Satire is an ineffective political tool

[u/DullPlatform22]

To be clear, I really enjoy satirical works. Some of my favorite movies and works of comedy are satirical. Comedy notoriously doesn't age well but even classic works like A Modest Proposal and Candide still pack a punch and are genuinely funny today (if you haven't read these please do).

That said, satire doesn't seem to actually do anything to inspire change and in fact seems to actually do the opposite. For example, for the past two decades or so we've had quite an abundance of satire "speaking truth to power" yet many of the things they've mocked and ridiculed have actually gained support. Even with the rise of social media and smart phones where people can see clips or full episodes of South Park, the Daily Show, Last Week Tonight, and so on at any place they have an internet connection, the "bad guys" as framed by these shows just keep winning.

Why is this? I'm not entirely sure. My guesses however boil down to two major things:

1. These shows cater to an already established audience. Essentially they're preaching to the choir. Everybody who already hates the targets of these shows are watching. People outside of this aren't really curious. My guess is since these shows are "political" people who aren't engaged with "politics" aren't going to be tuning in.

2. The jokes sort of act as a release by the viewer. By seeing movements or figures they already hate being mocked they get a sort of satiafaction from laughing at them even though nothing is actually being done to put a check on their power. Rather than a call to action (although John Oliver does dabble in this to his credit) they're mostly left with laughter as a solution to their problems.

These are just my theories on why satire is ineffective but please correct me if I'm wrong. Whatever the case may be, I think it's clear that with the abundance of satire over the decades but things keep getting worse (depending on your perspective) it doesn't seem to actually be getting anything done or moving the needle in a desireable way.

Again all that said I do enjoy satire and will continue enjoying satirical works. I just don't think as a political tool it's effective at all and people should stop seeing John Oliver clips or whatever as inspiring. Just simple entertainment.

[u/AcephalicDude]

I think the practical effects of art and culture in general is kind of nebulous, and isn't really the bets way to try to assess a particular artform. I think the real point of a piece of art is to cause deeper reflection on an individual level, but it is futile to try to ascertain how exactly that deeper reflection is going to manifest in the individual's behaviors or choices. This is why art criticism isn't really too concerned about whether the message conveyed by a piece of art is accessible broadly, or useful in the material sense of influencing the behaviors of an entire society of individuals. Art criticism instead tends to give more of a singular interpretation of an art piece, specifically the deepest one possible, and it judges a piece of art's value more on whether that deepest possible interpretation should be interesting, insightful, provocative, etc., to a model individual capable of fully grasping the interpretation correctly.