Fallacies: Stephen Colbert's Opening Monologue Web Content

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Next, Colbert skewers Donald Trump. In his role as a conservative newscaster, Colbert begins with feigned outrage that Trump is not running "Who is going to tell OPEC the fun is over?" he cries when Trump is shown making his announcement that he is not running for the presidency. Colbert mocks Trump's hyperbolic self-promotion with his own hyperbole. Additionally, this is another example of how Colbert's deliberate, humorous false analogies reveal the sloppy thinking and fallacies of his subjects of ridicule. Trump had recently created a smokescreen or 'red herring' issue by crying out for President Obama's birth certificate, a non-issue except amongst members of the extreme right.

Then, Colbert shows a clip of former Reagan screenwriter Peggy Noonan endorsing Newt Gingrich as a 'new voice for a new generation.' Colbert states that Noonan is last generation's news herself, noting that young people, watching her speak, are probably wondering: "Who is that lady and why is she giving elocution lessons on a yacht?" This is a circumstantial ad hominem, arguing that merely because Gingrich is endorsed by Noonan he is not a viable candidate and a has-been. It is also an ad hominem attack against Noonan, arguing that because she seems pretentious and preppy in her diction and is associated with writing for older politicians, such as George Herbert Walker Bush and Ronald Reagan, she has little of value to say about the upcoming Republican election.

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Gingrich's apparent references to his ability to engage in effective fundraising by name-dropping corporations like IBM are also satirized, using hyperbole, by Colbert, suggesting that Newt should market his candidacy by engaging in a relationship with Nabisco and creating Fig Newt Gingrich cookies.

The segment ends with Colbert jokingly going to Congress and attempting to get funding for his own run for the presidency. This implies by an analogy that Colbert's joke news show is just about as serious as Donald Trump's Apprentice or Mike Huckabee's news program. However, the analogy is no entirely accurate, given that individuals with media backgrounds in the past have gotten into politics, spanning from former President Ronald Reagan, to current California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to even the late Sonny Bono.

Most of Colbert's fallacies are deliberate hyperbole, false causal arguments, and ad hominem attacks. But by analyzing them, a viewer can better understand how these fallacies operate more subtly in supposedly serious newscasts. Furthermore, the tone of Colbert's show is just 'realistic' enough to suggest to the viewer that his humorous use of fallacies is not so different from the real argumentation depicted on many shows.

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"Fallacies Stephen Colbert's Opening Monologue" (2011, May 17) Retrieved April 27, 2024, from
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