satire

[cacian]

does satire justify the role of literature?

if something is absurd logically one would wish it to become unabsurd.
to cause it more absurdity causes to go one for a bit longer.

[Ecurb]

Logic and absurdity are eminently compatible, as anyone familiar with Lewis Carroll's logic puzzles can tell you.

[Pompey Bum]

Satire is a barb I save for those who reject respectful argument.

[YesNo]

Satire does seem too harsh. Rather than asking if satire justifies literature, one might ask whether literature justifies the harshness of satire when more lighthearted irony or comedy would work as well.

I do like the word "unabsurd".

[Pompey Bum]

Satire is of less literary worth than comedy (as a more expansive concept). Still, it has been said that the measure of a free society is its ability to tolerate an Aristophanes or a Plautus. And one need only consider the fate of Ovid to take that proposition very seriously. Certainly the Charlie Hebdo killings reflected an assault on freedom of thought. No, no, I think I will keep that barb in my quiver. I trust myself to use it justly.

[YesNo]

Tolerance is a measure of how free a society is, but what is a "free society"? I suspect a free society is almost identical to an economically prosperous society or a society in which the members believe they are economically prosperous. In that society both the governed and those governing have better things to do than restrict the freedoms of others.

I don't know much about the Charlie Hebdo incident, but such violence makes me if wonder if the social mood is turning more intolerant because it feels impoverished.

[Pompey Bum]

I don't know much about the Charlie Hebdo incident, but such violence makes me if wonder if the social mood is turning more intolerant because it feels impoverished.

Perhaps I'm biased, but I see it as a much greater assault on Enlightenment ideals. If one already has all the answers, then why discuss? What argue? How upsetting! Some have even suggested that rational discourse is a form of psychological or spiritual violence. I do not know if it a matter of poverty, but certainly an element of globalization is involved. Boko Haram means: "western education is sin," doesn't it? Students are being massacred from Nigeria to Pakistan for having anything to do with it. And in the West, we play games with PC and other secular orthodoxies, while the ranks of those who are even educated for rational discourse are degraded as the middle class becomes increasingly divided between drones and elites. I don't mean to be too pessimistic, but I do not think it bodes well for the future. And honestly, I don't care if it disturbs some: give me Charlie Hebdo any day.

[Clopin]

lol good post

[YesNo]

I don't mean to be too pessimistic, but I do not think it bodes well for the future. And honestly, I don't care if it disturbs some: give me Charlie Hebdo any day.

We might be in agreement. I do suspect we are on the verge of an economic deflationary depression sometime this decade. We probably deserve it.

[Pompey Bum]

Hey! In the immortal words of Tonto: What you mean "we"? :)