Tag Archives: satire

“You can’t be satirical and not be offensive to *someone*.”

I heard this on my iPod rotation this morning, and was reminded of what it was like to listen to people who made no pretension of being politically correct:

I really have a yen/To go back once again,
Back to the place/Where no one wears a frown –
To see once more those /Super-special just plain folks
In my hometown.

No fella could ignore/The little girl next door.
She sure looks sweet/In her first evening gown.
Now there’s a charge/For what she used to give for free
In my hometown.

I remember Dan/The drugist on the corner.
He was never mean or ornery/He was swell!
He killed his mother-in-law/And grounded her real well,
And sprinkled just a bit/Over each banana split

The guy who taught us math/Who never took a bath
Acquired a certain/Measure of renown.
And after school he sold/The most amazing pictures
In my hometown.

That fella was no fool/Who taught our Sunday School,
And neither was our/Kindly Parson Brown.
(We’re recording tonight so I’ll to leave this bit out)
In my hometown.

I remember Sam!/He was the village idiot,
And thought it seems/A pity it was so.
He loved to burn down houses/Just to watch the glow.
And nothing could be done/Because he was the mayor’s son.

The guy that took a knife/And monogrammed his wife
And dropped her in the pond/And watched her drown.
Oh yes, indeed, the people there/Are just plain folks
In my hometown.

Here’s the audio

Tom Lehrer didn’t care a whiff about objections to his songs. He figured that those who didn’t like what he sang could turn off the radio or change the station.

And I thought *my* layoff was tough…

INNER DISK, ANDROMEDA GALAXY–Thanking the spiral-shaped celestial body for its 6.8 billion years of tireless service, Our Lord and Divine Creator announced Thursday His “very difficult decision” to close down the Andromeda Galaxy for good.

“Nobody every wants to have to do something like this, but operating Andromeda on a daily basis has grown impractical and I can’t in good conscience keep it going,” God said of the incomprehensibly massive nebula, which is home to more than 1 trillion stars and an untold number of planetary objects.

“So much has changed since I brought it into being, and to be honest, it’s just not working out the way I’d hoped.”

A spokesman for the Supreme Being issued an apology to Andromeda’s 750 quadrillion resident life-forms, who as of midnight Eastern Time on May 15 will cease to exist.

(from the Onion News Service):

Jon Stewart says it all

You don’t get a better rundown of how the media ridicules religions than The Daily Show:

(click on the picture to see the video)

South Park, along with many other media products, have mercilessly satirized every known religion (including such oddities as Rosicruscianism) without anyone taking particular notice (save for the odd lawsuit)…

…except Islam. It seems that depicting Muhammed in any meaningful way, even when he’s depicted in a bear suit, makes you the object of death threats and general maliciousness, and the subject of censorship on the part of the very television network that carries your show.

From Revolution Muslim:

“We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them.”

Sounds like a death threat to me, assholes.

“The object of art is to give life a shape.”

There is a notion in the study of aesthetics (the philosophy of art) that says that great art reduces complex concepts, containing tens or hundreds of ideas and opinions, and takes them to the perceptual level–i.e., such art makes complex ideas simple to see and understand.

Mike Stanfill does this regularly, and damnit! He makes me wish I could draw.