When political satire — whoops! — reinforces ideas it means to skewer
What are the perils when political satire leaves too much open to interpretation?
That was running through my mind after Tina Fey's recent appearance on "Weekend Update: Summer Edition," which is "Saturday Night Live's" bid to stay relevant amid a summer hiatus and a news cycle churning faster and furiouser than ever.
Let's use Fey as a jumping off point, because I'm interested in a larger question about what satire is actually supposed to do _ if anything. Should it spark a sense of outrage?
Comedians will always have hits and misses. But when they have an enormous platform and want to talk politics, the stakes are higher. The misses hit harder. Especially now.
"Satirists do have a responsibility to be aware of those stakes," said Seth Paskin, who hosts the philosophy podcast "The Partially Examined Life" and argues that there's a moral weight to satire that addresses our social and political condition. "Comedians are traditionally critics of the system," he said. "Satire exists to
