Mike West: Many Americans shy away from political satire on The Murfreesboro Post

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Mike West: Many Americans shy away from political satire

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By: MIKE WEST, Managing editor

Posted: Sunday, July 20, 2008 9:00 am

Dunno, it seems like a large segment of America has lost its sense of humor.

Can’t really blame it on the passing of George Carlin, but that didn’t help.

Wait, let me rephrase the previous statement: America has lost its love of satire.

Comedy still abounds. Heck, there’s even a TV series that’s trying to find America’s best comedian.

But “Last Comic Standing” proves my point. The comedians who presented satirical commentary have been consistently voted off the show. For example, “God’s Pottery,” a duo whose shtick was poking fun at Christian performers, got knocked off by a potty-mouthed blonde whose routine was about sex.

The viewers, and voters, didn’t seem to know what to do with “God’s Pottery.” You could see them shy away from the tongue-in-cheek sarcasm.

Personally, I blame it on 9/11, which might be offensive to say. But in the days and months that followed that tragic incident it became some how taboo to poke fun at people, institutions and even politicians.

That’s crazy. Satirical commentary was our founding father’s stock in trade. They made fun of King George, Parliament and just about anything British. Ben Franklin was a master of wit and sarcasm.

“Fish and visitors stink after three days,” he wrote.

“Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards,” which is a Franklin comment that still remains controversial.

And there are literary classes like “Animal Farm” and “Gulliver’s Travels” ranging all the way to satirical TV shows like “Monty Python” and today’s “South Park” and “Family Guy.”

All of those have been roundly criticized and even banned.

Some folks seem to have a problem even identifying satire. That’s true with the Murfreesboro Post’s Stephen Lewis who writes columns full of sarcasm that pokes fun at himself and life in the ‘Boro. We get some remarkable letters about Stephen from people who took his comments seriously.

I tend to write short responses to those along the line of “It’s satire.”

My personal response to most of Stephen’s columns is “*&^%, I wish I had written that.”

While there are plenty of people who don’t “get” sarcasm, there are others who consider it completely inappropriate. That, I blame, on 9/11, the date it became inappropriate to make fun of people or groups of people.

Think back to how comedians, etc., treated Al Gore during the 2000 election. He was the brunt of countless robot jokes. They were endless. Even Al was making them.

Now look at Barack Obama, who seems just as robot-like as Al Gore. Obama is off limits when it comes to political satire. Is that because he is black or is it just because he is simply not funny? Dunno at this point.

Comedians and political commentators like Jon Stewart who dare make a joke at his expense get slapped down. Even the venerable magazine, “The New Yorker” has been rebuked not by Obama, but by his supporters and media critics.

Not to single out Obama, even satire and jokes about John McCain are rare and usually follow the idea “he’s old.”

Thank gawd that Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and R-nuld are still around. They will always be funny.

Now the cartoon Web site, “Jib Jab” was taken a poke at Campaign 2008. (jibjab.com)

The new cartoon satirizes Bush, the Clintons, McCain and Obama. McCain is a crusty, old soldier and Obama is made into a fairytale character romping in the woods like Bambi. It’s funny. Unless you hate satire, that is.

As for me, Obama just isn’t funny ... unless you dress him up like Abe Lincoln with a stovepipe hat and full beard.

Tagged under VOICES

Member Opinions:

By: ebbabc on 7/23/08
Personally I do not see anything at all funny about Obama, he and his ideas are as serious as a heart attack. He scares the hell out of me - on a par with Hillary.