4 I The Behrend Beacon
E ,
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the
right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. - The First Ammendment to the U.S. Constitution
Satire: an American tradition
by Patrick Webster
assistant managing editor
paw I 75 (a' psu.edu
American satire has come a long way since
Washington Irving, Thomas Nast and Ambrose
Bierce, and the revolution into the Information Age
has made the art of ironic social commentary as
mainstream as it has ever been.
Whether you enjoy it in the written or televised
forms, it's a great time to be a satire and social
commentary enthusiast.
Columnists and authors like Dave Barry, Al
Franken and P.J. O'Rourke have been pointed
observations about the state of the American socie
ty for the current generations of American citizens.
They've been doing a heck of a job, even if they
don't have nicknames like "Brownie."
However, the satire that is making the biggest
ripple in mainstream American culture is the previ
ously unconquered land of television. Taking cues
from predecessors like the Johnny Carson Show
and the original Saturday Night Live "Weekend
Update," shows like "The Daily Show with Jon
Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" have made the
Submission
Guidelines
The Beacon welcomes readers to
share their views on this page.
Letters and commentary pieces can
be submitted by email to opin.
ion@psu.edu or directly to the
Beacon office, located in the. Reed
Building.
Letters should be limited to 350
words and commentaries should be
limited to 700 words. The more
concise the submission, the less we
will be forced to edit it for spate
concerns and the more likely we
are to run the submission.
All submissions must include the
writer's year in school, major and
name as The Beacon does not pub
lish anonymous letters, Deadline
for any submission is 5 p.m.
Tuesday afternoon for inclusion in
the Friday issue, All submissions
are considered, but beettuse tf
space limitations, some may, not be
published.
All submissions must include
consent to be edited before they
can be edited for publication.
Quote of the Week
"Life would be
infinitely happier if we
could only be born at the age of eighty
and gradually approach eighteen."
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•
Beacon Thumbs Down •
Beacon Thumbs Up
~ /
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- St. Patrick's Day
- Late Night Players and Murder
Mystery Dinner theatre.
Semesteris over half-way done
New Super Man movie
March Madness
Behrend Track and Field team
-Blue Gatorade
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medium of satire both popular and a mainstream
facet of American society.
Satire has long been used to bring issues to the
limelight that should be recognized by everyone.
But for some reason, the issues are taboo or taken
for granted
Strange as it
may seem, this
What we don't need
is how pro-
grams like "The
Daily Show"
politicians, making
win awards for
news coverage
Their whole
self-deprecating, satiri-
concept is to
make fun of
cal jokes about them
selves
actual news
topics in a way
that brings
issues to peo
ple's attention
that otherwise
wouldn't be
issues into non-issues.
brought up.
Because it's
- Spring Break's over
- Graduation being held at Tullio
Arena
- Plastic ware in Bruno's
- Students taking bikes in the elevator
- PS3 Delayed until November
2006
- Disney's Aladdin, Lion King, and
Little Mermaid
funny, people tune in and pay attention, and a
wider audience becomes informed about current
issues that affect the status and future of their
country.
The advent of the Internet has made the practice
of olitical
in order to make
I plan to censure
u s President Bush.
weit
That's just fine , •
IC" r
Finegol
yo
Senator
don't swear
much an
- Mark Twain
00 3:111,
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and social
satire open to
the general
public for
widespread
disse►nina
tion. These
days, anyone
can start a
blog and
share the
fruits of his 01
her natural
wit and sar-
casm with
anyone who
cares to read
it. If this per
son is popular
Have a "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down" ?
1 A
if NIP
Send Suggestions to opinion@psu.edu
The Behrend Beacon
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Beacon
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beacon
Assistant Managing Editor Calendar Page Editor
Patrick Webster Siobhan Conway
Penn State Erie,
The Behrend College
First Floor, The J. Elmer Reed Union Building
enough, he or she can even make a living out of it.
This is easy. Politicians, for as long as they exist,
will he a constant source of humorous and satirical
inspiration for many generations to come.
The more people sharing their humorous insight
the better. This leads to an endless well of issues
to he discussed and addressed.
What we don't need is politicians making self
deprecating, satirical jokes about themselves in
order to make issues into non-issues. Such as
George W. Bush making a joke about not being
able to find weapons of mass destruction at a
fundraiser or White House spin doctors spinning
one-liners about shooting people after the Vice
President blasts his best friend in the face with a
shotgun. There's nothing wrong with telling light
hearted jokes as a member of the government, but
using humor to try to sweep important issues under
the rug is a cheap tactic designed to expediently
minimalize issues that are not politically conven
ient to their targets.
Let's keep satire in its proper place: as a weapon
against secretive politicians, not as a shield that
they can use to deflect criticism.
.t'IMMOIIr ,
Annie Sevin, Editor in Chief
Rob Frank, Managing Editor
Courtney Kaplin, Advertising Manager
Randy Martell, Public Relations Manager
Kim Young, Adviser
News Editor
Jennifer Haight
Sports Editor
Chris LaFuri a
Opinion Editor
Daniel Mitchell
Humor Editor
Jerry Pohl
Station Road, Erie, PA 16563
Contact the Beacon at:
Telephone: (814) 898-6488
Fax: (814) 898-6019
Friday, March, 17 2006
40 *r-
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