They Must Be Joking
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on July 17th, 2008 4:28 am by HL
They Must Be Joking
An expression of outrage is the highest compliment that politicians can bestow upon a satirist. So when spokesmen for Barack Obama and John McCain echo each other and many another stuffed shirt in complaining about the current cover of The New Yorker, the magazine’s editors and cartoonist Barry Blitt should accept such remarks in precisely that spirit. From Mark Twain to Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor, there have always been people who didn’t get it — or worried about the damage that would ensue when other people didn’t get it. Today in America, despite the rising influence of “The Daily Show” and The Onion, it can be hazardous to be too hip for the room.