens a valuable form of free speech that is
particularly useful in addressing sensitive issues.