ON SATIRE AND RIDICULE When we agree to enter into discourse, debate, even polem

ON SATIRE AND RIDICULE

When we agree to enter into discourse, debate, even polemic, we grant each other the right of free speech, in pursuit of the truth, for shared benefit. Otherwise there is no reason to lay down our weapons: we simply substitute the honesty of violence for the deception of words.

Satire and ridicule are forms of deception. They are theft. A crime. A moral crime. And the majority of us sense it is a moral crime, even when we disagree with it.

You cannot get around this logic. Satire and Ridicule, unless they are, like the greek drama, directed at ourselves, rather than others, a violation of the contract for cooperation.

So one can state how and why we use it. But one cannot legitimize it. It’s not possible.

(See Habermas)