A Non-Partisan Look at Political Satire

Political Satire: Provoking Change

When looking at the effectiveness of humor when trying to make a political statement, there are a vast number of sources that may be described. Looking back through history, we find reasons why humor has been associated when someone is giving his or her views on political issues.

One of the first instances of humor when wanting someone to understand your political viewpoint would be found hidden in nursery rhymes, or other popular verses. One of the most well-known were in reference to Mary, Queen of Scots, or Bloody Mary, as she was often called by the people of Scotland.
The cousin of Elizabeth I, Mary became the Queen of Scotland when she was only an infant, since she was an only child. She spent most of her childhood in France, and was brought up in the Catholic Church. After returning to Scotland to fulfill her reign as Queen, she was ill-received, as the majority of the Scottish people had converted to the Prodestant church and no longer agreed with the teachings of the Catholic religion.

As a married, beautiful, and free-spirited woman, she had numerous adulterous affairs, which many people, knew about. Due to the influence of the puritanical Scots, one of them was murdered by her husband’s orders. To make matters worse, he was murdered in front of the Queen.

After her son was born, the Queen’s husband was murdered. The belief of the Scots was that the Queen herself ordered his death in retribution for killing her lover. As a result of her handiwork, the Scots overruled her and had her banished from Scotland, and later forced her to sign her own execution after years in exile.

Since the Queen was extremely quick to use the guillotine, the public had to find a way to voice their opinions without Bloody Mary knowing exactly what they were talking about. One such instance was in the nursery rhyme, "Little Bo Peep".

"Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep
And can’t tell where to find them.
Leave them alone, and they’ll all come home
Wagging their tails behind them" (Harrowen, pg. 160)

This was a parody of how the Queen treated the people of Scotland. The "sheep" being the people of Scotland, and Little Bo Peep referring to Queen Mary. She believed that while in exile, sooner or later the people of Scotland would invite her home to fulfill her reign, and that they would welcome her home with open arms. Another popular nursery rhyme that is directly related to Bloody Mary is:

"Mary, Mary quite contrary
Where does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells
Pretty maids, all in a row." (Harrowen, pg. 160)

There are conflicting stories as to what exactly the people of Scotland were referring to. Some believe that the tone of the rhyme suggests the parody of her flirtatious behavior, and that the term "Pretty maids" refers to her ladies-in-waiting whose names were all "Mary".

Others believe that this was a much more somber nursery rhyme. They believe that the terms "Silver bells", and "cockle shells" are the different torturing devices that she used. Cockle shells, was referring to a torture device involving the male genitalia, while the final line is actually speaking about the guillotine.

It may seem simplistic, comparing a nursery rhyme to modern-day political satire, but since this particular matriarch was know throughout Scotland for her torture devices, one would gather that someone would be in fear for their life if they were to make a quip about her.

The art of political satire simply scratched the surface in 16th century Europe when compared to today, and in particular, American political satire. We as Americans took the early satire of nursery rhymes and ran with the idea. Since we are a "free country", it is a more pronounced brand of satire that those in Scotland, for example.

One of the greatest, an American author, Mark Twain, was one of the first blatant satirists. For example, "The War Prayer", was an acidic accusation of war, and in particular of blind patriotism and religious zealousness as motivations for war. As dramatic as that description of "The War Prayer" sounds, it was a satire, nonetheless.
Although we are branded a "free country", it was not published until long after his death, because to do so before would have cause great havoc.

As it was earlier stated, there are many types of political satire. Probably the most popular in our culture is the political cartoon. According to Encyclopedia Americana, cartoon "targets" are most often "in the field of political or public affairs, but they may be social customs, fashions, or sports events or personalities", this can be traced back to the modern political cartoon by making pictorial satire available to the masses.
In America, it became widely popular with the election of President Jackson, the Mexican War, and the Civil War. Before the end of the 21st century, the daily "editorial" cartoon was a feature of many newspapers. (Encyclopedia Americana)

Why has the visual aid of a cartoon become such a staple in our lives? In general, it has a great deal to do with the fact that we are a visual nation. For example, which would sell the audience your political point. A picture of the liberty bird dressed in bright red, white, and blue colors, stuffed in an extremely tight cage (which was gray, a wonderful alliteration) with just 2 words below it: "The Patriot Act". Or a bland black and white slogan stating, "The Patriot Act Sucks". The first example gives the target audience a chance to form their own opinion, with just a hint from the artist. Most people do not like "preacher"-type humorists who tell us what we should believe. It is a very generic form of art and comedy, voicing one’s own opinion, yet allowing the reader to form one of their own.

We use the term satire almost daily. But what does satire truly mean? Satire is defined as "a literary technique of writing or art which exposes the follies of its subject to ridicule, often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change". (Encyclopedia Americana) In other words, it is truly "Comic rationality". (Critchley, pg. 79) Or, using comedy to make sense of the lunacy of our political system.

If the aforementioned statement is true, then that is an agreeable rationale as to why more Americans are tuning into alternative sources for their news programs, such as Jon Stewart’s "The Daily Show" on the cable channel Comedy Central. We are searching for something other than the normal banter that is the "usual news".

Perhaps, we get tired of the monotonous news on the zillion cable and local news networks. Possibly we are even disgusted with news programs that are burdened with objectivity, and even journalistic integrity. Then again, perhaps the truth is better when taken with a grain of salt, or not too seriously. Just maybe it is easier to get a point across by doing something other than preaching.

As we look at the most popular political satirists of today (i.e. Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Bill Maher, and Rush Limbaugh); all of these satirists provoke something within us. It does not matter whether we are excited because we agree with what the person is saying, or get upset for we do not see eye-to-eye with their political views. They have ejected some sort of raw emotion from their audience. Isn’t that the point of satire? To provoke us to want to make a change, or to even change someone’s view of the political system today?

Political humor forces us to look at ourselves. It makes us look at our government, and if we do not like it, then we have the power to change it. Or at least try and change who is running the government. To look inside ourselves, and find what we believe to be true. For if you believe that the best humor comes from truth, wouldn’t the most honest truth be a result of humor?