Satire

[poliphilo]

The new Channel More4 (or Mofo as I think they'd like us to call it) kicked off last night with a brilliant comedy drama about the Blair government. It was lotsa fun and Bernard Hill (Theoden in LOTR) was amazingly good as former Home Secretary David Blunkett.

But does satire change anything? Has a government ever been brought down by it?
Britain has a robust tradition of political satire going back to the 18th century and in all that time we haven't had a single revolution. Instead of hanging politicians from lamp posts we point the finger at them and snigger.

So satire acts as a safety valve, protecting those in power.

Comments

[cosmolinguist]

You're probably right about satire as safety valve; I certainly won't argue. But, I dunno, in my remarkably-humorless country, we're a bit short on the revolutions too. And it's not for lack of instigating forces.

I guess satire is better than nothing. :-) At least then everyone doesn't take the politicians so seriously and persist in thinking that they really will do what is good and they are worthy of our faith and optimism. My mom still thinks that way, and it's almost heartbreaking to watch. But then maybe I'm just a jaded bleeding-heart who hangs out with too many wannabe-hippies.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, it's better than nothing.

A lot better.

And, hey, don't forget Mark Twain was one of your fellow countrymen!

[cosmolinguist]

Oh yes, the US has had a few irreverents, but not so much recently. I can't think of anybody very impressive in that regard since Bill Hicks.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

How about Jon Stewart? My mate Judy thinks he's wonderful.

[cosmolinguist]

Ah, that's true. The Daily Show is the closest thing to TV news I'll watch these days; it's really great. Besides being amusing, it also reassures me that I'm not quite the only person who thinks my country has gone crazy.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

And it's showing now on More4

In fact I could be watching it... this very instant......