What Happened to Satire By: Daryan Walden

When you think of satirical writing, the first thing that pops into your head is likely 1984 or Animal Farm By George Orwell. Why is that? Well, it's a classic and very influential in academia. However, can you name a satirical piece of writing from the last 10 years? For most of you, the answer is probably no. I believe this is because socio-political humor in satirical writing does not work well in the modern day in age. Today, politics are polarizing. What was formerly a dinner-time topic has become taboo to discuss in most places. The culture has shifted to where writing a piece consisting of political jokes won’t be sought after. The piece may even be viewed as offensive given the ideology that it is making jokes of. This is where cancel-culture interferes with the ability for any satirical writing to thrive, as making jokes on controversial and sensitive topics are often responded with backlash.

Due to the current political climate and social state, it's burdening to write and publish satirical discourse, as majority of readers won’t want to touch it. So now, you are engaging with a very limited audience with a niche sense of humor. There is a chance you will offend half of them given the nature of satire, thus limiting your pool of readers even more.

Satire no longer has a place in our contemporary culture. It is unfortunate, as it is a great test of writing skill of making jokes about political topics that often the politically informed individual will understand. Whereas, in modern literature, everything you need to understand the text fully is often just in the text. It can be appreciated without needing to know the political context. The time it takes to be informed enough to appreciate satire is often not possible for the common reader. To be informed will take less time away from reading and more time digesting politics.

This is not accounting for the fact that less people read now as films and other media have taken the forefront in western culture. Is satire dead? I do not think so, as there are a handful out of the millions of people who do appreciate it. Is it dying? It might be on a steady decline. However, there is always room for a cultural shift down the road where political humor gains popularity once more and satire rises again.