Monday, January 06, 2020

Angry at Satire

People are very upset at the Babylon Bee because some people sharing their stories don't recognise that it's satire.  They think something should be done about this, though they aren't sure what.

Just for perspective, my uncle, a Mensa member who trained as an engineer at Northeastern after WWII, used to send me articles from The Onion about Republicans or conservatives, thinking they were real.  He wasn't the only one.  I got a few at work, from more than one person with a graduate degree.

I have never had anyone send me a BB article as if it were true.

So this seems like selective outrage to me, from personal experience.

5 comments:

Christopher B said...

The complaints are likely coming from the same people who get their 'news' from Stephen Colbert, Conan O'Brien, or, back in the day, Jon Stewart.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

I'll bet there's a fair bit of truth in that.

RichardJohnson said...

It is difficult to parody the leftys/libs/progs/Demos--a.k.a. the other side of the aisle- because one can write what is supposed to be satire on them, only to find out that a prominent member has already said it.

The reason the other side of the aisle is so worked up at the Babylon Bee is because deep in their hearts, they consider it quite plausible that the Bee is quoting one of their crowd. They see the Babylon Bee as uncovering Kinsley gaffs. Kinsley gaffs, they reason, should not be publicized- if one of the leftys etc. utters them.

RichardJohnson said...

If one wanted to create a satire of a deranged Democrat who will damn Trump no matter what Trump does or doesn't do, consider the following.
Demo reaction to the attack on the US embassy:

"The attack on our embassy in Baghdad is horrifying but predictable," XXX tweeted. "Trump has rendered America impotent in the Middle East. No one fears us, no one listens to us. America has been reduced to huddling in safe rooms, hoping the bad guys will go away. What a disgrace."

The same Demo reacting to Soleimani's being killed:

"Soleimani was an enemy of the United States. That’s not a question. The question is this - as reports suggest, did America just assassinate, without any congressional authorization, the second most powerful person in Iran, knowingly setting off a potential massive regional war?" XXX tweeted.

This is a good example of "satire" about a Demo who damns Trump if he does, and damns Trump if he doesn't.Except this is not satire. The tweets came from Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT).Sen. Chris Murphy condemns Soleimani airstrike days after claiming 'no one fears' US during embassy assault.

Sam L. said...

The BEE has a very sharp and looooong stinger to get waaaay in deep. Lefties just can't STAND that.