Of Satire & Us

Of Satire & Us

Satire is focused bitterness. -Leo Rosten-

Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful. -Molly Ivins-

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The current Malaysian political scenario plus the advent of technology have give rise to many sopo (socio political) bloggers. It can be said that the Malaysian blogosphere are now literally littered with sopo blogs. Some sopo blogs are worth reading due to their in depth articulation over issues presented while others are just pure emotional and biased shit. And of course the latter outnumber the former.

Quality-wise set aside, the huge numbers of Malaysian sopo blogs are a testament that Malaysian nowadays do care. Care for the country… cares for the society and of course cares for the future, theirs’ and their children’s. For me this is good, as it acts as informal checks and balance against government actions and the actions of those who walk the passage of power.

The question is how strong are these sopo blogs’ influence over public opinion? Some say in the positive quoting evidence of the last general election.

The next question would be which genre of writing preferred by sopo blogs visitors? The academic and empirical type? Or the satirical and/or ‘mengumpat’ type? Of course the answer is subjective based on each and every individual.

To me, whilst reading academic styled writings do give us a lot of new information and facts, I believe that at the end of such an article readers are always persuaded, gently or otherwise, to acknowledge the writer’s opinion over the issue if not accepting it wholly.

This is totally different with satire.

Satire, a genre and form of literature, use entertainment as a foundation of conveyance and expression of a much more serious subject matter by the creative use of wit. No matter how serious the issue is, a witty writer will be able to arrange the facts, fiction and opinion into an  end product, such as satirical writings.

Some satire are narrated in a conclusive manner similar with other genre of writing while some are open-ended thus giving the readers wide spectrum of opinion forming on the subject matter discussed. Some satire readers only comprehend the surface comic and some able to see through it and grasping the issues discussed. To understand a satire’s wit, a reader must be witty himself.

Satire is a good genre albeit rare in sopo blogs. The writings are never dull, they entertain and in the same time create awareness for its readers. Entertainment as a medium of conveying ideas, now, that’s a powerful weapon.

With every offence there will be a defence. Any writer whose writing is libelous in nature shall be deemed to commit a tort of defamation, satire writers are no exception. In Malaysia, satire or not, all writings are viewed by the courts as the same. The courts will look at readers understanding over the piece rather than its form as per Berkoff v. Berchill [1996] 4 All ER, 1008 CA. However, in the USA the stand of the law over satire and torts seem not yet settled, thanks to its First Amendment. The US case of New York Times Co. v Sullivan 376 U.S. 254 is a good example.

Apart from satire in writing, it also can be seen in films. The Great Dictator by Charlie Chaplin is one of the most memorable and one of my personal favorite comedy-satire would be the Monty Phyton series. For that I have to thank my dear friend Darren who introduced me the series. Witty Brit jokes to the core and the best thing that comes with the series is that they contain rib tickling-thought slapping satires, political and all, that most are still relevant to todays’ scenario. Congratulations to the Monty troupe for those ‘smart’ comics.

The clip below is my personal all time favorite…