Is this satire? Really. It is impossible to tell.
I used to really enjoy writing satire, but it has become almost impossible to do political satire anymore. Satire, in order to be, is using wit to parody, burlesque or ridicule a particular subject. Over the last 5-10 years, there isn’t much of anything that can be said, written or thought of that wouldn’t actually seem completely plausible and believable, which leaves the viewer or listener completely unable to identify the piece as satire. “Reductio ad absurdum” doesn’t work ‘cuz there’s no “absurdum” anymore.
It used to be that the Onion was featured prominently on a lot of FR threads. I’ve noticed that fewer and fewer posts quote from there, as more and more people will misunderstand and believe what is written is actually true. *That* is exactly the problem. If you can’t legitimately determine between actual reality and satire, then it seems that it is no longer satire. Satire requires a grain of truth, but then either exaggeration, parody, irony or derision is added to show that the reality is beyond the pale. Nowdays, it seems that nothing is beyond the pale— most anything written by the LamestreamPress, broadcast by the “if it don’t bleed, it’s invisible” snooze media and virtually everything done by corrupt, brain dead policitians **seems** to be pure sensationalism and outlandish. Like printing a written page, if EVERYTHING is printed in BOLD CAPS, there isn’t any possible way of emphasizing any singular points.
This is the way it has become with satire. Quotes or articles from The AZConservative, The Onion, and sources of attempted satire are taken as wholly truthful and legit by many- if not most- readers, because everything seems completely believable and plausible, no matter how far fetched it is.
I’ve given up. I’ve wanted to put a satirical blog online for several years, but ya just can’t top what’s currently being written- and none of it is satire!
I was shooting a direct-to-video movie a few years ago, and there was a small segment that called for an on-the-scene news reporter to breathlessly describe the situation. I decided I’d use it to get my 15 seconds of ‘cameo’ in, and several of us tried to write a satire of the typical MSM snooze reporter covering a building bombing- bright windbreaker, placard on mike, standing in front of crime scene tape, the whole works. Didn’t work out. There was nothing that we could write or act like that wasn’t being done even worse by our nightly local snooze reporters. We shot the scene, but just gave up on the satire part because it just couldn’t top reality.
That’s when I knew there was no use trying to do satire, especially political satire. No matter how far out you get, you still can’t tell the difference between the satire and the real situation. It’s frustrating on both sides- the reader/viewer can never be sure if what they are getting is the truth, or if their leg isn’t being pulled by someone trying to satirize something, and the writer has to stretch completely beyond satire so the reader/viewer will **know** it’s satire.
A perfect example is this thread and the credulous/incredulous responses.
Humor is one thing, satire is totally different and becoming an endangered art form.
#8^D