Right-wing humour? What a joke

[struggle4progress]

Stephanie Merritt
Sunday February 18, 2007
The Observer

... Surnow, whose credits include 24 and who recently appeared on Fox News defending the necessity of torture in certain circumstances, reduces this imbalance to the basics: turn on any so-called satire show and you'll get 10 Bush and Cheney jokes but nary a snigger at Hillary or global warming.

Leaving aside the obvious answers that a) Surnow doesn't watch The Daily Show, which has a fine tradition of ridiculing Democrats and b) Bush and Cheney have lent themselves to comedy over the past few years, he appears to have failed to grasp the point of satire. Comedy at its best is inherently subversive, from the Lord of Misrule to Saturday Night Live; it holds up to mockery the follies of those in power; it exposes hypocrisy in a way that entertains us, but it does so with a purpose that goes beyond entertainment. Making someone a figure of ridicule ought to make it harder for them to continue publicly in their hypocrisy, and a well-aimed swipe from a cartoonist or comic can damage a politician's image far more effectively than a 1,000-word dressing-down.

This is why conservatives and satire just don't go; you can't be subversive and want to preserve the status quo. Even jokes aimed against themselves don't work; one particularly gruesome trailer for the show features right-wing commentators Rush Limbaugh and Anne Coulter as President and Vice-President. 'Stay tuned for The Half Hour News Hour' winks Limbaugh unctuously, and Coulter adds: 'If you don't, we'll invade your countries, kill your leaders and convert you to Christianity.'

It's a joke - geddit? - but it isn't satire. In fact, it comes off as a smug conviction of your own rightness so bulletproof that you can joke about it with a swagger. No matter which side of the House you're sending up, satire begins with an unwillingness to accept lies and bombast from those in power - and that is not in Fox's remit.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2015659,00.html

[Phredicles]

1. This show is further evidence of a sort of ideological cold war

in this country: If the left has Stewart and Colbert, the fighties need to have their own supposed counterpart, no matter how much it sucks. I mean, most papers running Mallard Fillmore carry it to "counter" Doonesbury or such; they certainly don't do so because it's actually funny or anything.

That said, I agree with the comment on the Guardian page likening the OxyMoron and Aryan Ann to the Hutus whose hatemongering radio broadcasts helped incide the Rwandan genocide.

[Keefer]

10. My paper runs Mallard,

but not Doonesbury. :mad:

[melody]

2. what constitutes the right wing viewpoint in this country

... is the inability to think critically enough to support a decent sense of humor. They don't express themselves,
they formulate talking points to drive some emotional agenda. In other words, they're fairly stupid.

They just don't get the Daily Show ... and they won't ever.

[tr-oh]

3. So we're all stupid?

So anyone who is a conservative is by definition stupid? - you people are so arrogant it's unreal.

That's why you'll never win the south - we're fed up being patronised by the likes of you.

[struggle4progress]

8. Yall oughter smile when ya sez that, or summa us might not think yer mama taught ya right

[hockeygirl]

9. oh, please

I just came from the Anne Coulter chat room, where I am called libtard on a regular basis. (I am a registered independent, but lefty. Gotta see how the other half lives.) I thought that among liberals, at least, I wouldn't be insulted right off the bat. This is one of the first threads I've read on DU, and, oh well... At least it wasn't personal. But come on y'all. My whole family is from the south including the rocket scientist, nuclear physicist, college professor, etc. We are not ignorant hillbillies. We are not even all republican. My tiny little southern town voted 85% for Kerry. Even in a red state 49% of the voters may well be democrats. This is very disappointing.

And you are also wrong about conservatives not having a sense of humor. Satire is not their thing, mind you, but some of that shit is hilarious.

[tr-oh]

4. ...and talking about conservatives not 'getting' the daily show

the only thing I found funny was that lib commentators didn't get half the jokes - eg 'If you don't, we'll invade your countries, kill your leaders and convert you to Christianity.'

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Quantess]

6. Hey! Watch it.

Read the rules. No broad brush statements. That includes stereotyping the South.

[Rhiannon12866]

7. Absolutely. Many of our members come from the South, as does my president, Jimmy Carter...

:D