There's no plagiarism whatsoever, just a fair amount of thematic overlap. So, a few percent of the bestselling I Am America is making fun of me!
I don't think I'm hallucinating egomaniacally because Colbert's book is quite similar in style to many of Dave Barry's books, but I've never had the faintest impression that Barry draws on what I've written.
I can't afford cable, so I've only seen Colbert (and O'Reilly, for that matter) a handful of times in motel rooms. If you watch him a lot, does his show regularly draw on my themes, or is it just his book?
By the way, Mr. Colbert, if you are reading this, did I mention that my panhandling drive is going on? I presume that you could use a tax deduction before 1/1/08.
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
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15 comments:
OK, so you know Colbert is a liberal, right?
There is a good deal of cynicism in guys like Stewart and Colbert that I think you relate to. Stewart at least is less anti-intellectual than most; he's more likely to rip into a politician for being stupid or ignorant than anything else.
Apparently female nerds think he's cute.
what makes you so sure that when Colbert discusses cousin marriage, he isn't trying to make fun of Giuliani?
I've seen Colbert's show a dozen or so times and I honestly can't see any overlap between his material and yours.
Colbert is basically a liberal who mocks conservative positions by pretending to endorse them with idiotic arguments. Much of this is the Iraq War, but it also includes things like opposition to illegal immigration.
I've had the misfortune to have been subject to a few minutes of Colbert now and again (on account of an innate laziness of fabulous proportions) and have attempted, on more than one occasion, to read more than a sentence of his "book".
I can abide neither. "Terrible" is a word I'm pretty sure I've overused but I wish it weren't so, then I wouldn't have to judge Colbert, his "program" and his "book":
Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible Terrible!
mnuez
www.mnuez.blogspot.com
You are honestly committed to the truth. That means that anyone with a similar commitment is, ultimately, going to end up sounding a lot like you. That doesn't mean that any plagiarism has occurred. The truth is universal; we all plagiarize from the universe itself.
I was flipping through this book at a bookstore, and the section comparing various religions was one of the funniest things I had ever read. Apparently Colbert, although liberal, really is a practicing Catholic, and in both book and show he and his writers use his religious knowledge to make some jokes that are both erudite and hilarious. The rest, in both show and book, is uneven.
Colbert is an interesting dude. Politically liberal, but also a practicing Catholic who attends Mass every Sunday, teaches Sunday school and comes from a huge South Carolina family-- he's the youngest of 13, I believe. He's also a huge Tolkien and Dungeons and Dragons nerd who slips in references to both at every opportunity on his show.
Oh, and off-topic. Ever wonder what would happen if liberals had to choose between immigrants and wild animals? Check out the comment section of the sfgate.com regarding the three latino homies who apparently taunted a tiger at the San Francisco Zoo and got mauled for their troubles. Even in the ultra-liberal Bay Area, the comments are filled with scorn for the victims and sympathy for the animal-- in language more reminiscent of Brenda Walker than a sensitive liberal. It would seem that despite public appearances, many Bay Area liberals seriously dislike young Hispanic males and seem to like seeing them mauled by a tiger.
I'll have to look at the book again. I certainly don't remember the immigration chapter having much awareness (pro or con, satirically or otherwise) of the world as viewed from isteve.com. It was mostly playing off the usual cliches. But it’s been a while. Did I miss something?
"I've only seen Colbert (and O'Reilly, for that matter) a handful of times in motel rooms."
Hey Steve, I thought you were straight.
You can't afford cable? Well, maybe it's a blessing in disguise. One less distraction.
That's it. I've seen nasty remarks in this comment section on Jews, women, liberals, Europeans, transvestites. I let them pass. But I cannot accept badmouthing Stephen Colbert.
*helpless splutter*
Watch lots of Stephen Colbert for free on the Comedy Central web site. (That's how I do it: not only do I not have cable, I'm not even in the US). Also maybe watch this hour-long interview of Colbert out of character at the Harvard Institute of Politics. I think he's smart, funny, and has integrity.
He says most of his family is Republican. Maybe that's why he has a good (and sometimes sympathetic?) ear for right-wing concerns. Maybe his old This Week In God skits were so funny because, unlike most people in his business, he genuinely finds religion worth thinking about.
(By the way, I leafed through the book and didn't find it funny)
Steve, like you, Colbert also likes to talk about whether Obama is black enough. Last February he had Debra Dickerson, an African-American lawyer and author of "The End of Blackness" (haven't read it, but I'm sure it's very deep and profound ;-)on his show.
Dickerson said that although his father is of Kenyan decent, Barack Obama isn't black. She supported her stance by saying that because Obama is not the descendant of west African slaves who were brought here against their will, he somehow is not "black" and needs to be called, in her words, "something else."
Colbert proceeded to make a fool of the mental midget he was interviewing by pointing out the irony of Dickerson's attack on Obama's validity as a member of the African-American community "not by the color of [his] skin, but by the content of [his] character." Hillarious stuff and a subject you have written about ad nauseum.
As to Colbert in general, he is a liberal, but is generally funny and irreverant and willing (to some extent) to take a poke at leftists as well as conservatives (unlike John Stewart, who is simply a rapid left-wing ideolouge and Democratic Party hack whose humor is simply indigestible and annoying if you're not a Daily Cos reading, PC secular progressive type).
Jon Stewart's real name is Jonathan Stuart Liebowitz. Funny how they still think they have to sound Scotch to get ahead in Hollywood. Funnier than most of Stewart's stuff, anyhow.
Colbert is center-left. Obviously, his entire show is meant as a mockery of a loud, boorish conservative. But he is slightly to the right of Stewart; as someone said earlier, he is southern and Christian, and I have noticed him making some light jabs at feminism during interviews. There are times, if you study him long enough, where you can tell he's speaking for himself during an interview.
Though I cannot say if Colbert draws from you, his character actually reminds me more of the "righteous right" type. For instance, when the topic of race comes up, he hilariously says: "i don't see race. People tell me I am white".
That is essentially David Frum/Podhoretz/NR nowadays.
On 12/29/07 "Anonymous" wrote: "Jon Stewart's real name is Jonathan Stuart Liebowitz. Funny how they still think they have to sound Scotch to get ahead in Hollywood."
I'd just like to point out that if Jon were trying to sound Scots (the only thing you're allowed to call "Scotch" in Scotland is the whiskey), then our hero would have kept the original "Stuart", which is verra verra Scots, and not "Stewart", which is English.
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