For 20 years, Stephen Colbert distinguished truth from truthiness

palmotea

> Colbert highlighted [truthiness] on the very first episode of his Colbert Report, a spinoff of The Daily Show which featured him as a blown-up parody of TV pundits like original Fox News Channel star Bill O'Reilly — championing the idea of believing something because it feels true, regardless of the facts. "I don't trust books," he says in a segment from that first show. "They're all facts and no heart." > ... > "Stephen Colbert has shown, more so than anyone else of this modern era of late night, the power of sticking to the truth," says Roy Wood Jr., a former correspondent on The Daily Show and host of CNN's satire program, Have I Got News for You. The problem is there isn't just one "truth" (at least in politics and many other things). Liberals like to believe that "truthiness" is just the other guys' problem, which is a pretty "truthy" belief itself. One of the most dangerous and foolish beliefs is the one where you you believe your side has access to the truth and the other side is all lies. > And while some critics have theorized that part of the slide in ratings among network TV late night shows might be attributed to the hosts' increasingly intense political stands, Carter disagrees. He says modern media consumers often operate in an information silo where online algorithms push content at them, which reinforces what they already believe – making it tough for anyone to craft comedy which speaks across a wide swath of consumers. Colbert played a significant role in creating and maintaining those silos. He definitely wasn't an antidote in any sense. I watched him for several years, but eventually got tried of his show because I realized it wasn't really that funny, it was more a setup to get viewers to think "I too do not like that man, we are right and superior to those who disagree."

Bender

I enjoyed watching Stephen Colbert when he was on the Colbert Report. He had a great persona while preserving truth. Ever since he went to the late show he changed significantly for the worse in my opinion. He became much more of a propaganda tool. I dislike when fun characters are turned into such tools. It's just my opinion. Nobody's gonna breaka my stride.

DivingForGold

Glad to see him go, maybe he can star in some Trailer Park Boys episodes ?

jauntywundrkind

There is such a flagrant assault on reality, because it keeps people unmoored. The Adam Curtis documentary Hypernormalization is the ultimate tale of this, talks so closely to the Baudrillardian truthiness that is required to just begin to entertain the din and bedlam being unleashed on the world, to keep it weak and confused, as these looting insane barbarians wreak havoc on the nation and the world. Trump is absolutely correct that this is a country in strong decline. He's know, he and his administration have driving the plane, are sending us directly into the ground. And they need cover to do it all in, to keep the shrinking base engaged and fanatatical, in their hypernormal alternate reality Thank you Colbert. And amazing job, over many years. You are loved.

karmakurtisaani

I really wanted to like guys like Colbert, Stewart and Kimmel, but just can't. They just don't have the charisma and feel like they pander to the audience. So for me, the only one is Conan.