Isn’t it funny two big stories this past weekend were about a comedian running for president and a gay wizard? This is not a joke. At least the second part isn’t.
But first, the media’s still buzzing about Stephen Colbert’s Oct. 16 announcement that he will run for president, which Fox News predictably reported as a “mock candidacy.”
Is it anything to get excited about?
Maybe. Given the number of candidates already running, one more couldn’t hurt, since Sam Brownback dropped out Friday. There’s a chance Colbert’s name could appear on the Democratic and Republican primary ballots in South Carolina, where he is running. There have been more ridiculous presidential candidates (let’s not name names). And if that’s not enough, just think of all the snark Colbert could bring to the race.
The biggest question for many people doesn’t concern “The Colbert Report,” but rather, Colbert’s seriousness.
On the Oct. 21 “Meet the Press,” Colbert said he didn’t want to be president – he wanted only to run for president. But since this is Colbert, this statement could mean any number of things.
I’m more interested in the seriousness of Colbert’s die-hard fan base. We’ve seen how far he can go, but what about his followers? We are members of a generation that supports as many causes as there are people in the world. As young people, this means we have to hurry and join the right Facebook.com group. I agree with this Washington Post blog post: “If he’s really serious about running for president, he’ll need an official MySpace page, a YouTube channel .” If that’s not official, then I don’t know what is.
Members of the Colbert Nation weren’t the only ones who had a tumultuous weekend. Harry Potter authoress and billionaire J.K. Rowling announced Friday night on a book tour stop at Carnegie Hall that wizard Albus Dumbledore is, in fact, gay.
All right, then.
Actually, I’m pretty sure this revelation is what caused my Internet to explode on Saturday. Harry Potter fandom, or Potterdom, is so vast that fans will keep speculating the most minute detail after hearing things straight from Rowling’s mouth. Although this is the truth behind any fan following, Potterheads are part of one of the biggest fandoms in the world, which makes them as daunting as Star Trek fans, or Trekkers.
Having only read up to the fifth book, in the seven-book series, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” I can’t say what this means for my perception of Dumbledore’s character. Does his sexuality really matter if the essence of Dumbledore’s backstory is that he was let down by the love of his life? This idea is one of the oldest stories in the world. It’s great to see gay characters in any fictional work, as long as their presence means something, and they’re not gay for the sake of having a gay character. So yes, this adds another dimension of angst, but I don’t know exactly how much. I’ll have to catch up on my reading and find out.
All I know is that Fox News looked even more ridiculous when one of its TV reporters took to the streets this weekend to ask parents how they felt about Dumbledore’s outing.
I wonder what Colbert would say about this.