Frederick Burr Opper, 1895, courtesy of the US Library of Congress
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines satire as “a way of using humor to show that someone or something is foolish, weak, bad, etc.; humor that shows the weaknesses or bad qualities of a person, government, society, etc.”
So why has satire become an integral part of our collective media experience? In the communication discipline, we talk about people as having four primary communication needs:
- Shopping/consumption
- Information
- Connectivity
- Entertainment
While all of these needs are important in terms of how we relate to the world, our connectivity and entertainment needs are the most closely tied to our happiness. Ultimately, we seek happiness in our many communicative acts throughout our daily lives.
And that’s where satire fits in.
Joe Randazzo, a former editor of satirical newspaper The Onion, puts it this way in an MSNBC editorial piece:
[Satire] is, in many ways, the most powerful form of free speech because it is aimed at those in power, or those whose ideas would spread hate. It is the canary in the coalmine [sic], a cultural thermometer, and it always has to push, push, push the boundaries of society to see how much it’s grown.
Because of satire’s power to reveal the insanity within the mundane, the absurdity within the everyday, it connects us together by asking those difficult questions about our society. Consider this The Onion headline from June 24: “Study: Floating Heap Of Trash Now Ocean’s Apex Predator”
Or this one from April 12, 2000: “South Postpones Rising Again For Yet Another Year,” which has become one of the most shared articles recently because of the racially charged shooting at an A.M.E. church in Charleston, S.C. These articles keep us conversing about how we are connected through common experiences.
A word of caution
If you are interested in taking on a satirical spin to your online presence, be careful. All satirists have had to deal with the consequences of calling out those in power, sometimes in life-threatening ways.
Some of your followers may believe your satirical stories as truth. For an entertaining, yet scary, glimpse of this misunderstanding, see the Literally Unbelievable blog, which compiles Facebook conversations of users who mistakenly believe articles by The Onion.
Literally Unbelievable compiles unquestioning Facebookers who post Onion stories as fact.
Or take a look at the ex-FIFA executive who cited a story by The Onion about America waging its own Summer World Cup, “calling it evidence of an American conspiracy.”
Other times, the consequences are more severe, as in the case of the attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris for its cartoons of Muhammad. The backlash that ensued for Charlie Hebdo was tragic, yet as The Onion‘s Randazzo reminds us:
Satire must always accompany any free society. It is an absolute necessity. Even in the most repressive medieval kingdoms, they understood the need for the court jester, the one soul allowed to tell the truth through laughter.
What do you think the role of satire should be in our dynamic, fast-paced digital world?