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Australians are dumb
Satire: The use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices.
This week I enjoyed reading Jack Marx’s piece on Ian Thorpe’s retirement, titled Dirty Pool, in which he talked about stripping Thorpie of his Australian citizenship. What I found so amusing was not the tongue-in-cheek nature of the article (I’m not a huge fan of Marx’s writing style), but the ridiculous flame-fest that followed. The article was clearly a satirical piece yet a large number of readers seems to miss this point entirely. What followed was a torrent of abuse directed at Jack Marx for being ‘un-Australian and the usual suspects declaring that they will never read his blog again.
One reader sums it up nicely:
Posted by: KP at November 22, 2006 03:37 PM
Satire is alive and well…but obviously not that well recognised, received or appreciated for what it is
Marx is obviously the king of satire and he is no doubt sitting behind his desk right now wondering how he’ll bait the masses next, but he’ll have to try harder if his work is to outshine the pure comedy of his reader’s responses.
Has comedy writing devolved to a point where we need a disclaimer at the top of every article? Perhaps more liberal use of emoticons, the ‘canned laughter’ of the printed word, might help, Jack?
