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False News, Absurd Reality Present Challenges For Satirists (apnews.com)

Between reality and the bubble of fantasy news stories, these are tough times for satirists. From a report on AP, submitted by several readers: The New Yorker magazine recently took steps to distinguish Andy Borowitz's humor columns from politically motivated false stories circulating online. His editor said the New Yorker was getting email asking if there was a difference between the two. So they changed the tagline for "The Borowitz Report" from "the news, reshuffled" to "not the news" on the magazine's website. When the stories are shared online, they are more clearly identified as satire, said Nicholas Thompson, editor of NewYorker.com. Borowitz's columns take the form of news stories, like one headlined this week, "Trump fires attorney general after copy of Constitution is found on her computer." One story last week: "Trump enraged as Mexican president meets with Meryl Streep instead." Thompson admits: "It's a weird problem to have."

5 of 333 comments (clear)

  1. Re:History lesson by bobbied · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Assisted by a foreign led invasion force. That guy wasn't going willingly and if you read history, fell into the wrong hands though a series of fortunate happenstances. Had he been a little bit more lucky, he would have escaped into exile with his family.

    Not to mention... Shame what happened to his family.. Now that was totally uncalled for.

    So, am I reading this right? You are advocating for similar activity today? If so, you are an idiot.. Death and destruction follow such activity just as sure as night follows dusk. It is the poor and innocent that pay the most.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  2. Re:Today satire requires Marxism by Layzej · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The best satire today is simply to publish official communications verbatim. Some good examples are:

    McSweeneys "My very good black history month tribute to some of the most tremendous black people"

    or Tina Fey as Sarah Palin

    The politicians are writing the material. The satirists just need to point out how rediculous it is by republishing it.

  3. Re:Not a problem for satirists by Spazmania · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As the satirist who runs whitehouse.net, I disagree. Satire has to be something that seems in character with what's happening but definitely wouldn't actually happen. If it's not in character, it's not funny. If there's a realistic chance it could happen, it's scary not funny.

    Trump makes it really hard to find that sweet spot where it's something amusing you could actually see Trump doing yet definitely not something Trump will end up doing next week.

    --
    Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
  4. Re: Indeed! by Rakarra · · Score: 1, Interesting

    In fact in 1933 Nazi Germany started sponsoring Jews to emigrate to Palestine. This went on until 1939 when the war made it logistically impossible. It was called 'The Transfer Program' and made the formation of the modern state of Israel possible.

    Which explains how Breitbart can be both anti-Semitic and extremely pro-Israel at the same time. Bannon and the alt-right founder Spenser are white nationalists. They don't hate Black people and Jews like the KKK or the Nazis, but they do think each race should have their own lands, and should stick to their own lands. So they love the notion of Jews leaving for Israel, and of Israel as an entirely Jewish state.

  5. Re: Indeed! by firewrought · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Funny enough, he was actually executing many of his supporters. The SA's/brownshirts helped Hitler rise to power; they were the Nazi party's own paramilitary wing.

    However, they were also a political liability. As mostly working-class people (often left jobless in the lurch of the Great Depression), they wanted Hitler to follow thru on his promises of redistributing wealth. This brought them into the conflict with middle/upper classes and the army (which had deep root in the Prussian aristocracy). Taking out key SA leaders gained him massive approval from the army (which, as chancellor, he had not previously been able to control). Shortly after, he justified his action against "treasonous ringleaders" and passed retroactive legislation authorizing the killings.

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    -1, Too Many Layers Of Abstraction