As a young adult in America, if I want a fair and balanced representation of a news story, I turn to the Colbert Report or Daily Show. Seriously. That is how I get my news most of the time, through comedy shows. In one of my Communications classes, we've been studying Rhetoric, and one week, we looked at satire in the Daily Show, and how people tend to view it as news as much as they view it as entertainment. It's a really interesting read, and if you want to learn more, check out the book "The Daily Show and Rhetoric" by Trischa Goodnow.
Reading this article made me think about the on air personalities of celebrities. When watching shows like Colbert Report or the Daily Show, its easy to tell that the host or casts of characters, are exactly that; characters. The way they act on TV is probably not exactly how they are in real life. Colbert's character can be compared to Bill O'Reilly from the O'Rielly Factor. Jon Stewart plays the straight man who is surrounded by a group of "reporters" who stretch the truth on situations or make certain issues larger in scope then they actually are. The point is that these people are characters. I've seen Colbert in interviews where he is not "Colbert Report" Stephen Colbert, but just everyday Stephen Colbert. He's an actor, and his on air persona is just a role. We know this because their satire of issues make it pretty obvious that they don't always mean what they say; they are just doing it because it is relevant and it is funny.
Then there are other TV personalities, who I just can't tell if they are serious or not, mainly Bill Maher. First, I should point out that Maher is an atheist, and there's nothing wrong with that. He's allowed to believe-or not believe- in what he thinks is right. God gave us free will, and if people want to use that free will to not believe in Him, ok. The only problem that I really have with him is that I can't tell if Maher is serious or not. I've watched a bunch of his stuff, and granted, a lot of it is funny, but I can't tell if he is a satirist like Stewart, or everything that he believes everything that is said on his show. If you've watched his show, you know that he wears his atheism on his sleeve. Maher claims that he doesn't like talking about atheism, but he brings people onto his show to discuss religion and Christianity quite a bit. He even has a movie about religion, where he talks to people of different faiths and tries to trip them up and make them sound stupid or crazy.
My question is then, Is Bill like this in real life or does he have an exaggerated personal like Stewart and Colbert? I've read interviews with people who go onto Bill's show and they make it sound like he seems like a decent guy. He isn't constantly trying to tell people that religion is stupid or trying to get people to convert; he just wants to entertain his audience. Now, Maher probably has more in common with his on-air persona than Colbert or Stewart, but we shouldn't take what we see him say or do as who is as a person. That's what I've gained from thinking about this; we shouldn't be judging people based on how they appear on TV. I mean, back when Colbert Report started, people were confused why this Conservative talk show host was on a comedy channel instead of Fox News. They didn't understand his shtick back in 2005, but now people know that the Colbert we see on TV is a character created by the real Stephen Colbert.
So, though it might be easy to hate people we see on TV, because they do or say something that we don't like, its important to take a step back and remember that we don't know that person. They might actually be a kind and considerate person in real life. Jesus taught us not to judge least we be judged, and that goes for people in media as well. Bill does have some funny stuff to say, and his guests are intelligent, well informed people. It's ok to disagree with people, but it's also important to see things from their perspective and take it as an opportunity to become more informed about the issue. That way, intelligent conversations can occur, rather than being reduced to name calling and hate speech, which doesn't solve anything.
So, I'll continue to take my comedy new with a grain of salt, and though I'll probably never get to meet Colbert, Maher or Stewart, I'll still listen to their perspective and see how I can use it to improve my understanding of my faith and life.
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