THE PHILOSOPHY OF STRUGGLE
  • Blog
  • Chrysalis
  • TNFM
  • Music

The Philosophy
​of Struggle

Satire Burns....

3/30/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Let’s burn Voltaire. Let’s erase the visage and work of Jonathan Swift from history. Outlaw the works of Bill Hicks. Satire must be stopped. It’s ruining our lives. Stephen Colbert is ruining our lives, not just the lives of sensitive Asians like Suey Park but every single one of us, every black, yellow, brown, red, white and rainbow of us.

Colbert worships at the alter of that most insidious of entertainment genres, satire.  Satire’s insensitive rampage has gone on far too long. Aristophanes’ satire killed Socrates.  The poet Hipponax insulted the sculptor Bupalus so egregiously that he hung himself. Mark Twain was an obvious racist who furthered the belief in the superiority of the white man. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn ruined the lives of countless communists. Television character Archie Bunker unfairly characterized the blue collar working class of his day.

Why would we tolerate satire for so long? Why didn’t the Greeks nip it in the bud? Or the Romans? How in the hell did the Communist Russia allow the evils of satire to live? It’s everywhere and it starts with sarcasm. And who hasn’t met the sinister sarcasm? Doctors, nurses, lawyers, policemen, soldiers are often victims of sarcasm, they claim as a result of the nature of their work, all that human suffering and death and evil and other shit. They self-righteously claim sarcasm is self-defense, their pre-emptive treatment for depression and stress. Oh brudder… But we all know it’s rampant. You know the waitress is painting her kitchen banter with sarcastic descriptions of you and you beautiful children. There ought to be a law.

Stephen Colbert doesn’t want us to find some ironic connection in his racist jokes to some real-life lunacy. Why do that? What’s his purpose? He’s not even a real person, anyway, right? Either Jonathan Swift had a true hankering for baby meat or he was just some guy making jokes in hopes of enlightening his contemporaries to the poor and the orphaned. What in the hell would the latter serve? Bill Hicks’ suggestion that all marketing people should kill themselves couldn’t have been a call for more honesty in advertising or a warning to consumers. What the fuck, bro?  

Would it be cynical to suggest that in the midst of selling you tampons and peanut butter, Stephen Colbert doesn't really give a shit about racial insensitivity? Would it be cynical to suggest that Swift wasn't truly concerned about the state of his city and the welfare of the poor as he spread his fame and sold his writing? Would it be cynical to remind you that Bill Hicks sold you a ticket or a DVD before he made us think about how corporations manipulate us through media? Yup. That's cynicism. 



This is irony.


This is satire.           


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    November 2024
    October 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    January 2022
    August 2021
    March 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    November 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012

    Picture
    Chrysalis, a growing collection of very short fiction. 

    Picture
    That Night Filled Mountain
    ​episodes post daily. Paperback editions are available.




    My newest novel River of Blood is available on Amazon or Apple Books.

    Picture
    Unless noted, all pics credited to Skitz O'Fuel.

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Blog
  • Chrysalis
  • TNFM
  • Music