Personal Opinion Essay: The Role Of Satire In Public Schools

I make it no secret that I personally despise satire. I feel it’s just another way of avoiding uncomfortable topics, and instead takes advantage of serious issues to mock and ridicule people and groups.

Satire in politics and social issues doesn’t solve any problems, it benefits one person or group. Its comedy preaches to those who believe a certain way and alienates those who don’t. If you joke about, or make light of a serious topic, rather than properly addressing it, then it’s not solving the problem. It’s just cowardice, shrinking away from the problem, and poking fun at it, without doing anything constructive to solve the issue.

To the uneducated, political and social satire may provide convincing arguments that can indeed sway election or public opinion. However, that’s not something to be marveled at. In the past, those less informed about a subject, or a person, have been easily swayed by one-sided, shallow propaganda and have gone on to topple governments or just ruin people’s lives. When used in politics or social issues, satire becomes another form of propaganda. It does not bring people together, it divides them, creates additional divisions, and solves none of them.
The people who buy into political satire today, are those who adamantly refuse to see both sides of an argument, stubbornly believing that they are right and the other side is composed entirely of