When I saw all the coverage of Stephen’s buzz cut on “the internets” yesterday, I got a bit curious and checked the Google Trends page to see what was what. If you click on the image to the left, you’ll see that Stephen’s hair (or newly shorn head, anyhow) got some major virtual ink yesterday; that boy’s noggin sure had people talking!

This got me thinking about an editorial I read this morning, one that bemoaned the lack of any non-entertainment news coverage from Iraq, but which nonetheless seemed to disparage Stephen’s trip. From the Baltimore Sun:

Colbert in Iraq: We only cover the amusing parts of war

As I watched Stephen Colbert’s first show from Iraq Monday night, here are some of the thoughts that ran through my head and found their way onto a notepad:

We in the media don’t cover the real war any more, but we will cover this fake news talkshow host going to Iraq like it’s the second coming. Is this more of us amusing ourselves to death? Exhibit A: Newsweek doing a cover on Colbert When was the last cover written by a full time Newsweek staffer in Iraq about the real war?

With the golf club and all the jokes about being a coward in his opening monologue, Colbert’s offering a post-post-post modern take on Bob Hope. But most of the jokes do not have a real point of view, because this gung-ho makebelieve character Colbert plays lacks a moral or emotional center. Are we ironic-izing (through a post-modern humor that is 99 percent irnony) ourselves into a kind of emotional death in which we can no longer feel the horror of war?

. . .

Read the full editorial here

I found this editorial somewhat rich, as Stephen’s reason for editing the current Newsweek issue and going to Baghdad was that Iraq wasn’t getting coverage, and he wanted to do something for the troops and focus the spotlight back on that region. It seemed to me, anyway, that Mr. Zurawik’s editorial was a pretty clear illustration of Stephen’s whole point: that people are forgetting about Iraq unless someone puts it back into the news cycle. In this case, Stephen got people talking again, even if the “angle” for the Iraq story was an entertainer getting his head shaved. (Also, Mr. Zurawik works in the industry and has a column; shouldn’t he be doing more than just shaking his head over his colleagues’ lack of initiative, if he thinks there’s a story getting short shrift?)

Maybe I’m just dissatisfied with this editorial because Mr. Zurawik seems to imply that Stephen’s trip is part of this process of “ironic-izing … ourselves into a kind of emotional death” and fails to acknowledge the very real things Stephen is doing to support the troops. I can and do laugh at the irony and wit that Stephen and his show display night after night, but that doesn’t mean I can’t also recognize Stephen’s incredible generosity (via his Yellow Ribbon Fund and DonorsChoose.org work) and commitment — he’s in Iraq! — to the men and women in our war zones. I know that I, for one, have donated more to DonorsChoose.org because of Stephen’s promotion of it than I probably otherwise would have; I hadn’t even heard of that charity until he got involved.

What do you all think?

• Stephen Colbert in the Zeitgeist – March 13, 2010
• Stephen Colbert in the Zeitgeist – March 3, 2010
• Stephen Colbert in the Zeitgeist – Vancouverage Wrap-up
• Ujjal Dosanjh: Stephen Colbert’s message “worth reflecting on”