Still Venting; Deal With It

Hello My Dear Friends! Today is April Fools Day but you probably won't be seeing any elaborate pranks. Why? Because America has lost it's collective sense of humor. Anything you do or say today will get you fired or sued so, what's the point. April 1st is just another day. Sorry Fools, you've lost your special day. All is not lost though. You still have Election Day. Speaking of America's collective humor, let's discuss Stephen Colbert. Have you been following his Twitter troubles? Comedy Central tweeted out a joke Colbert made on his show. They tweeted it out of context, without any explanation, background or video. It appeared to be an incredibly racist statement and the Twittersphere went wild. the hashtag #CancelColbert, of course, went viral. Just to bring you up to speed, The Colbert Report is a comedy. It's a parody and Mr. Colbert is a comedian. "The Colbert Report's" Twitter account quoted a joke from a segment on Wednesday's episode of the show that mocked Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder for setting up a charity to aid Native Americans in lieu of changing his team's name. In the original bit, Colbert said he was inspired by Snyder to start his own charity, called "The Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever." (Ching-Chong Ding-Dong is the name of an over the top, stereotypical Asian character occasionally played by Colbert on the show.) The tweet only included the name of the "charity" without explanation. You can see why it raised some eyebrows. After the explanation and obligatory apologies, the Twitter account was taken down. You'd think that would be the end of it, right? Hardly. Once the "racist" label is applied it's very difficult to scrape off. I watch the Colbert Report. It's a very funny show. Stephen Colbert is not a racist. It's not like he went out in blackface to promote his new album Black People Party Music! (If you don't get that joke, google Nick Cannon album release). In the words of Mr. Cannon "There's a big difference between hatred and humor". We, as a nation, really need to get over ourselves. Author William Arthur Ward said, "To make mistakes is human; to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity". So my friends, if you can't laugh at yourself, rest assured, I will do it for you!
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