Archive of entries posted on 3rd May 2019

Why We Satire

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I stumbled across a piece from 2008 in The Guardian talking about satire, and how Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin impression is the reason John McCain lost.

Maybe, maybe not. But I find the following observation intriguing, especially when applied to Obama:

A presidential candidate can sidestep a controversial issue such as the grim spectre of another Great Depression. A candidate can dance around two failed wars, a trillion-dollar deficit, the instantaneous disappearance of several million jobs, or having a bunch of high-level cabinet posts staffed by clowns.

But not even the most gifted candidate can defend himself against the combined, cohesive forces of unilaterally condescending satire. Those whom the gods would destroy they first make ridiculous.

This explains why no one was allowed to mock Obama. If he’d gotten all he had coming to him, he wouldn’t have survived.

For the record, though, I don’t satire because I want to ruin a politician’s career. I just like having fun.

Instead of getting angry and yelling at the bad and the dumb – which is quite exhausting – I mock them as cleverly an entertainingly as I can, which spreads joy amongst the people who share my values.

Also – bonus – it’s actually more hurtful to the bad and the dumb.

Disney Strikes Back! Tells Bernie Sanders No, HE Should Make 22 Blockbuster Movies in a Previously Unprofitable Genre

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“When I’m President, I’m going to snap my fingers and make half of the rich people’s money disappear”

HOLLYWOOD (AP) – In response to Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ tweeted suggestion that Disney should “[use] its profits from Avengers to pay all of its workers a middle class wage,” Disney CEO Bob Iger responded that the real solution was for more socialists like Bernie Sanders to make 22 profitable, high-budget movies in a genre that had heretofore only experienced mild and sporadic success.

“Mr. Sanders is correct,” observed Iger. “There is a problem in America today, and it’s that too much wealth is concentrated in the wrong hands. Politicians in Washington take all your money and spend it on boring, stupid stuff like goat farm subsidies and art exhibits made out of bodily fluids. When Disney takes your money, you get 22 amazing Marvel movies. Socialism can’t even give you a Stan Lee cameo.”

“I think the solution to America’s problem is clear,” Iger said. “Bernie Sanders should take all the money he’s ever made and pour it into a dicey movie genre that nobody watches anymore, like beach comedies, westerns, mismatched buddy cops, outlaw bikers, blaxploitation, or something starring a sentient Volkswagen. After 22 consecutive successes, maybe he’ll be able to pay his interns more than $12 an hour.”

At press time, Mr. Sanders had not responded to Iger’s suggestion. Also silent was Warner Brothers, makers of the DC comics movies. Probably out of fear that doing so might Green Lantern their Twitter account.

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Geek Stuff: Old Posts Getting Lots of Reader Love

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Even though the old IMAO blog was abandoned in late 2008 in favor of this one, the old blog is still getting visits. We were looking at the logs from 2019, and found there are some really old posts and pages that get hundreds of visits. Here’s what we found that you’re looking at:

I Disagree With You, So You Must Be Murderous
Posted by Frank J. on 12 February 2004, 8:22 am

Several hundred people have visited that page this year. The funny thing is there are no comments. Now, that’s not to say there haven’t been any, but we removed all the spam (we think) and all the ones that contained mostly profanity. This post lost all its comments as a result. Now I feel sad for poor murderous Frank J. [Edit: the comments now show, though the counter still says “0”]

Next was the Author Page for Laurence Simon. That really surprised me since he stopped writing regularly here in 2007. Apparently his work is still being sought. Cat lovers, probably.

Third most visited was:
In My World: North Koreans Say that Sactions Will Mean They Will Commit a Violent Suicide
Posted by Frank J. on 8 January 2003, 8:55 am

With North Korea in the news lately, it’s not surprising that people searching for reliable information would wind up on one of Frank J.’s posts.

Next was the Author Page for Harvey. Which seems odd to me, since Harvey has many more posts since 2008 on his new Author page. They’re combined now, so whoever has been hitting that page (hundreds of hits in 2019) will see his more recent work. Unless they’re trying to avoid it.

In the fifth spot, with hundreds of visits this year, is the Category Page for In My World. The In My World posts have always been popular, but why so many hits on the old category page instead of the new category page? I dunno. Maybe you got an idea.

Next was the Monthly Archive Page for July 2005. That kinda makes sense. In addition to posts from Frank J. and Harvey, there were many posts from RightWingDuck, SpaceMonkey, Cadet Happy, Scott McCollum, plus a couple from Aquaman. It’s a good example of why people flocked to IMAO.

Seventh most visited legacy IMAO page was:
Hippies Accidentally Create World’s Largest Mercedes Sign
Posted by Harvey on 25 June 2008, 11:57 am

Harvey has been writing fake but not so fake news for some time. That’s a good example.

The eighth spot was the Category Page for Precision Guided Humor posts. That actually surprises me. While they were very popular back then, that whole thing kinda stopped years ago. Check it out if you wanna remember those days.

The Category Page for Editorials was the ninth most visited legacy IMAO page for 2019 (so far). I was surprised until I discovered that there have been only seven of those on the new (post 2008) blog. So, it makes plenty of sense.

The tenth spot was the Category Page for SarahK’s TV stuff. That was from when Sarah K had time to both watch TV and write about it.

Of the top ten, only three were actual individual posts.

If you’re curious about the top ten individual posts from that era that are still getting vistis, the next seven posts are:

It’s Fun to Be Spiteful
Posted by Frank J. on 19 April 2003, 12:19 pm

Space Belongs to Capitalists
Posted by Frank J. on 6 January 2003, 1:56 pm

Office Dares
Posted by Frank J. on 18 August 2005, 3:57 pm

Frank Discussions: Donald Rumsfeld
Posted by Frank J. on 18 April 2003, 10:39 am

Meet Tulio
Posted by Frank J. on 3 October 2003, 7:16 pm

Frank Discussions: John Derbyshire
Posted by Frank J. on 22 March 2004, 7:05 am

A Call to Arms – The Most Important Post I’ve Written
Posted by Frank J. on 13 August 2003, 9:07 pm

I was surprised to see how many hits the old pages are still getting, simply because there’s much less visibility to them. Bringing the older posts into the current site ought to make the bean counters happy.

Mmmm. Beans.