the.com/satire

the comedy that draws blood while pretending it only meant to tickle

means the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize foolishness or vice, especially in politics and society

from From Latin satira, an earlier form of which was satura, meaning a 'medley' or 'mixed dish' — the phrase lanx satura referred to a platter heaped with assorted fruits offered to the gods. Roman satire began as just such a jumble: a varied mix of poetic verses on miscellaneous topics. Later the Romans, fond of a pun, linked it loosely (and wrongly) to the Greek satyr — those lewd, mocking goat-men of myth — which lent the word its modern sting. So the dish of mixed fruit slowly soured into the art of mixed mockery.

roman roots
Named from satura, a Latin word for stuffed dish
modest proposal
Swift suggested eating Irish babies to end poverty
legal danger
Onion writers fight real defamation suits over jokes
poe's law
Online, parody and sincerity grow impossible to distinguish
survival tool
Court jesters mocked kings nobody else could insult
for instance

the onion — american news satire publication founded in 1988, famous for fake headlines like 'abortion to be safe, legal, and rare, thanks to iphone app'

yes minister — british tv series (1980-1984) satirizing government bureaucracy through a minister's interactions with his civil service permanent secretary

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