I posted a piece about Stephen Colbert’s campaign to have NASA respect the results of their online poll to name the third node of the space station after him, since he won with over 230’000 votes (original post: here).
I wrote: “The other interesting thing is going to be watching Stephen Colbert stand up for democracy, however small and relatively insignificant the reason might be. If one person demonstrates that he can stand up for democracy on a topic such as the naming of a space node, it might plant the seed of participatory politics in The Colbert Reports’ viewers on much more important and vital topics. And that could be the real victory of Stephen Colbert’s campaign to name Node 3 of the International Space Station after himself.”
I received a couple of emails from readers who hoped to see The Colbert Report viewers to be inspired to stand up, but who doubted that viewers would get the point and actually do something. It saddened me a little, that so little faith was being given to these 230’000 people. I was talking to a friend and admitted that I wished that someone more important and influential would say the same thing on air, while being interviewed by Stephen Colbert.
And, lo and behold, it happened, on the April 7th episode of The Colbert Report (watch clip here). One of two things happened. Either Queen Noor of Jordan read my mind, or there are spies following me day to day and reporting back to Stephen Colbert – or the Queen – or both.
Either way, Queen Noor made the point quite beautifully. She was a guest on The Colbert Report to promote The Global Zero program (official website: here). She walked away having shared her message with viewers as well as with Stephen Colbert’s signature – and encouraged him to tap into the power of Colbert Nation to help rid the world of nuclear weapon.
The interview was wonderful. She’s dignified but funny, plays along with Stephen Colbert just enough to make it funny but not enough to not send her own message either. She also knew what was going on – she mentioned the over 230’000 votes Stephen Colbert received to name the space node after him (perhaps one of the rare times I have seen Stephen Colbert a little taken aback).
The Colbert Report’s official website, Colbert Nation (here) has yet to post something about the Global Zero program, which I found a little disappointing, although an affiliate website, the No Fact Zone (here) has posted a screen freeze of The Colbert Report’s new credits, which have added the requisite ‘Sir’ in front of Stephen Colbert’s name (check it out here). Yes, because Stephen Colbert, in exchange for his signature, ask to be knighted by Queen Noor of Jordan, who played along.
Perhaps the emails I received, with their doubts about The Colbert Report viewers standing up, unfortunately had a good point.