Matt Tobey
One is the result of a years-long secret plot hatched by sadistic Islamic extremists bent on destroying Western Civilization, and the other is a day in September? No, sorry. What I meant to say is everything. Everything is the difference between 9/11 and Barack Obama. One is horrible and the other is awesome, right? Yes. So why are so many people reacting to Obama being elected the same way they did to 9/11. Remember when Time declared The Age of Irony Comes to An End?
classes–our columnists and pop culture makers–declared that
detachment and personal whimsy were the necessary tools for an
oh-so-cool life. Who but a slobbering bumpkin would think, "I feel your
pain"? The ironists, seeing through everything, made it difficult for
anyone to see anything. The consequence of thinking that nothing is
real–apart from prancing around in an air of vain stupidity–is that
one will not know the difference between a joke and a menace.
Yeesh. I know it was a confusing and scary time, but seriously, yeesh. How many lemons does it take to make a puss that sour? And, obviously, irony did not die. It'd be hard to argue that the seven years since the attacks haven't seen some of the sharpest and most meaningful satire ever. It's also seen plenty of dull and meaningless satire, and we've L'd OL all the same.
Which brings us to last Tuesday and the election of Barack Obama. Just like 9/11, it's being called The End of an Era, and we're being asked Can The Daily Show Survive President Obama? Well, of course it's not and of course it can.
First of all, expecting us to laugh at politics less in an Obama administration is like expecting us to have sex less in an Obama administration. Fun things are fun to do, no matter who's President, dummy. If we're hungry for a Whopper, but we're at McDonald's, we will not starve to death. (You see, George Bush is a Whopper and Barack Obama is a Big Mac and I'll show myself to the euthenasia clinic.)
Meanwhile, assuming The Daily Show can only be funny under someone like George W. Bush gives far too much credit to the outgoing President and is obscenely insulting to the writers of The Daily Show. As if they're not just brilliant satirists. As if they never made us laugh under Bill Clinton. As if there wasn't plenty of failed Bush-based humor from shittier sources than The Daily Show.
So, cut it out. Please. Yes, we laughed at President Bush. A lot. But I assure you, we'll all laugh at President Obama very soon. A lot. The only possible difference is we might, hopefully, every once in a while laugh with him.
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i have a boner
You are close, but wrong. Satire is tool of dissonance and critique. That's why the Daily Show was so biting.
But there is plenty to satirize about Obama. He takes himself waaaaaaaaaaay too seriously as do his minions (of which I count myself one). We need a rational liberal cacophony most when everyone is swooning.
Eliot does not enjoy satire.
very sad.
You couldn't be more short sighted or off the mark. Satire is not a sign of flattery, it is elitist criticism disguised as humor. Obama will have only so long to produce. Obama will have only so long to renounce the policies of the previous administration. Then the satire of agenda driven humorists will turn on him TOO.
This is fantastic.