Colbert Declares Genocide a Game, Not a Massacre
NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani recounted being 'shocked' when The Late Show with Stephen Colbert allegedly proposed a game segment pitting 'pro-Palestine' vs. 'pro-Israel' viewpoints. The Independent, reporting on Mamdani's outrage, notes how this 'game' sought to distill 'genocide'—the UN's term for the crimes perpetrated against Palestinians—into entertainment. This isn't just a late-night
show gaffe; it's the logical conclusion of a media landscape that spent decades refusing to call 1948's Nakba 'ethnic cleansing,' preferring 'Arab-Israeli War,' or ignoring the 2018 Great March of Return where journalists, medics, and children were shot. While late-night hosts joke, the U.S. just approved another $14 billion in aid to Israel, despite a death toll topping 37,000, predominantly
women and children. One might wonder if Colbert's writers room received any of the $4 million AIPAC spent lobbying Congress in 2023, as detailed by OpenSecrets.org, for similar normalization tactics. How many children need to be dismembered on live television before their suffering isn't suitable for a comedic panel game?