The Scene and Herd

I didn’t actually see Stephen Colbert douse himself with sugar the other night (nor is it available for online viewing in Canada yet), but I can imagine what it would look like: glorious – a fountain of sweet little crystals (one of the pillars of civilization) drenching the face of one of my favourite comedians. Oh my, what’s not to like about that? Aside from whatever political statement and/or easy comedy Colbert was trying to pull, “bathing in sugar” has connotations of luxury that I surely stand by.

Last year I was speaking with a lady from Zimbabwe who was trying to communicate to me the perils of life under Mugabe. What she chose to stress was the lack of affordable sugar in her country. She tried to explain the more sinister aspects, of course, but I suppose those things are difficult to communicate to a foreigner from a free country. “You can’t get sugar, coffee…” Indeed, expensive sugar struck me as outrageous. It struck me as unbearably unfair.

I’m reminded of wartime food rations and how my grandfather’s generation tends to have a soft (sweet) spot for sugar cubes. Sugar is a right, not a privilege. Colbert knows the truth. Aside from whatever political statements and/or easy comedy we’re trying to pull, we should all be bathing in sugar.