Is Satire dead?

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Blog Post #2

Modern Satire is much different than satire in Dryden’s era. In fact, even the existence of modern satire is debated. The Daily Beast’s Ted Gioia discussed the problems with modern satire and how it overuses fake news stories to try to be satirical. He even says that satire is dead. Sometimes its hard to tell the difference and sometimes the word "Satire" for some satirical sites should be debated. These news sites are filled with excessive hyperbole, which Dryden in "The Author's Apology for Heroic Poetry and Heroic License" said a great satirist should use in moderation 

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The Internet seems a likely culprit if satire is truly dead. Consider that in Dryden’s era the general populace did not have the means to instantly reply to a subject through a worldwide system, they had to be able to write and get published. It is far easier to post something publicly today.  Some people use satire as an excuse for bad writing. Basically, they say that they were only trying to be satirical when criticized for bad writing.

Internet satire sites such as The Onion exist, though Gioia states that only a few articles could work as decent satire, while most of its modern offerings have lost their strength. He mentions that it appears modern society might be too easily offended for satire to flourish. It seems online society revolves too much on popularity and ad revenue to offer decent satire. After all, it might drive away clicks since it could offend someone. This goes against what Dryden did when he mocked Shadwell in “Mac Flecknoe” by calling his satires inoffensive. He also was pretty offensive when he derogatorily compared Shadwell to the Irish, a line that would not be acceptable in today's society.  

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There still exists dangers of writing satire today as there was in Dryden’s era, though in modern times it will likely not land a satirist in court. Recall from the Introduction that Daniel Defoe was one of many arrested for “seditious libel” (2188) and sent to the stocks for one of his satires. While libel suits still exist, it is not as easy to get arrested for libel as it was then. Now a satirist is more likely to be attacked online, which could come in the form of hateful comments, death threats, or other forms of internet

Image-based satire is far more prevalent today than in Dryden’s time, due to how much easier it is to make and distribute images. While Political cartoons have existed for a long time as satire, internet memes have also been discussed as a form of satire. Memes are often filled with the hyperbole and catachreses that Dryden talked about using sparingly in "The Author's Apology for Heroic Poetry and Heroic License".

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Noggle, James and Lipking, Lawrence "Introduction"
The Norton Anthology of English Literature 9th Edition: Volume C: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century. 2170-2205 Norton & Company

Dryden, John "Mac Flecknoe." The Norton Anthology of English Literature 9th Edition: Volume C: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century. 2237-2242. 1682

Dryden, John. "The Author's Apology for Heroic Poetry and Heroic License." The Norton Anthology of English Literature 9th Edition: Volume C: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century. 1677

Gioia, Ted The Death of Satire. The Daily Beast, 2015. https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-death-of-satire