(7) Stephen Colbert
America’s favorite ultraconservative political commentator may appear on a comedy network, but he’s seriously a genius. He’s got an incredibly popular and influential TV show, penned a book that hit number one on the New York Times Best-Seller List, made Time’s list of the 100 most influential people, and is probably really nice to dogs. Colbert leveraged his 2008 run for the White House into thousands of dollars of viewer “campaign contribution” donations to needy schools.
Colbert’s got intellectual street cred, too. The American Dialect Society named the Colbert-coined “truthiness” the Word of the Year for 2005, an honor that put him in the company of such timeless past winners as 2000’s “chad” and 1992’s “Not!” Throughout all of these adventures and accolades, Colbert has forced us to laugh at news that would otherwise have made us cringe. That’s a genius.
(10) J.K. Rowling
A genius can get by with one idea as long as it’s a really, really good idea. Rowling’s idea of a school for young wizards was certainly one of those ideas, as her series of Harry Potter novels propelled her from welfare to unspeakable wealth in just a few years. Not only have Rowling’s novels thrown millions of confirmed non-readers back into books, they’ve also made her the first author to become a billionaire simply by writing. Not too shabby for a lady who didn’t have a job while she finished her first novel.
The Breakdown
Rowling has millions of readers worldwide, but does she have an entire nation at her disposal to stuff the ballot box? Colbert does. Rowling’s chief creation inhabits a fantasy world of infinite magic, while Colbert’s commentator inhabits a fantasy world of infinite Reaganism. Who’s the bigger genius? Just ask yourself who would win in a battle: Harry Potter’s magic, or Muggle Colbert’s perfectly coiffed hair and trusty handgun Sweetness?
[poll=15]
[See the whole bracket here.]
Comments (13)
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Please get the story straight. Rowling was on welfare by her choice! She quit teaching to write her books and went on welfare because she could and in fact got endowments to help cover her expenses when welfare didn’t pay as much as the teaching job she quit. This is not some beautiful tale of a woman almost on the streets in poverty but of one who manipulated the system so she didn’t have to work another job while writing her book. Of course that kinda makes her a genius in its own right.
posted by Elbobbo on 3-18-2009 at 11:48 am
Wait, what happened to Emily Dickenson!? I agree that Colbert should have been included in the first place, but I already printed out my bracket and now it’s wrong.
posted by Amber on 3-18-2009 at 12:08 pm
It warms my heart that you printed out your bracket. Here’s the revised version:
mentalfloss.cachefly.net/images/genius_large.jpg
And here’s what happened to Emily Dickinson:
mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/23721
posted by Jason English on 3-18-2009 at 12:22 pm
Is this just a ploy to get Colbert to mention MF on his show, which in turn will drive up traffic on the site, which will ensure that Colbert will beat Einstein?
posted by Witty Nickname on 3-18-2009 at 12:35 pm
Harry Potter is just a rip off of Lord of the Rings and Star Wars … it’s lame.
posted by Steve on 3-18-2009 at 12:51 pm
This poll is SO shamelessly slanted towards Colbert. Come on, Mental Floss, I expect better from you.
posted by Peter W on 3-18-2009 at 1:02 pm
How could you make me choose, mental_floss??
So upsetting…
posted by Meghan on 3-18-2009 at 3:01 pm
I wish you hadn’t put these two together (as Meghan said, why must you make us choose?), but JKR invented an entire universe down to its candy and chessboards, while SC didn’t even invent his own character.
posted by Valarie on 3-18-2009 at 3:30 pm
Yes, yes, Colbert has his hands on the entire American population but does he have the courage to win the hearts of every person on Earth??? Huh!?!?!? J.K.’s better.
posted by Karl on 3-19-2009 at 3:20 am
Yeah…Rowling may be good at marketing her books, but Colbert got a Hungarian bridge named after him!
posted by Fruppi on 3-19-2009 at 10:40 am
i love harry potter but i have to vote for my man sc
posted by smithalot on 3-19-2009 at 11:28 pm
I love harry potter but i have to vote for my man sc
posted by smithalot on 3-19-2009 at 11:32 pm
Have I missed the chance to cast my vote?! Stephen Colbert’s influence is so prevalent, there’s no comparison. He has run for president, been featured in a popular Marvel comic book, had a new breed of spider named after him, sent his DNA into space. And people even attribute the turning point in the outcome of the 2008 election to the (at the time, misunderstood) White House Correspondence Roasting of George Bush, in 2006. His book, “I Am America (And So Can You!)” is multi-layered with sarcasm, irony and hillarious twists – all at his own character’s expense. Whereas, J.K.’s book is only a well-written, imaginative but fictional story for teenagers.
posted by Claudia on 3-22-2009 at 2:35 am