Leonidas Aretakis: the Satire has become a way to get away with the shabby values

It is a sign of the times that the SD politician Erik Wennerström, recently shared a picture of Stefan Löfven next to the text “Christer Pettersson, where are you when Sweden needs you?” immediately defended himself by saying it was “a joke” and “irony” when he was questioned.

if the quips and sarcasms in envälden that China is still a weapon for the humble, the satire in free societies increasingly become a way to disguise the seedy values in the joke.

the Left were early with the hånandet of opponents, as in the facebook group ”White violated men”. By considering all men, regardless of educational level as holders of power, was free to ridicule ordinary people halvgenomtänkta opinions and bad spelling.

quickly the trick and created a variety of ironic symbols, which was continued in moderate riksdagspolitikers Twitterflöden. And rawness says something about right-wing radicalisation: drinking milk, for example, was a deliberately silly way to express vita's rasöverhet (on the basis of superior laktostolerans). The upset seemed to be just hypersensitive.

to get away with such viciousness hiding humoristerna behind a bland persona, as if the bullies in school don't just did it. In addition, pretend that, for example, poddmediet is a protected place outside the public view, a rough sjörövarbar where uncomfortable ideas can be tried freely in the congregation of the protection, despite the fact that few things are so public that when celebrities publish political comments free online.

of course, the war against all that is fun – like the new präktighetsrörelsens hunting fulmunnade komikers livelihood, tucked away rejvklubbar and smoking – put an end. But as predictable as the tristduktiga humor that remains after nätdrevens rampage, some satirikers self-image as persecuted dissidents. In our promise Bret Easton Ellis on political correctness in the book “White”, but we know in advance what he thinks, what we think, and that no one will laugh.

, especially among the satirical högertwittrare, showing how instrumental and predictable satire can be. But it does not matter, for they can always count on faking tannic from the own följarna. Just as “Della Q” – a ”samhällskommenterande satirpodd” as they call themselves in Expressen TV (29/11) – free of charge can run with the “35-year-old women in rural areas” in the face of their innerstadsföljare, who pretend that it is fun to show that they hang out with.

the Satire no longer need to turn up, or even be funny: it is enough to flatter his audience. About the author Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was correct in that the satire would be a mirror in which everyone's face except your own appear, it has now become a kind of self-absorbed grupprunk. Then it becomes not a way to understand society, but rather to create community for liktänkande. Completely out of sight in the satirens mirror is, for example, the class of super-rich that it barely conducts research and investigative journalism around, and that, therefore, we barely know anything about.

But perhaps it is time to re-evaluate the satirens status. Some researchers believe that Aristophanes förlöjliganden of ancient Athens ' hardline ruler Kleon, in fact, was an aristocratic attack on economic leveling. In that case, if he were not the only political humorist that redirects the attention from the power, instead of the other way around.

And as the cynical statesman explains to korvförsäljaren who is about to become king in Aristophanes ”Knights”: ”to win over people, just make sure that they get something good in the stomach.”

As a laugh.

Read more: On the ironic crusade with trollhögern