Does satire offend you?

Nope, it does not.

Nope

Done well, no.

Goofiest questions?
Sorry. Wrong thread.

Nurp.

Satire? No.

Insensitivity / social retardation? Kinda.

I’m with PupnTaco, I have limits to my tolerance.

It depends on the degree of the satire,
if it’s intelligent or somewhat tasteful, then it does not offend me.
But if its completely insensitive or it hits home on something really personal that happened to me, it might hurt my feelings a little bit.
But if the person making the joke had no idea about my background i would not be mad at them at all.

I certainly would be offended by the examples you gave. Suicide and 9–11 are not and will never be laughing matters.

I don’t think it’s funny when people make jokes just for shock value. It’s uncreative.

@cd: You can make a Pearl Harbor joke. Trust me, everything gets old enough to be made into a joke eventually.

There is a line between smart satire and dumb jokes. The latter being told by idiots who put no thought in their comedy, the other being the witty dissection of trivialities of touchy situations

I’m fine with satire as long as it is not mean spirited and doesn’t humiliate anyone.

@AstroChuck, I could just as easily have been “Most Entertaining Questions” as a matter of fact that is what I meant to type. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it

Satire, and I’m just going to wing this definition without looking it up, is as far as I’m concerned a way to point out the absurdity in something by using humor. So, if you’re doing it right, it really shouldn’t offend anybody in my opinion. Example, if someone says something idiotic, if you make fun of what they said in a way that points out the absurdity/stupidity of what they said using humor, that is not offensive, whereas if you say, ‘whattareya, stupid?” then it IS offensive (and not satire).

too many people have no clue as to what real satire is. Dalepetrie got it right on with his definition. Making jokes about suicide when someone mentions a friend that offed themselves isn’t satire, its insensitive stupidity. But in today’s world, some people think that being mean is the same as being funny. It isn’t, its just retarded.

Satire is an art form, and there are too many people with about as much talent for doing satire as there are country songs with lousy grammar.

Satire as such, no, not at all. When something I hold dear is satirized, it does, in a humph sort of way (but not in an omigod how dare he, arrest him, he should be shot and there oughta be a law sort of way). It’s perfectly ok for me to be offended. It’s not fatal, and I don’t happen to believe that everyone is entitled to be spared all such affronts to their precious sensibilities. Satire is no good unless it offends somebody (although it’s not the offending that makes it good, of course), and I’m willing to take my turn on the coals.

@ cdwccrn & jessturtle23 (as examples only) as well as this question in general… satire, being offended, insensitivity, etc. are all subjective.
I’ll go out on a limb and say that most of the people on here would completely disapprove of “dead baby” jokes, but they exist. Not only that but they’re often laughed at. It’s all based on the audience.
As with songs on the radio, TV shows, and most other publicly accessible things, if you don’t like it don’t watch/listen to it.

Obviously just my opinion.

Satire, done correctly, is like a slender sword skewering those it attacks. It sucks you in, because you believe the scene is being played straight, and then it subtly turns, and suddenly you realize it is saying the opposite of what it purported to be.

It’s fun to satirize things you hate. Like the Bush administration and it’s choices that they believed would lead to good, but we all knew would be disastrous. Yeah, sure, deregulating the financial industry, and letting the mortage lenders lend to anyone they want; that’s a really good idea! Here we go along happily bouncing to ruin!

Of course, if liberals are skewered, I’m not so happy, although I wouldn’t say I’m offended. Satire, it seems to me, is one big reason why they say “the pen is mightier than the sword.”

To be honest, I have no problem with dead baby jokes, and I’m quite liberal…I just think you need to realize that a joke is a joke.

I must have a really poor sense of humor. I never mind jokes about subjects that can embarrassing; dating, sex; family situations, personality types, etc. But the minute you venture into those subjects like visual appearances, ethnicity, suicide, dead babies…I get squirm in my seat uncomfortable. I wasn’t raised in a home where anybody had special needs but my mother was very sensitive about those things. One time my brother mocked a deaf persons speech and my mother made him stuff cotton in his ears for 2 days. All I remember is him being really angry and speaking loudly. Anyway, I suppose we all have different sensitivity chips.

I understand how people get sensitive about certain things, and yes, I understand when humor is mean spirited, but I think it can be in fun and not be mean spirited. Look at the Farelly Brothers (auteurs of such fine cinema as Dumb and Dumber and There’s Something About Mary). Almost every one of their films features “differently abled” individuals and they serve for comedic effect, but I don’t think the humor is ever mean spirited or exploitative. Look at that movie they did with Johhny Knoxville where he pretended to be “special” so he could get into the Special Olympics, yeah there was a lot of “tard humor”, but the atheletes were portrayed like human beings with a lot to offer the world, and in a way I think if you can laugh at our differences it destigmatizes them. I personally think it’s far more destructive to try to use language to avoid reality. I don’t like terms like “differently abled” or “handicapable”, I think these types of things are far more offensive than jokes that make light of these differences. I’ve got no problem with words like handicapped, crippled or retarded, these words were all invented to meaningfully describe a state of being, it is the stigma of the condition which makes these words unpallatable after a while and therefore those who just can’t handle the truth or the guilt it brings with it will seek to cushion the blow with language, and I say that’s BS.

Satire can be done somewhat respectfully and I like a clever and thoughtful joke even if it hits close to home.
The border of appeal to me involves stuff that’s gratuitously vulgar and bluntly derogatory for shock-value.

For my tastes, using a Sasha Baron Cohen index :
– Borat, thumbs down
– The Dictator, thumbs up