Send In The Clowns

To the Editor:

Recently, Stephen Colbert testified before the House Judiciary Subcommittee about his vast experience as a migrant worker. His testimony brought unusual attention to this manner of hearing. While some people were delighted by his appearance, many others were incensed at the perceived lack of respect for the proceeding. More significantly, Jon Stewart had a 30-minute interview with President Obama. Mr Stewart was criticized for using the colloquial “dude” while addressing the President. The President was criticized for even appearing on a comedy show.

I was in a giddy state of awe, because these events compel us to acknowledge the reemergence of the “clown” fulfilling a historical obligation to be the conscience and critic of society. Historically, societies have had official clowns whose derisive antics were valued as a protective barrier against unchecked rule. In the best of societies, they were granted immunity from reprisal for their service to the state. The court jester is a familiar example. A more exotic example would be the sacred clown of the Pueblo nation. Regardless of their masks, makeup, costume and title, these clowns served a vital and sacred purpose. While there is no shortage of comedians taking pot shots at our leaders, Misters Stewart and Colbert seem to have tapped into the mythopoeic beauty and necessity of their forebearers in ways other comedians, and more importantly our press, have failed to do.

During his testimony before Congress, Mr Colbert used the very words and attitudes of his targets to reveal their foolishness. His ridicule is clever, nimble and elegant, which makes him devastatingly effective. When Mr Stewart referred to our President as “dude,” he is reminding the President of his mortality and humanity. Their “clowning” becomes a public service rendered with comic elegance and paradoxically an abundance of respect.

Our Sacred Clowns are not mocking politicians as much as they are mocking the media that is supposed to hold them to high standards. Our press, once the gold standard of the world, has decayed into a most unsacred buffoonery. Fox News is the unabashed public relations arm of right wing conservatism. NPR has become afraid of its own shadow. Demagogues as mentally unstable as Paddy Chayefsky’s Howard Beale are afforded the legitimacy of prime time programming, while cable and network news programs are lackeys to Hollywood. The irony is, in order to maintain the integrity of their parody — their integrity as sacred clowns — Misters Stewart and Colbert have become more relevant than the journalists they mock.

So what’s our takeaway from all this? We have a polarized government that doesn’t do the work of the people, while the media profits by fanning the flames of contention. It is more entertaining television and radio to divide us by our differences than unite us by our common humanity and aspirations. There is hope. There is C-SPAN (yes, fine boring). There is the BBC (yes, fine, pretentious accents). And there are the sacred clowns. I say, send in the clowns.

Martin Blanco

8 Pheasant Ridge Road, Newtown                         November 9, 2010