Al Franken is a Jewish Harvard graduate who made a name for himself in the 1970s during the inception of NBC’s Saturday Night Live. His wit shone through as a writer and then as an actor for the popular satirical show. When Franken’s role as the anchor of the “Weekend Update” came to an end, he picked up a pen and put his whimsical words on paper. Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations was the product of Franken’s liberalism and humor. Franken’s first political satire plays on the self-inflicting wounds of the conservative Republican Party – most notably Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Pat Buchanan, and Phil Gramm. The New York Times bestseller from 1996 hilariously satirizes the hypocrisy, erroneousness, and physique of the Grand Old Party.
Firstly, it is important to note the reasons why Jews are so prominent in politics and comedy. Jews have traditionally been the downtrodden of society: they have been perceived as Christ killers, financial exploiters, and deceitful traitors. Slayed during the Spanish Inquisition, by the Klu Klux Klan, and in the Holocaust, Jews have attempted to make progress for equality and equity. The passion for progress has driven many Jews into politics – overwhelmingly leaning towards liberalism and away from traditional intolerance. Politics is the platform for change. While Jews only constitute approximately 2.1% of the United States population, they account for 10% of the senate and 5% of the House of Representatives. However, out of all 32 Jewish congressmen, there is only one member of the Republican Party. In fact, Al Franken has recently been elected as senator of Minnesota under the Democratic Party. Furthermore, Jews have the highest percentage voter turnout out of all ethnic...
... middle of paper ...
...rdity of and scorn the GOP in the 1990s.
After all of the insults and ridicule that Franken directs towards the GOP, he actually talks politics. Although humor is a major component of satire – its greater purpose is to constructively and publically criticize society. Franken uses many techniques in order convey the Republicans’ self-inflicted wounds in a comical way: farce, hyperbole, ridicule, and irony. All of these techniques combine to form a political satire that comments on the misguided public discourse of certain conservatives. Franken’s Jewish heritage has influenced his humor and personality, allowing him to succeed as a comedian and political satirist. His works have influenced many modern day comedians such as Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert. Franken’s book revolutionized how political satire is conducted through his outrageous yet logical attacks.
In his essay, “The Good, The Bad, and The Daily Show,” Jason Zinser explores the vices and virtues of so-called “fake” news programs. “Fake” news, as Zinser explains, are those programs that blend newsworthy events with comedy. By examining The Daily Show, Zinser reveals both positive and negative impacts that “fake” news could have on society. As a result, Zinser concludes that there are benefits as well as potential problems with “fake” news programs but insists that the true challenge is determining the net impact on society. The essay, which first appeared in The Daily Show and Philosophy: Moments of Zen and the Art of Fake News in 2007, challenges experts on both sides of the argument who either claim fake news is for entertainment only or that fake news is an acceptable source for information on current events. On one hand, Zinser uses expert testimonies to support his argument that the end result is a better informed public but on the other, he makes logical arguments enhanced by examples to illustrate the potential impacts “fake” news can have on its viewers and mainstream media.
For example, the comedy shows The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon expresses satirical humor concerning politics. His show also demonstrates political satire by telling jokes and even impersonating political figures for the audience. He creates humor through sarcasm that focuses on real issues. His sarcastic humor causes others to feel more confident in their criticism toward politicians. For example, “Jimmy Fallon expresses his humor about Donald Trump, impersonating his appearance and imitating his voice while talking about politics. He uses his humor by impersonating Donald Trump and his sweeping generalizations with Madea (Rogo).” Jimmy Fallon shows people his views through humor and it creates a sense of community to express their agreeable and disagreeable views. As we discussed some ideas about satirical humor that affects political changes, it was important to reveal their feelings about changes in life and drove them to look upon their society or government more
Golden and Sarna. "The American Jewish Experience in the Twentieth Century: Antisemitism and Assimilation, The Twentieth Century, Divining America: Religion in American History, TeacherServe, National Humanities Center." The American Jewish Experience in the Twentieth Century: Antisemitism and Assimilation, The Twentieth Century, Divining America: Religion in American History, TeacherServe, National Humanities Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2014.
Stephen Medvic, In Defense of Politicians, discusses why Americans feel that politicians are dishonest. In 2007, a Gallup poll about honesty and ethical standards for occupations, showed that only 12 and 9 percent of people felt that Congressmen and State office holders held high standards, (Medvic p. 2). In addition, Americans tend to like their representatives more than the members of Congress because they view them as actual people. Americans view Congress as a group of politicians who are greedy and not representing their interests, (Medvic p. 4).
If one were to ask a New York resident in the 1950’s how many people he or she would expect to be living in New York sixty years from now, he would most likely not say 20 million. Among those 20 million, it is even more unfathomable that an estimated 1.7 million Jews reside within New York City, making New York home to over a quarter of the Jews living in America today . Amongst those Jews however, how many of them consider themselves religious? Seeing that only an estimated 10 percent of Jews today classify themselves as observant, how and when did this substantial dispersion occur? The period post World War II in America presents the many different factors and pressures for Jews arriving in America during this time. Although many Jews believed America would be the best place to preserve and rebuild Jewish presence in the world, the democracy and economic opportunity resulted in adverse effects on many Jews. The rate of acculturation and assimilation for many of these Jews proved to be too strong, causing an emergence of two types of Jews during this time period. Pressures including the shift to suburbanization, secular education into professional careers, covert discrimination in the labor market and the compelling American culture, ultimately caused the emergence of the passive and often embarrassed ‘American Jew’; the active ‘Jewish American’ or distinctly ‘Jewish’ citizen, avertedly, makes Judaism an engaging active component of who and what they are amidst this new American culture.
The Jewish people and culture have always been an integral part of western society. Many of society’s core values and outlooks derive from those of the Jews (Cahill 3). Every economy involved the Jews. Some of their most common professions were bankers and doctors; even when one neglects to consider the necessity of these professions, one must consider that just by existing they boosted the economy through commerce (Taft 1). The New York Times recorded that in London in 1902 it was “surprising how quickly they improve[d] their condition and beg[a]n to save money” and were building up a tailoring business to rival Germany (“Jewish Immigration Into London”). According to then-former President Taft, Jews in 1919 were given legal equality in every country except Romania and Russia, a...
George Denis Patrick Carlin, one of the greatest political comedians of all time has been not only doing political comedy acts for years, but writing and speaking about this topic for many years as well. In his article “I’m Divorced From It Now” Carlin argues his point as to why he has lost hope in his fellows American’s and “divorced” himself from society. Carlin was a man of absolute faith, absolute patriotism, but as he aged and continued his studies on politics and religion, he slowly lost what he used to have and his views changed. His goal as a comedian was not only to bring laughter to the everyday person in his audience, but it was also to bring awareness to the current topics of the world that obviously unnoticed. This was not
Comedian Jon Stewart gives a speech on the Daily Show during the “Rally to Restore Sanity/Fear”. He wants the viewers of the Daily Show to realize the difference between the real and fake threats and to take a humorous perspective on most of America’s “problems”. Stewart also emphasizes to his audience not to take every person on the media by his word and not to overreact to everything they hear. He uses metaphors, comparisons, and hypothetical examples to get his point across.
The book Thank You for Arguing has made a huge impact on how I argue not only in my essays, but in real life situations as well. I have enjoyed learning about the different fallacies or, as Heinrichs calls them, the “Seven deadly logical sins”, how to spot them, and where they are found the most. Although I have loved learning about rhetoric and fallacies, my favorite lesson by far has been the satire unit. I enjoy looking to see if someone's speech or essay is presented in satire form and how to differentiate between the speaker and author; I believe knowledge of satire to be an effective way of arguing and understanding other people's arguments. As much as i love learning satire, I always have trouble seeing if the passage is satire, and what the speaker is saying as opposed to the author. Rhetoric and satire can prove to be two crucial parts in arguing effectively and have both helped me immensely in shaping my
According to Everything’s an Argument by Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz, “Humor has always played an important role in argument…” (38). Humor itself is something that activates amusement or laughter. Moreover, in popular culture satire is a tool that is used to point out things in our society. Satire opens the minds of people to philosophies they might completely deny, using humor. There are many elements of satire that identify flaws within our society. A couple of satire elements that will be discussed are irony and exaggeration. In addition, a parody is used in popular culture as a way to mock or mimic situation or person.
Satire is the most powerful democratic weapon in the arsenal of modern media. Sophia McClennen, the author of America According to Colbert: Satire as Public Pedagogy, describes it as the modern form of public pedagogy, as it helps to educate the masses about current issues (73). In fact, ”a Pew Research Center for the People & the Press survey in 2004 found that 61 percent of people under the age of thirty got some of their political news from late-night comedy shows” (McClennen 73). This statistic shows how influential satirical shows such as The Colbert Report or South Park can be.
American political cartoons often follow the general displeasure of the government by the American people. They run the gamut from economics to foreign policy to the overwhelming popular topic of bureaucracy.
James Conroy argues that laughter in serious topics has been regarded through the ages as dangerous, deviant, and subversive; yet equally as refreshing, challenging, and constructive. Political humor is extensively used in almost all countries, but political satire is perceived differently from one country to another. The research question is as follows: what factors make political satire an effective tool that affects politics and policy? I argue that humor is more influential when blended with serious topics, such as international relations or politics. Laughter is a great means to put serious topics under the lenses of critical thinking. The use of humor, and political satire specifically can bring about serious political change. Humor can play all sorts of roles in the political process through being informative, educational and influential while keeping its captive entertaining
For many people comedy simply means getting a laugh out of something, but in reality, comedy can be used for more than that. Due to its volatility, stand-up comedy tends to draw criticism for being offensive and for spreading negative stereotypes. This, however, is a sign of social progress because it means that comedians are pushing social boundaries. Stories and expressions that are normally unacceptable are met with laughter and agreement when they are told on stage (Cohen 2). The fact that the content is sugar-coated in humor makes it easier to digest matters that are often looked at as being taboo. When the audience laughs at such taboo subjects it leads them to seek out and explore those subjects. When thinking about a comedian that talk about controversial topics, one comedian stands out the most in my mind and that is Dave Chappelle. Chappelle used his voice to challenge audiences to see the world from his perspective and discuss the institutional racism that African Americans faced in American society. The Chappelle Show served as a channel for his audience to navigate racism and racial
From the beginning days of the printing press to the always evolving internet of present day, the media has greatly evolved and changed over the years. No one can possibly overstate the influential power of the new media of television on the rest of the industry. Television continues to influence the media, which recently an era of comedic television shows that specialize in providing “fake news” has captivated. The groundbreaking The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and its spin-off The Colbert Report have successfully attracted the youth demographic and have become the new era’s leading political news source. By parodying news companies and satirizing the government, “fake news” has affected the media, the government, and its audience in such a way that Bill Moyers has claimed “you simply can’t understand American politics in the new millennium without The Daily Show,” that started it all (PBS).