Satire

From RationalWiki

Satire is defined as "the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc."^[1] It is used frequently as a tool for mocking the Establishment,^[2] since the nature of the style often hides its direct meaning behind words that seem to mean the opposite. The effect is often successful at communicating "unpopular" ideas, as most Establishment types take materials meant to be satirical in nature at face value, and don't get the real point.

One of the great literary satirists is Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver's Travels and a pamphlet titled A Modest Proposal.^[3]

[edit] See also

• The Onion - a prominent modern satirical publication
• Voltaire - the original satirist

[edit] Footnotes

1. ↑ http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/satire
2. ↑ The "Establishment" can be taken to mean those who enjoy entrenched power, and are in a position to enforce an orthodoxy, whether they be in government, academia, journalism, or any other field.
3. ↑ In a bravura display, Swift excoriates those responsible for the hunger and poverty in 18th century Ireland, whilst ostensibly arguing for his "modest proposal" to solve the problem: that the Irish should sell their babies as food for the rich. The pamphlet is reproduced here