Extra Credit - Satire

Satire is a form of literary writing that many authors use. When using satire,things in our society are usually ridiculed and shown to the world in a different light. Satire doesn't only create humor about the subject, but it can also create social criticism using different words as help fix problems in the society. Today's forms of satire can be found in many places including sae isn't something that has come out recently, its been around for an extremely long time. One of the earliest examples of satire is The Satire of the Trades. It is an Egyptian writing from the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C. The readers of this text were students, tired of studying. It argues that their lot as scribes is useful, and their lot far superior to that of ordinary men. Some scholars thought the text was supposed to be serious but this was the beginning of satire.
For many writersand movie producers satire is used as one of their main weapons. H.L. Mencken, a social critic, said that “one horse-laugh is worth then thousand syllogisms” in the persuasion of the public to accept criticism. You could say that satire is trying to “correct” social behavior. “The reason satirists don’t just write moral stories encouraging people to good worth, and the reason they feel warranted in showing his anger and fury at the common faults and vices of men is that the satirist's world is not a world of basic good accidentally gone astray, where every man would seek good if he know how or were shown the way, but rather it is one of fools who either claim to possess virtue already, or who have already rejected it, claiming that vice is (or is as good as) virtue. “ (Robert Harris). What this quote is saying is that you can’t just show naive man facts and try and make him change but you can show him the same thing but in a satirical way and he thinks that maybe change could be possible. He gets to figure out the idea of change by himself.
Often time’s authors use satire to get their ideas across to others. Satirical authors often mock society in the way they feel it would be in the future, if actions the society takes goes to far. Satire does have a flaw though. Sometimes the only people who understand the meaning of satire are the people who agree with the satire’s criticism. If a person doesn’t agree with the satire’s criticism they might see the text as unsophisticated or stupid. An example of this scenario is the television show South Park. This show is said to be one of the greatest form of satire that was a production in the history of television. Many people think that South Park is hilarious and they love to watch it but others find the show stupid, and immature. Satire can raise valid points about society but its nearly impossible to point out an error that is normal in a culture when many people are so fixed in their culture. So to many satire becomes wuite irrelevant when bringing up social problems. Satire is definitely essential to a free society. Satirists often are forerunners of error in a society. Satirists end up exposing “evils” that we commit every day. For example, a person being mislead in an advertisement and still buying that product. When people do this they end up giving advertisers power to keep misleading consumers. Satire still being around also shows how free of a society we have. We have the ability to point out a flaw in such a manner where it makes fun of the flaw. Luckily we have the ability to criticize powers that people don’t understand. Satire hardly has the ability to be a force of change in society because it is so limited but not everyone has to hear a satirists “voice” for their ideas to be heard. Because society can change because one person heard or read something.
Satire is definitely also a form of persuasion. The tone satirists use can often be read as persuasion or irony. It can plant a seed in a persons’ head and make them think.The text has an underlying meaning that sometimes a person can understand and sometimes a person just cant read between the lines. Satirical televisions shows are getting to be extremely popular now-a-days. Many satirical shows include; David Letterman, Saturday Night Live and the Colbert Report. Televisions seems to be the easiest way for satirist to get a point across because it is understood with humor involved. Another famous satirical work is A Modest Proposal by Jonathon Swift. In his writing he expresses the need for the people of Ireland to start eating children of the poor. He explains that by eating these poor children, it will let the wealthy people and their children thrive along with the community. Swift is trying to promote the consumption of one-year-old children to eliminate the growing number of poor citizens in Ireland. He uses an extreme form of irony to point out the inhumane conditions in colonized Ireland.
Satire can be extremely entertaining for people a days, and it also tries to voice an opinion on problems in society today. Satire can use irony, sarcasm, ridicule, to expose folly. Satire can be seen as a way for people to explain their concerns about something and maybe someone might read or see what they have to say and decide they believe in the same cause. Satire is definitely something that isn’t a recent thing, its been around for an extremely long time. Satirical writers try to shine light on things that many people might never have brought up but they put a humerous twist on it. It makes it almost easier to read and understand. Even though satire doesn’t  ve a great impact on society it does bring up problems that are usually not shown and shows them in a different light, whereas they would usually be shown hidden.