satire is a collective sedative
Satire is a creative superpower that has the ability to liberate us from the status quo, but our overreliance on it has turned it into a collective sedative.
satire is a collective sedative
She’s not wrong. In recent years, I’ve noticed that, as a culture, we struggle to engage sincerely with art – or with life (at least, that’s how it seems online). I first observed this in 2016 when Donald Trump ran for president; his actions and comments were defanged as he was endlessly memed because no one thought he’d actually win. I saw it afte... See more
Halima Jibril • Ethel Cain says we are in an irony epidemic – is she right?
To insulate ourselves from these seemingly guaranteed failures, Millennials, and Gen Z after us, adopted irony as a cultural strategy. Irony allowed us to continue life under late capitalism while psychologically sheltering ourselves from the demoralizing reality. Irony as culture became: “The band I like will inevitably sell out, so I might as wel
... See morenewmodels.io • IRONY POLITICS & GEN Z Joshua Citarella
What if there’s nothing we can do,
and we’re just stuck in a creatively stagnant era? Well, stagnation can lead to explosive change. The Renaissance in Northern Europe came after war, the Black Death, and religious turmoil. The Harlem Renaissance of the ‘20s and ‘30s sprang out of segregation and poverty. The counterculture movement of the ‘60s erup
... See moreThe New York Times • The Algorithm Has Been Hiding Something From You | NYT Opinion
It feels like there’s been a dimming of our imagination and even of possibility. Are we somehow becoming less creative?
The New York Times • The Algorithm Has Been Hiding Something From You | NYT Opinion
A client and I were recently analysing the surprising success of the canned water brand Liquid Death, now valued at over $700 million. In case you’re not familiar with it, Liquid Death is notable because the entire brand is essentially one big joke – it’s water (obviously a pure and healthy substance), presented in a “dangerous” heavy metal kind of... See more
alex • Taste: The secret ingredient - Basic Arts
Never in human history have we possessed so capacious a knowledge of the various and specific iniquities of the world — and so little hope of them ever being rectified.
Sam Adler-Bell • The Movie Industry’s Confused ‘Eat the Rich’ Fantasy
The critic Roy Christopher has called irony “the most abused trope of our time, a ‘get out of judgment free’ card, an escape route, an exit strategy.”
Ian Bogost • Play Anything
“Sometimes those ironic and satirical memes are too heavy-handed, and they go into things that, at a certain point, it’s not really a joke anymore,” Mr. Luna said. He said he appreciated wholesome content instead. Watching cat videos is one of his favorite pastimes. “I really enjoy seeing that type of content as opposed to people making fun of othe
... See moreSadiba Hasan • When Did ‘Wholesome’ Become a Gen Z Compliment?
“Satire is meant to ridicule power. If you are laughing at people who are hurting, it's not satire, it's bullying.” – Terry Pratchett
