May 02, 2005

Commentary:

Is satire dead?

    By Jack Grant

satire - noun

1. (a) A literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, or wit. (b) The branch of literature constituting such works. See Synonyms at caricature.

2. Irony, sarcasm, or caustic wit used to attack or expose folly, vice, or stupidity.

Satire usually depends on extreme exaggeration to emphasize the irony present in whatever folly is being attacked. Small idiocies are inflated, logic is twisted, and everything is described using hyperbole.

Hm, sounds like politics today.

Hm, sounds like blogging, too.

Hyperbole is like a spice that when overused deadens the tongue so that nothing can be tasted.

The problem? When everything is exaggerated, how can true lunacy be highlighted?

A consequence: Satire is unrecognizable.

Just ask the Commissar.

The heirs to Swift will now pass unrecognized.

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Posted by Jack Grant at 20:35 on 2 May 2005
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