I always thought Colbert's Ching Chong Ding Dong shtick was "hirarious".
Ever notice that when you hear the phrase "I'm not racist, but..." you always hear some racist shit immediately after? And I'm not even done. It gets worse.
When I was a little kid, my big brother had this tension-breaking gag he would use to diffuse tempers before a fight broke out (we were five brothers, no dad to put his foot down). If somebody looked ready to start beating on someone, he would break into his pickanniny act. "I's be good, don' beat me, Massa, I's a good li'l n*gga!” He would do the whole cringing, defensive posture, high-pitched voice thing. It was hilarious.
Am I white? I'm so white the first time I saw black people (other than on our little black and white TV) I was old enough to not only form the thought "Hey, they're not actually black", but to remember having that thought to this day.
Eventually Roots was made and Mom had us watch it. I don't think she realized how brutal it was going to be, but she stuck with it because she believed it was important that we boys understood what slavery was. It certainly put an end to the pickanniny act, with never a word said about it.
I used to think the Disney Indian shtick was funny too. Deep voiced, slow speech with Tarzan grammar, standing with arms crossed (and held out from the body like that cute genie used to do. The fuck was that about?) Using the word "heap" as an adjective. Yuck, yuck. Yeah, I outgrew that ignorant shit too.
But it's different when Colbert does it, because it's layered and nuanced. It's satire aimed at racists, which gives me permission to laugh at Ching Chong Ding Dong.
These discussions we have here aren't a waste of time. There's still one going on in this diary over here, where I read this in a comment:
Listen to the audience laughing. Were they laughing at the satire? No. They were laughing at Colbert making funny Chinese-speak.
I was watching Colbert that night. Was the commenter right in my case? I fully understood the context, but what was actually tickling my funny bone while I was watching that bit? And I realized yes, he was right. I was laughing at the juvenile, squint-eyed, racist caricature Colbert was doing. Fuck.
I should probably be ashamed to admit that. I'm a freakin humanist, for crying out loud, and at my age I generally consider myself an adult. Well, live and learn. But I would like to thank that commenter for prompting me to do a little self-examination. Thanks, davechen. You helped me grow up a little today.
And on the vanishingly small chance that Mr. Colbert reads this (or, if he's in character, that someone reads it to him) I would like to say, Steve, you're a genius, and there has to be a better way to mock racists. If anybody can come with it, you can. Now get to fuckin work on it.