CHICAGO–An intern for The Onion, a popular satirical newspaper based right here in the Windy City, was fired last week for violating the cardinal rule of media (yes, even satirical media).
Apparently, the young “reporter” submitted an idea to his editor to actually satirize President Obama. And no, he wasn’t kidding.
“Seriously?!” exclaimed the unbelieving editor. “Everyone (well at least I thought everyone) knows when we say bring us satire on Obama, that doesn’t mean satirize Obama! It means bring us something that merely uses Obama to make fun of the idiots on the other side.”
“But I thought we were supposed to be creating and defending the satire of politics, not the politics of satire?” replied the dimwitted intern quite dimwittedly.
“You see, there’s your problem: you thought. Oh, and by the way, you’re fired.”
It seems this is not the first time this particular moron has been told to ‘hit the bricks.’ His resume shows previously employment with The Daily Show for exactly one hour and before that, SNL, for much less.
I think if a reader can ascertain your political leaning based on a few previous political satirical pieces….then you’re editorializing, not satirizing. There may be taboo subjects, but there are no sacred cows in political humor. Only satirical steaks. Big, juicy, humorous steaks…served rare.
It is both sad and true. However, political bias is one of the biggest hinderances to true satire today. An obviously right or left-leaning satirical paper (or person) is a bit of an oxymoron, which is what this piece is trying to expose. And though I love The Onion et al, it’s one of their biggest hangups. Their politics clouds their judgment and weakens their moral authority as an “independent” observer.
The big thing with satire is that you just HAVE to be left-leaning, if not an outright socialist. See satire takes a degree of intelligence, and right-wingers just don’t have the capacity.
BOOM! I went there!