115 comments on James Howard Kunstler: Colbert Appearance and a Response to Critics
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115 comments on James Howard Kunstler: Colbert Appearance and a Response to Critics
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GAIA Host Collective
Mr. Kunstler - great job. The guy Colbert was obviously trying his best to ridicule you and get a laugh.
At a minimum you helped get the message across to the audience. Maybe they will look up peak oil and learn something.
I have a hard time listening to people like Colbert but I endured his speaking to the end. He probably knows all about the oil situation, he just wants to get a laugh and make a buck.
My hope for the coming recession is that it will reacquaint the public with the subtle art of intelligent satire (and cause better music to be made of course).
Stephen Colbert (character)
Regular Daily Show or Colbert Report audiences are well in on the joke. The Daily Show (despite being on Comedy Central) is probably the best political show on US television. The Colbert Report is a spin-off from The Daily Show.
SanDiegoObserver - Oh you totally missed Colbert. He was completely supportive of the issue. He's the one who mentioned "peak oil," "geothermal" and "tide energy," not Kunstler. In fact I thought this was a super venue for the issue. The audience is politically savvy, young, willing to go an extra step in accepting the Colbert character and...it's national TV for goodness sakes! (Not to mention the potential online play this could get.) Kunstler was at ease and had quite a lot of time to get his point across. Mazel Tov!
BKhere, I agree completely. I thought Colbert was trying to help Jim get his ideas out while still remaining in character. I have seen him do that before with people whose ideas he really respects.
Agree that this reached an important audience. I enjoyed seeing Kunstler present his book a month ago and brought my 17 year old son with me. He was highly amused to find out that there was actually a room full of people talking about the things his parents talk about at home, as he thinks we're weird. That night was a turning point for him, in accepting the subject, as Jim gave a nice talk. Now he sees it as an excuse to get a scooter, which he wanted anyway! To show him Kunstler on Colbert Report only a month later helped validate the person and subject in his young mind.
I thought that Colbert and Kunstler looked like they were having a good time and was curious to know if their conversation extended much beyond the show--I suspect it may have.
I'd like to see JHK on Stewart's The Daily Swow.
Adn then Larry King Live and Anderson Cooper 360 perhaps also Keith Olbermann's Countdown - among others. Bill Mahr when it comes back on. Even Moyer's PBS show.
Pete
Michael Moore was on Larry King (CNN) the other night and mentioned Peak Oil. He talked about humanity sliding down the depletion curve and about having a pessimistic view as to outcome.
I disagree; Colbert served up for Kunstler on a golden platter. Creamy nougat center - looked like Colbert was going to laugh there. It must be wicked hard to keep up with him in a live situation. Kunstler did great. And yeah, getting laughs is essential. A creamy nougat with your peak oil, sir? Cheese doodles?
cfm in Gray, ME
IMHO, you don't understand his satire.
I think Colbert helped him along.
Just look at it. This is the Comedy Channel we're talkin' about here.
You need to watch Colbert a little more.
Deadpan is the new kickdrum.
He's one of the most popular talkshow hosts on the air right now, particularly among young people. His reverence is verging on culthood on the internet - John Stewart (the parent show) was never this popular. He's spoofing O'Reilly (which Stewart achieves by simply playing back conflicting videos of his own words) as the megalomaniacal right wing Talk Show host. That's the schtick. And it's really, really funny if you're familiar with the horrible people he parodies.
Even if the topic needed a few more minutes... This is possibly the most friendly reception I've seen him give anybody - he set up the softball questions, and Kunstler managed as well as anyone I've seen at hitting them out of the park. Combative *enough* to get his point through, without getting too technical or oppositional.
If you want to see a pure hit job(with no substantive reason or analysis behind it), there are plenty of talking heads who specialize in that kind of thing - defending the status quo consensus against new and unfamiliar points using nothing but rabid venom. Pit him in a 5 minute interview against a genuinely oppositional host(Beck could play the part, if Jim thought government could help us significantly) and IMO someone with Jim's temper would either walk out or give him a black eye.