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COLUMN: The joke's on us

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From: University Wire
Date: 20061130
Author:Armin Rosen

Armin Rosen
University Wire
11-30-2006
(Columbia Daily Spectator) (U-WIRE) NEW YORK -- In his "Devil's Dictionary," Ambrose Bierce made the commonsensical observation that satire simply does not work if its audience lacks proper appreciation for it. More insightful an observation was his reason why this might be: "All humor," Bierce wrote, is at its core "tolerant and sympathetic" -- in Bierce's opinion, to view humor as ever being condescending or genuinely malicious is to misunderstand it. "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" is a ...

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