Monday, February 21, 2011
Rayfield, Jillian. ‘Colbert Testifies on AgJOBS Bill: ‘Like most Members of Congress, I havn’t Read It’ (videos). Website, tpmdc.talkijngpointsmemo.com. Web 2/21/2011. This article is a commentary on two videos of the Colbert Report where he was talking on his experience with the United Farm Workers “Take Our Jobs” campaign. Stephen Colbert spends a day as a farm worker on a New York farm and interviews Zoe Lofgren a chairwoman on the House Subcommittee on Immigration. The other video, he testifies in front of a congressional hearing on immigration to share his experience on the farm and to be a spokesperson for migrant farm workers. I will focus more on the videos themselves opposed to the commentary left by the writer of the article. The first video is his five minutes in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Security. In the beginning of his five-minute statement he says, “I am happy to use my celebrity to draw attention to this complicated issue.” Throughout the statement, he made many satirical and bizarre comments, but never really addressed the issue. If his goal was to draw attention to the issue, I think he failed; he did a better job distracting from the issues. I know he is a reporter, his job is to make fun of politics while still bringing them to the attention of the public and that is what draws people to his show, but there is a line between educating while being funny and just being comedic. Another example is when he was interviewing Congresswoman Zoe Lungren, it was an interview to supposedly talk about the issue of workers’ rights and what they face working on farms but she could not get a word in edgewise. He continuously interrupted her, after he asked her a question and she began to answer with a real response he would interject with a joke. It was a missed opportunity to hear from an expert on the issue. If his real goal is to educate the public on what is happening, he needs to allow for the opportunity. Throughout his testimony, he seemed to be playing the right side of the fence, even though he was there on behalf of the United Farm Workers of America. He stated, “We are far too dependent on immigrant farm workers. We do not want immigrants doing this labor. I agree with Congressman King, we must secure our borders.” On the other hand he was giving his account of working on a farm all day, "I have to say," Colbert said, "and I do mean this sincerely. Please don't make me do this again. It is really really hard." He continued: "You have to spend all day bending over. It turns out, and I did not know this, most soil is at ground level. If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we make the earth waist-high?" And then when Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) asked Colbert why he picked this cause, he became more earnest: “I like talking about people who don't have any power. This seems like, one of the least powerful people in the United States are migrant workers who come and do our work, but don't have any rights as a result. And yet we still invite them to come here, and at the same time we ask them to leave. That seems like an interesting contradiction to me.” It is as if through his commentary he was trying to get the acceptance from both sides of the issue. Overall, I think it is helpful for someone in his position to bring attention to the issues we as the general public hear very little about. I would like to see more facts on these issues given, if the goal is to bring awareness, give us more facts. The jokes can be funny, but more facts please.
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