Satire and the Election

Alllllright, so recently in class we’ve been talking about satire and one of the examples that was brought up was how satire is commonly used in SNL skits. This year, the majority of their satire was focused on the election. As we all know, satire is used to make a point by using humor, but can it also change people’s points of view? I’ve watched nearly allllll of the election skits on SNL and in my opinion, most of the banter was pointed at McCain and his running mate Palin. Yeah it was REALLY funny and I am totally 100% an Obama girl, but I can’t help but think that these skits influenced people about who they chose for the election.

Palin was probably made fun of the most, she was an easy target because she’s a white house outcast from Alaska, she talks weird, (you betcha) and Tina Fey was a nearly EXACT look a like. They gave her a lot of crap about the VP debates, in one skit, they even said that “If Governor Palin does not throw up, faint, or runaway, this debate should be considered a tie.”

They also put a lot of emphasis on the whole “I can see Russia from my window” and who can forget the replay of her failed interview?

All in all, although I found these skits to be funny and I personally think that Palin is not exactly the brightest crayon in the box, I can’t help but think that SNL might have made fun of her to the point that it affected the outcome of the election. Look at it this way, there are people who really don’t pay that much attention to politics, but they vote anyways. They watch shows like SNL that are paying particular attention to the stupidies of Palin, and then come election day, they cast a vote for Obama because of what they have seen on satire media. I’m by no means saying that this kind of stuff shouldn’t be allowed, we have the right to say whatever the heck we want to say and publicize whatever we want, I’m merely pointing out the fact that although something is comical, it can sometimes be taken too seriously and have more of an affect on us then we know.

Dresden Garbage

So I understand that this was a significant event and all, but honestly, this class is titled COLLEGE LITERATURE not WAR HISTORY. (I can't take credit for that, it was Agray's opinion) Why are we reading alllllllll of this extra garbage on Dresden? Yeah, we should have a BIT of a background on it if we are reading the book, but shouldn't the actual book be discussed in class first? I'm not the only one that thinks this too. This book is entertaining, but it's confusing. We should be discussing the ideas behind the book and what the author is trying to say and why he is writing it in this particular style first.

Speaking of the style of this book, what's with this whole time travel thing? Is Billy conscious of what is going on? How are the time jumps connected? Is this actually happening, or is it all part of Billy's imagination? Maybe there are no legitimate answers to these questions, but I personally think that we should be discussing what the class needs to know, instead of some garbage that no one wants to read about in the first place.

Craaazzzy Little Man...

Soooooooo about this Weary character…I find him to be quite funny actually. Of course, he is a little creepy, what with the freaky ninja weapons and the disturbing pony picture, but otherwise, he’s kind of amusing. I just get this image of this little toad-like guy all bundled up and running back and forth; delivering fake messages like a child would during a pretend game. Plus, the whole scene where he is beating up Billy, that was funny. Billy is this tall, calm, lanky guy. All he probably has to do is hold Weary’s head while he tries to kick him, like what older siblings do to younger annoying siblings. Instead, he just takes it and lets this teeny little guy beat the crap out of him. It just looks weird in my head and it makes me laugh a bit.
However, I do wonder about what made Weary this way. In my opinion, he is like a new little kid at school, just trying to be accepted, particularly by the older kids. It’s a bit sad in a pathetic way, he tries to get “in” with people, but all he does is push them away with his strangeness and his anger. The more he gets denied, the more upset he gets and the more he tries to get accepted. In the book, it mentioned how Weary would hook up with kids more pathetic then him, just for companionship, but then would beat them up because no one else liked him and he wanted the others to accept him, not some pathetic kid. In a way, it’s kind of like his relationship with Billy and the two scouts. The scouts are the older kids who won’t accept Weary, so he buddies up with Billy. Billy doesn’t have proper clothing and he bobs when he walks, making him more of a loser then Weary. He’s nice to Billy at first, trying to keep him going, just like any friend would. However, it’s not enough for him, because although he has Billy, he wants to be friends with the cool scouts. So, upon abandonment, he gets angry and takes it out on Billy. Its all one vicious cycle of a funny, yet creepy character.