In Defence of Truthiness

Stephen Colbert is turning into a real web shit disturber. A couple of weeks ago he took on Wikipedia, deciding that the online encyclopedia could be edited to state whatever truthiness he desired: "What we're doing is bringing democracy to knowledge. It's time we use the power of our numbers for a real Internet revolution. We're going to stampede across the Web like that giant horde of elephants in Africa. Together we can create a reality we can all agree on — the reality we just agreed on."

Which he and his followers promptly did, changing entries on elephants, George Washington and his own entry.

Now he is challenging the supremacy of Chuck Norris. Fans of the round-house-kicking action star had stumbled across an online vote to name a Hungarian bridge over the Danube and had managed to get their god into the running for the honour. The Colbert Nation could not abide by this and Colbert figured he could get the bridge named after him instead. (Go here if that vote page doesn't load, which is often.)

He hasn’t managed that, but he has racked up hundreds of thousands of votes in just a few days and surpassing the previously invincible star. Chuck may never sleep, but it seems his fans do.