Stephen Colbert did a segment on Monday’s The Late Show poking fun at the criticism that social media advocacy like #PrayForParis is an empty and meaningless gesture. Colbert pointed to some examples of humorous tweets which said that the poster would be watching the Pixar film “Ratatouille,” in honor of their support for France.
Colbert, in the common style of his humor, was attempting to emphasize the power in human connection regardless of the source.
“Who knows what to do? Anything that is an attempt at human connection in the world right now is positive.”
While talking heads in corporate media discuss how we can further divide ourselves, the unifying nature of things like #PrayForParis and even the Facebook image filter, which turned everyone on Facebook into a blur of red and blue, are a strong signal to the people of France that we are supportive. It is also a message to ISIS that we refuse to be divided, and that when our allies are attacked, we take it personally.
Watch.