Satire (Extra Credit)

  In contemporary society there are many forms of satire that exist, mostly covering media coverage and few other forms involving politics and issues worldwide. Satire is a form of comedy that's not used commonly amongst writers due to the fact that it is extremely difficult to attack in the sense that not always will a writer succeed at using satire correctly.
     Satire can be seen daily while watching television. Shows such as TMZ, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, are all examples of satire. TMZ is a show about a poparazzi headquarters and they poke fun at celebrities that are in the news daily just to show how much of a joke that celebrity really is. Take Charlie Sheen for instance, he has been on that show multiple times in the past two weeks with his horrific interview and other stupid and idiotic things he has pulled since then. They take the stupid things he says and laugh at them or make him seem even more stupid.
     The Daily Show and the Colbert Report are two very similar shows. They talk about politics and what all is going on the in world today. They discuss idiotic issues that our country as well as other nations believe to be extremely important when in reality, they are minor issues compared to everything else going on in the world. Their sense of humor is similar, it could be described as dry, sarcastic, or satirical. On air, they take light of the issues that need to be resolved not to be offensive, just to provide some comedic relief when tension rises. I like watching this show because they always make fun of Sarah Palin and they used to always make fun of George Bush, not like it’s hard to do either of those. I just love how they recognized how idiotic both politicians were and how stupid they sounded when they spoke. They made fun of the fact that Sarah Palin’s daughter became pregnant by the age of 16, is that really what we want to look up to as a nation? I highly doubt it.
     Another form of satire on television is a show called Tosh.0, hosted by Daniel Tosh. Daniel Tosh takes videos posted online that have become famous worldwide and reviews them on his show. He often will talk about his video and then make his own, similar to it, but making it seem even more ridiculous. He talks about just how stupid people can be and he embraces the humor in everything and shares it with other people. Many people would not appreciate his sense of humor because if taken the wrong way it could be extremely offensive to the public. It's not a show meant to be taken seriously so that people become offended. It's simply just trying to express how stupid some things seem to people. Tosh.0 is one of my favorite shows simply because his sense of humor is so sarcastic and I find it hilarious. Which if used correctly, satire can be immensely humorous, but often satire is used incorrectly and it’s hard to understand. Especially in writing because you can’t exactly define what tone you’re using, you have to let the reader decide what they think your tone is. It’s easy for Daniel Tosh to use satire because he is the host of a show, so his use of satire is verbal. Based off of body language and facial expressions, it’s a lot easier for him to show his use of satire.

     A show that is not all that popular that is shown on Cartoon Network called Total Drama Island is, in my opinion, a form of Satire. It is a cartoon version of the show Survivor. However because it’s animated there is no way it is as realistic and intense like the show survivor. Total Drama Island makes fun of survivor in the sense that they have tribal counsel and they eliminate a player every week. They have challenges just like survivor. Only when it comes to the challenge part, you really notice the satirical side of the show because they are immensely outrageous and improbable in any sense. It’s extremely comedic because they include all the types of people that appear on the show Survivor. There’s always the villain, the angel, the goof ball, the dumb good looking one, a fat kid,  the bitch, a perfect princess type girl, and of course a dumb blonde. All of them act just like the people on the show and it’s funny because it so obviously makes fun of the shows that are similar to survivor where people get votes off every week.

                Satire appears in the news paper The Onion on a regular basis, they include articles making fun of everything. Every article you read in the Onion should not be taken seriously in any way. The reading we read in class on Wednesday was an excellent example of everything you would find while reading an issue of The Onion. The whole story about how impressive the MagnaSoles is exactly what The Onion publishes. They make fun of just about anything and they use satire perfectly and correctly.

Let's Eat Babies.

In Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”, he uses his satirical writing style to discuss the issue in his home country of Ireland in the early 1700s of famine, poverty, and too many people. His audience is mainly the people of Ireland, but mostly the government that is not oblivious to the issue, but choosing not to oblige the problem. He proposes many different resolutions in his writing, trying to persuade the government to make a call to action to help solve the problem of starvation and help reduce the oversized population of the homeless. Nobody seems to be trying to help the problem in Ireland, so in a sarcastic and satirical tone, Swift writes an essay, trying to get people to realize something needs to be fixed. In his essay he proposes that in order to reduce the population, people should start to eat their babies ranging from one to two years old. The proposal is absurd and disturbing, but it’s just drastic enough to catch the attention of the government and might actually make them do something about the situation. Swift makes this proposal because even though it is wrong on many levels to eat a baby, the child would provide food for those who are hungry and also limit the number of mouths that will later on become hungry and want to be fed.

     In “A Modest Proposal” Swift is able to somehow make cannibalism completely normal. It made me almost scared by the end of the essay because I started to think that eating babies would actually be a reasonable solution for Ireland’s problem.     He states that from a source he heard that "a young healthy child well nursed, at a year old, [is] a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled" he says this to let readers know that if Ireland did happen to begin to eat children, they would even taste good. So that’s always a plus, right? He then goes to explain that babies will feel multiple people, so they’d be getting many meals out of one child, so it would be worth it. "a child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends, and when the family dines alone... [it] will be very good on the fourth day." It seems perfectly acceptable. Babies would also serve as entertainment during dinner parties, they may even be considered as a delicacy. He also gives the remains of the baby a purpose. He explains that the babies skin could be used to make "make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen." So, baby skin would become a fashion statement.

    

     His proposal will benefit the “breeders” too, they’d be paid eight shillings per child they sell to be eaten and will be reimbursed for the money they spent to make the child plump and juicy and ready to be eaten. Swift actually has the balls to say that Ireland’s stock will increase by fifty thousand shillings per annum due to the marketing of baby meat and gain the “profit of a new dish.” The new food would draw people to taverns and restaurants and cooks would be able to experiment around with the “baby meat” and make it more interesting and taste better. He also wrote about how domestic violence would be reduced by a sufficient number because men would not want to beat their wives because of the risk of damaging the baby, who in a man’s eye is worth money and needs to be healthy so people will buy it.

     Swift goes into detail about why society wouldn’t be able to eat older kids such as teenagers. Boys wouldn’t be good to eat because as they grow they become lean and leather like. Even though females could potentially make a nice meal, they need to be saved for breeding.

     Swift uses fake sources to give him credibility. He refers to well trusted people from all these different places to make his argument seem more sane. He never actually states the name of the people that agree with his proposal. Also, he might just want readers to think that the names of his sources are left out because those selected few that agreed with him don’t want their names to be associated with this touchy subject of “eating babies.” Swift’s final paragraph is his counter argument which actually, in a way, is his real argument. He proposes solutions to the famine and the oversized population of Ireland. As weird as Swift’s essay is, it catches the attention of people and can’t be forgotten or ignored.