Delightfuly Satirical · 12:40pm Mar 8th, 2020
Comedy is very ancient, especially so if you take the theatrical aspect of it. Greek theatre, famously, had only 3 genres: comedy, drama and tragedy. I will not take guesses, but I can tell you my own favourite branch of comedy: satire.
Satire, although has an earthly goal to make people laugh, is one of the most important literal genres in our history. Satirists, like Jonathan Swift with his "Gulliver's Travels" and, even more so, John Gay with "The Beggar's Opera," shook the very foundation of the literary and social worlds of their times and were rightfully hated by their contemporaries.
Satire is a rare genre, especially nowadays, when you can't say practically anything without getting ridiculed by media. Another reason why it's rare is because it's complex. Satire is all about hints and subtlety, for every ordinary reader it's just a fun read, but those who can understand its meaning it can be anything ranging from the best work ever, to the most insulting one ever.
I have to steal this moment and give someone around a shout out here, actually. Meet Lerd_Gamer and his humble 2,5k word Reaganomics
I have to admit, I am a little biased here; because I utterly adore what he did there, but I honestly believe that small thing over there needs a lot more views than it has. If anything, it's utterly hilarious. I read it several times within the past few days and I always find something to laugh at in there.
Satire is a lot more than simple laugh, though. The real purpose of satire is to show the world how utterly ridiculous and wrong it is about everything. Satirists make us laugh at what we see each and every day. Through laughter, they draw our attention to the things we need to fix.
It's rare because it demands guts. Satirists make a loooot of people really upset, nobody likes being laughed at and this is exactly why we need them.
Satire is my favorite form of humor.....
It's kind of funny--if exhausting--sometimes, because my older sister is extremely gullible and can't tell if someone's joking or not. I find myself regularly having to apologize for things that, in my vision, were perfectly harmless, but she found unbelievably mean.
5216420
I feel you there, some people have no sense of humour whatsoever. A real while ago I, if I may so myself, was a sparkling comedian, even my teachers used to laugh. Then, people just stopped laughing. Figured I might as well stop joking if no one's getting it, a joke with no laughter becomes an insult.
Actually, who's your favourite satirist?
5216539
I'll be honest........I don't know very many.
(I am definitely planning on reading that one linked in your blog though!)
5216902
If I may, I recommend you try Gay's "Beggar's Opera." I think you are going to know your favourite from that point.
5216905
Now that I think back on it, there is one satirist that, off the top of my head, I can say I really I do like.
There's a website called Babylon Bee, and they have some great things there.
Also, I shall check that out!
5216976
Oh, you, Americans, really know how to make fun of politicians. I giggled just from reading the titles. We could really use something like this, laughing at the political nonsense may not be the best way to understand it, but at least the masses won't be completely ignorant. Though, the office is likely to be burned down to the ground within a week, people really don't have a sense of humour round here. Ain't no the US of A here.
I do believe George Orwell's Animal Farm was such well done satire on the U.S.S.R that he had to tell people it wasn't just a child's book and that it was mean to be a satire.
Satire is very important I would say, I have enjoyed it quite so
5218938
Oh, it was an animal farm alright. This repugnant monstrosity maimed its people so much that they indeed became akin to animals and continue being like that even after 30 years since its death. The fact that they defend it serves to illustrate.
5218988
Wounds like that never heal. You can still see the scars and the venom left behind in body and soul.
5221237
Indeed they don't. Sadly, this leaves the rest of us with a very simple choice. USSR, doesn't matter how you call it, was an empire and an empire has to expand to survive. To this day there are still left the imperialists from the former age. The Old Union is not gone, it's simply evolved to conform to the changing times. It is still just as hostile and cruel as it always was.
5221437
It's both amazing how much the world changes, and how little the world changes.
5223181
It really is amazing.
Even more amazing is that the world somehow manages to get better despite everything, even if it's a really-really slow process. I tell you: one day we are going to get somewhere decent with this dump. We just gotta keep working on it.
Humans are very petty and lowly creatures. What astonishes me is that humans can overcome it. Greed, cruelty and hatred all come easily and naturally, that's a part of who we are and we can never escape our nature.
There is no force that can make the world better, the only way to influence it in any way for the better is not with force, but with gentle and reassuring pushes it in the right direction. We can make the world a better place by accepting ourselves as we are and learning to be better. It's easy to get frustrated by the world and wall yourself off, what's hard is to continue to reach out. By carefully nurturing human best qualities, instead of the worst, we can make tomorrow better for everyone.
That's why this fandom is such an amazing experience, whoever comes around becomes a better person as a result.
We live in the Time of Wonders. Now the smallest group with the right idea can do more for the world than any army.
5223194
My father once pointed out to me several charts taken over decades and records from older times how things have changed. People use to have such violent tenancies and lust for carnage. In the days of Shakespeare, of his historically famous plays, they were not the most entertaining thing to do. Number 1, was watching an execution. People would get a spot ahead of time to watch someone die, if that wasn't happening, they would watch bear baiting, seeing a bear fight some dogs or another animal. If neither of those were happening a distant third would be watching a play. Now most of us disgust at the idea of taking pleasure out of watching a man die, if it must be done it most be quick, and it should not be a spectacle, only so it gets done. Animal fights? Illegal, no longer would anyone accept that in the public, it is now an underground thing that is punished, people improve, we get better, it may be slow but too much evolution too quickly invites destruction. Slowly we will be better people.