Stephen Colbert and Philosophy - Aaron Allen Schiller [105]
FINAL SEGMENT
What Stephen Colbert Tells Us about Being America
14
Colorblindness and Black Friends in Stephen Colbert’s America
AARON ALLEN SCHILLER
Is there a contradiction in Stephen Colbert’s attitudes towards race? It probably shouldn’t be much of a surprise to find that there is. No one can talk out of both sides of his mouth better than Stephen, the man who debates himself in Formidable Opponent. (I’m using the name “Stephen” to refer to the character of “Stephen Colbert” and the name “Colbert” to refer to the comedian who plays him.)
At the same time, however, the self-proclaimed defender of all things truthy is famous precisely because of his relentless self-consistency. Once Stephen has made up his mind (or, rather, his gut) there’s no changing it. Not only that, but it’s important to Stephen’s way of thinking that he has everything figured out. Catching him in a contradiction would show that he hasn’t quite thought through the implications of his views.
But careful viewers of the Colbert Report—and especially those who see philosophy in his comedy—might see a tension in Stephen’s attitude toward race. Famously, Stephen claims not to see race. As he put it to African-American columnist and “friend of the show” Debra Dickerson: “I understand that you’re black. I don’t see race, but you’ve told me that you’re black, and I believe you,” he said, pointing at her cornrows, “because I could never get away with that with my hair.”179
In fact, Stephen even claims to not see his own race.180 In another conversation with Dickerson—who, as part of her “critique of white self-congratulation” was arguing that Barack Obama is not really “black”—Colbert said,
I don’t see race, okay, because I’ve moved beyond it—I’ve developed beyond it. I’m so not a racist that I don’t see race. People tell me I’m white and I believe them because I think Barack Obama is black.181
In the end, I don’t think it’s possible for someone to be colorblind (what’s also called “race-blind”) in the way that Stephen claims for himself. Anyone who has the concept of race (or even of the difference between oneself and an “other”) is going to see another as different from oneself on such a basis sometimes. (This is a rather controversial thing to say. But as it would take us too far off topic for me to defend this claim, and since it’s not central to my point anyway, let’s move on.) But then that’s part of what makes it a joke; it just doesn’t seem possible to “not see race” in the way that Stephen says it is. Let him say it if he wants, we might think; but we know better.
So far so good. No contradiction here, unless there’s contradiction in trying to do the impossible.
But Stephen isn’t always so colorblind. Quite often when discussing issues of race Stephen will ask Jimmy, the fictional director of The Colbert Report, to put up a picture of him with his “black friend,” Alan. In the picture, Stephen has his left arm around his black friend, a sign of friendship. But with his right hand, and with a big smile on his face, he’s pointing to Alan, as if to say: “See, I’ve got one! A black friend!” Or at least he did. Ever since Stephen saw footage of Alan at an anti-war rally, Stephen no longer considers Alan his black friend. But he’s made a big deal about his nation-wide search for a new