Political satire and the WWW

Although Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert may be to thank for the legitimizing satire as political commentary in this day and age, nothing tells it like it is more than a good Saturday Night Live sketch, and the latest one by Tina Fey as Sarah Palin is classic SNL at its best.  
 
But although the likes of SNL have legitimized political satire, YouTube is to thank for popularizing it.  Because thanks to the World Wide Web, we not only have Amy Poehler posing as Hillary Clinton on SNL, but a variety of Hillary impersonators on a homemade Hillary Show.  And now, just days after Sarah Palin’s now-infamous interview with Charles Gibson (“Bush doctrine?  What’s that?”), we have LisaNova’s take on it, to laugh and cry about.  

I’ve often grappled with the idea of the Internet as being inherently democratic in nature.  The beauty of the World Wide Web is that it does not discriminate, and on any issue worth discussing, one can find the good, the bad, and the ugly.  But there’s the rub: the ugly.   When allowed to creep in, as in a democracy, seemingly inconsequential and unhelpful add-ons to a discussion run the risk of diluting the salience of the issues.  Thus, something like rumermongering, like slanted critiquing, can harm the very end goals of a democratic process of discussion.

Should I say the same for grassroots political satire online?  I don’t know.  I’d like to think that if it ups the ante on any discussion of current events, then it counts.  But I’ll have to think about that some more.  In the meantime, watch bits of the original interview on BBC World.  Then, watch LisaNova’s take on it, and thank the YouTube gods for her existence.  

After laughing a bit, you may find it leaves a bad taste in your mouth, as the grim reality of what a Palin election could look like sets in.  But you quickly come to your senses, roll your eyes, realize how stupid that thought is (“It’s just a comedy sketch!”), and quickly forget your discomfort.  Until you read about the Palin interview in the papers again, and remember not just one, but both interviews.

Filed under: Uncategorized , election, political commentary, youtube