Satire

    Satire is a literary genre that uses sarcasm in an exposing or denouncing way with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself into improvement. Satire is meant to be funny, and uses wit as a weapon. A common feature of satire is strong irony, ridicule, and sarcasm. Satire is found in many artistic forms of expression, such as literature, plays, commentary, and media such as lyrics.
    In Taylor Mali's "The impotence of proofreading" he explains the importance of proofreading with satire. Spellchecker is being satirized and the author does it by using irony and sarcasm throughout the article to further explain the importance of proofreading. It's satire because "But there are several missed aches that a spell chukker can¹t can¹t catch catch." this is satire because it's proving a point about spellchecking while being sarcastic and ironic by misspelling and using wrong punctuation. "Has this ever happened to you? You work very hard on a paper for English class And then get a very low grade (like a D or even a D-) and all because you are the word's worst speller. Proofreading your papers is a matter of the the utmost importence." Reading this shows me that satire can be funny and be full of irony and sarcasm. This article shows how it can be used at its best and how it delivers its message so clearly.
    In the Onion an article "Bags of Ice" is speaking of a party that is themed and decorated with bags of ice. Describes a Hollywood event planner that had no time or motivation to create a glamorous birthday party. The whole event was decorated with bags of ice everywhere and columns of ice spread out. The pool even had bags of ice floating around. It's satirical because this Hollywood event planner is pictured to be the one of the greats, but puts no effort in this event and still has a success. The event was followed by an after party themed "bags of water" at the same location.
     In "Advice to Youth" by Mark Twain, he tries to teach the youth valuable life lessons. Mark Twain teaches about, obeying parents, being respectful to your elders, going to bed early to get up early, the art of lying, never handle firearms carelessly, and to know what good books are. In Twain's opinion obeying is the best policy because if you don't obey your parents, they will make you obey them and most parents think they know best, but it is best to act on their judgement than your own. Twain tells the youth to restrain from using violence, but if they are wronged and do not know if it was intentional or a mistake then wait for a chance and hit him with a brick. If you shall find that it wasn't intentional then come out and confess in your wrong and face it like a man. Always avoid violence, its the age of charity and kindness. Leave the dynamite to the low and unrefined.
    In "The Storyteller" by H.H. Munro he tells a satirical story about a family and a scholar. The story takes place in a train where a family of an Aunt, 2 girls, and a boy are in a carriage talking. The scholar sits and watches as the children ask their aunt questions about things that they see and end up hearing a story from their aunt. The children don't like the aunts story, so the scholar tells a story that the children love about a little good that has 3 awards for being extra good and gets the chance to go to the Prince's park. While at the park the little girl gets eaten by a wolf, while hiding in a bush, and gets discovered due to the clinging of her medals. The Aunt calls the story improper and says he undermined years of careful teaching. The satirical part of this story is that children will be asking the aunt for and improper story instead of her boring stories.
    An article on Newshoggers illustrates how a london janitor was mistaken for a top Al- Qaeda member. He was on the internet looking at a website, reading a joke called how to build an H bomb. He was taken to many prisons to be tortured repeatedly and finally ended up in Gitmo. The satirical part of this article is that he was accused of being a terrorist for reading a joke on how to build an H bomb, mean while its on the internet for the whole world to see!
    

This cartoon is satirical because the two pieces of steak are shaped to appear like South America and Africa. This cartoon illustrates that the two countries are on a silver platter helplessly awaiting to be served for better or worse. The salt represents money which can be added to the country steaks if needed. The sauce is labeled WTO which stands for World Trade Organization. What makes this cartoon satirical is that these countries need money to reduce poverty and become more prosperous, they could only do that with the WTO.
     With satire being used in many types of work, it can be found worldwide you just have to know how to find it. Satire is a literary genre that uses sarcasm in an exposing or denouncing way with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself into improvement. In all the examples used it is noticeable that satire is meant to be funny, and uses wit as a weapon.