My character is self-important, poorly informed, well-intentioned but an idiot. So we said, `Let's give him a promotion.'
This is a crucial time in the fight for corporate civil rights. Just look at the hateful signs at Occupy Wallstreet: 'Corporations Are Not People!' Wow, I thought we were past the point in this country where some people aren't people just because they have different color skin or different religion or were born in a lawyer's office, only exist on paper, have no soul and can never die.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the notion of corporations having the same rights as individuals while highlighting the ongoing struggle for civil rights among people.
In this quote, Stephen Colbert discusses the contradiction and irony surrounding corporate personhood, particularly in the context of civil rights. He reflects on the hateful sentiments expressed during protests against corporate influence in politics, emphasizing the absurdity of equating corporations—legal entities devoid of human attributes—with real human beings who have historically faced discrimination based on race or religion. By invoking the idea of humanity, Colbert challenges the moral implications of treating corporations as people while many actual individuals continue to be marginalized.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
Use this quote in a speech about the importance of civil rights and corporate influence in politics.
More from Stephen Colbert
All quotes →Luckily, a recent survey published in the American Sociological Review revealed that atheists are the least trusted group in America—less trusted, even, than homosexuals. It makes sense at least we trust the homosexuals with our hair.
And when those bombs went off, there were runners who, after finishing a marathon, kept running for another two miles to the hospital to donate blood. So, here's what I know - these maniacs may have tried to make life bad for the people of Boston, but all they can ever do, is show just how good those people are.
My father always wanted to be 'Col-bear.' He lived in the same town as his father, and his father didn't like the idea of the name with the French pronunciation. So my father said to us, 'Do what you want. You're not going to offend anybody.' And he was dead long before I made my decision.
I may be just an empty flesh terminal reliant on technology for all my ideas, memories and relationships, but I am confident that all of that everything that makes me a unique human being is still out there somewhere, safe in a theoretical storage space owned by giant, multinational corporations.
And that brings us to tonight's word: Truthiness. Now I'm sure some of the word-police, the 'wordanistas' over at Websters, are gonna say, 'Hey, that's not a word!' Well, anybody who knows me knows that I am no fan of dictionaries or reference books. They're elitist. Constantly telling us what is or isn't true, what did or didn't happen.
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Isn't Hollywood a dump-in the human sense of the word. A hideous town, pointed up by the insulting gardens of its rich, full of the human spirit at a new low of debasement.
It isn't true that convicts live like animals: animals have more room to move around.
Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.
Objects are what matter. Only they carry the evidence that throughout the centuries something really happened among human beings.
There are three kinds of violence: one, through our deeds; two, through our words; and three, through our thoughts. …The root of all violence is in the world of thoughts, and that is why training the mind is so important.
Pleasant it is, when over a great sea the winds trouble the waters, to gaze from shore upon another's great tribulation: not because any man's troubles are a delectable joy, but because to perceive from what ills you are free yourself is pleasant.