The Art of Satire

Satire is defined as a literary or art form in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, and wit.  It has numerous forms; one popular form used in our society today is through television programs.   For example, “The Colbert Report” and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” both have a huge following and their main purpose it to point out how ridiculous a politician or a cause is using irony, derision, and wit, also known as satire. 

Satire plays such an important part in our society.  It addresses social critiques in an interesting and clever way that makes most people not only laugh at the audacity of the irony presented in many situations but also makes people interested enough to stop and think about the how these individual situations can directly impact us and whether or not we agree or disagree with the issues presented.  It gives us a chance to decide whether or not it seems like an issue is large enough on a social scale to start debating, discussing, addressing any worries or concerns, and even wanting to go so far as to push for social change.

I’ll be completely honest. I. LOVE. Satire.  I feel one of the best ways to get a point across in today’s society is to first of all being able to grab an audience’s attention, and since we are so distracted by so many different innovative technological things, it’s more difficult than ever to get people to stop for just a moment and think about some of the social issues around them in society even if they don’t directly effect us.   While the original main purpose of satire wasn’t necessarily intended to present an ironic situation as humorous, I definitely know that satire has been able to thrive a lot by exploiting the humor behind the irony of many political candidates and social issues.  And also, I don’t know about everyone else, I feel awesome when I see a satirical picture or watch “The Colbert Report” and it manages to perfectly describe how I feel about a situation.  For instance, I loved all the satire against Rick Santorum back when he was still running for president.

The fact that satire is used widely as political propaganda doesn’t make it any less of an art form.  There are people who would rather express their ideas in a more entertaining fashion such as a comedy show or drawing a thought provoking picture than just write words on a paper or a quick speech, and actually we can consider those actions to be art as well.  Art can really just be defined as simply taking some aspect of the world around us and transforming it into some creative form that is meaningful to us personally. 

Now if we want to debate whether or not satire brings social good for a society, I think it does.  Granted, it will at some point or another offend someone, but in terms of promoting and debating different ideas in an entertaining format, I don't think there’s really a better way of going about it.  Also, if someone were to mock my ideologies, point out the irony, or address some flaw, that would give me the drive to confront such mockeries rather than just accept someone else’s ideologies as their own opinions.

Now what I want to know do you agree that satire is indeed an art form? And if you do, do you feel that it also promotes social good?  Or perhaps, does satire do more harm on society than good?  Is satire ultimately productive or counterproductive to progress in a society?