satire... or truth?

By PJK

Forget Ancient Greece. I think it's safe to say that political satire has found its golden age.

Or maybe not. Maybe satire doesn't exist anymore. Sad as it may be, that which we tend to think of as humour actually comes closer to the truth than the biggest joke of all, which happens to be modern political discourse. We live in a dualistic society entangled with invested interests, where ideology is disguised by convenient euphamisms. Even intellectuals regurgitate buzzwords fed to us by government speech-writers. Who then dares point out the absurd contradictions of our politicians and journalists? Who cuts through the bullshit and half-truths to get to the nutmeat of the issue? Only the sanest individuals among us can expose undiluted reality eloquently and for all time. We generally call those people comedians.

So the real question is, why isn't a satirist like Jon Stewart running the United States? Well, that's the premise for a new movie starring Robin Williams, "Man of the Year".



Sounds entertaining, but the reviews I've read were critical of the film — not for being controversial, in fact quite the opposite; many are saying it doesn't give enough to attention to addressing its underlying concept, which is what merits serious discussion. Satire and satirists aside, politics has abandoned reality in favour of becoming a deceptive fantasy-land, to the left and right of the poltical spectrum alike.

And if you aren't pissed off by that then I have grave concerns about our future.