Shrek K Right now the negative are the all-stars Smashmouth ’99 http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/smashmouth/allstar.html Someboy once tol me the worl is gonna roll me ! ain"t the sharpest tool in the she She was looking kin o# umb$ with her %nger a n her thumb Well, the years start coming and they !n the shape o# an "&" on her #orehea' Well, don't stop coming Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running Didn't make sense, not to live for fun Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb ¶ So much to do, so (ou"ll never know i# much to see So hat's rong ith taking the back streets (ou"ll you on"t go (ou"ll never shine i# you on"t glow ' )ey now$ you"re an *ll Star$ get your game on$ go play )ey now$ you"re a Rock Star$ get the show on$ get pai *n all that glitters is gol +nly shooting stars break the mol' It's a cool place and they say it gets colder You're bundled up, no ait 'til you get older !ut the meteor men beg to di"er #udging by the hole in the satellite picture¶ $he ice e skate is getting pretty thin $he aters getting arm, so you might as ell sim %y orld's on &re ho about yours $hat's the ay I like it and I never get bored ¶ ey no, you're an (ll Star, get your game on, go play ey no, you're a )ock Star, get the sho on, get paid (ll that glitters is gold *nly shooting stars break the mold ¶ +o for the moon +o for the moon +o for the moon +o for the moon ¶ ey no, you're an (ll Star, get your game on, go play ey no, you're a )ock Star, get the sho on, get paid (nd all that glitters is gold *nly shooting stars¶ Somebody once asked, could I spare some change for gas I need to get myself aay from this place I said, Yep, hat a concept I could use a little fuel myself (nd e could all use a little change¶ Well, the years start coming and they don't stop coming Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running Didn't make sense not to live for fun Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb ¶ So much to do, so much to see So hat's rong ith taking the back streets You'll never kno if you don't go You'll never shine if you don't glo ¶
)ey now$ you"re an *ll Star$ get your game on$ go play )ey now$ you"re a Rock Star$ Star$ get the show on$ get pai *n all that glitters is gol +nly shooting stars break the mol' *n all a ll that glitters glitter s is gol +nly shooting stars break the mol
Shrek is love$ Shrek is li#e ,esus hrist ’ ’ http://www.urbanictionary.com/e%ne.php0 term1shrek2is2love2shrek2is2li#e 3ray to Shrek every night be#ore be$ thanking him #or the li#e you"ve been given *n you will %n out !t"s never ogre.
45ploring the ocean inevitably in#atuates society with Spongebob S6uarepants enter #or *merican 3rogress ’7 https://www.americanprog https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green ress.org/issues/green/news/87// /news/87// ;/9/rockets-top-submarines-sp ;/9/rockets-top-submarines-space-e5ploration-ol ace-e5ploration-ollarslarswar#-ocean-spening/ =rek> woul have us believe that space is the %nal #rontier, but ith apologies to the armies of $rekkies, their oracle might be a tad o" base $hough e kno little about outer space, e still have plenty of frontiers to e-plore here on our home planet . *n they’re losing the race o# iscovery.' )ollywoo giant ,ames ameron$ irector o# mega-blockbusters mega-blockbusters such as <=itanic> an <*vatar$> brought this message this message to .apitol ill last eek, along eek, along ith the single/seat submersible that he used to become to become the third human to 0ourney to the deepest point of the orld1s oceans2the %arianas
$rench $rench !y contrast, more than 344 than 344 people have 0ourneyed into space2including Sen !ill 5els on 6D/F78, ho sits on the committee before hich .ameron testi&ed2and 9: people have actually set foot on the surface of the moon ¶ (ll it takes is a ;uick comparison of the budgets for 5(S( and the 5ational *ceanic and (tmospheric (dministration, or 5*((, to understand hy space e-ploration is outpacing its ocean counterpart by such a ide margin ¶ In &scal year :49< 5(S(1s annual e-ploration budget as roughly =<> roughly =<> billion $hat billion $hat same year, total f unding for unding for everything everything 5*(( does2&shery management, eather and climate forecasting, ocean research and management, among many other programs2as about =3 billion, and 5*( (1s *?ce of @-ploration a nd )esearch received 0ust =:<A =:<A million Something million Something is rong ith this picture¶ Space travel is certainly e-pensive !ut as .ameron proved ith his dive that cost appro-imately => appro-imately => million, deep/sea million, deep/sea e-ploration is pricey as ell (nd that1s not the only similarity beteen space and ocean travelB !oth are dark, cold, and completely inhospitable to human life ¶ Yet space travel e-cites (mericans1 imaginations in a ay ocean e-ploration never has $o put this in terms .ameron may be fa miliar ith, 0ust think of ho stories are told on screens both big and smallB Space dominates, ith CStar $rek, CStar Wars, C!attlestar +alactica, C!uck )ogers in the :3th .entury, and C:449 ( Space *dyssey $hen there are !/movies such as CElan 5ine From *uter Space and everything ever mocked on C%ystery Science $heater :444 $here are
C(liens and C(vatar ¶ ?hen it comes to the ocean$ we have C:4,444 7eagues Hnder the Sea, and .ameron1s somehat lesser/knon &lm C$he (byss *n that’s about it. ' even parodiesB CSpaceballs, C+ala-y uest, a nd C%ars (ttacksG (nd let1s not f orget .ameron1s on contributionsB
$his imbalance in pop culture is illustrative of hat plays out in real life We re0oiced along ith the 5(S( mission/control room hen the %ars rover landed on the red planet late last 5(S(
year *ne particularly e-uberant scientist, knon as C%ohak +uy for his audacious hairdo, beca me a minor celebrity and even &elded his share of spontaneous marriage proposals !ut proposals !ut hen .ameron bottomed out in the .hallenger Deep more than <,444 feet belo the surface of the sea, it as met ith resounding indi"erence from a ll but the dorkiest of ocean nerds such as myself ¶ Eart of this incongruity comes from access 5o matter here e live, e can go outside on a clear night, look up into the sky, and onder about hat1s out there We1re presented ith a spectacular vista of stars, planets, meteorites, and even the occasional comet or aurora We have all been ishing on stars since e ere children *nly the lucky fe can gaJe out at the ocean from their doorstep, and even those ho do cannot see all that lies beneath the aves ¶ (s a result, the facts about ocean e-ploration are pretty bleak umans have laid eyes on less on less than 3 percent of the ocean, and ocean, and e have better maps of the surface of %ars than e do of (merica1s e-clusive economic Jone2the undersea territory reaching out :44 miles from our shores ¶ Sure, space is se-y !ut the oceans are too $o those intrigued by the ;uest for alien life, consider thisB Scientists estimate that e still have not discovered K9 percent of the species that live in our oceans (nd some of them look pretty outlandish +o ahead and +oogle the deepsea hatchet&sh, frill shark, or@athynomus or@athynomus giganteus.¶ In a time of s hrinking budgets and increased scrutiny on the return for our investments, e should be taking a long, hard look at ho e are prioritiJing our e-ploration dollars If the goal of government spending is to s pur groth in the private sector, entrepreneurs are far more likely to &nd inspiration don in the depths of the ocean than up in the heavens $he ocean already provides us ith about half the o-ygen e breathe, our si ngle largest source of protein, a protein, a ealth of mineral resources, key ingredients for pharmaceuticals, and pharmaceuticals, and marine biotechnology biotechnology¶ *f course space e-portation does have bene&ts beyond the Ccool factor of putting people on the moon and astronaut/bards playing David !oie covers in space Inventions Inventions created to facilitate space travel have become have become ubi;uitous in our lives2cell/ phone cameras, scratch/resistant lenses, a nd ater/<ration systems, 0ust to name a fe2and research conducted inouter inouter space has led to breakthroughs here on earth in the technological the technological and medical &elds Yet &elds Yet despite far/fetched plans to mine asteroids for rare metals, the only tangible goods brought back from space to date remain a fe piles of moon rocks¶ $he deep seabed is a much more likely source of so/called rare/earth metals than distant asteroids @arlier this year the Hnited 5ations published 5ations published its &rst plan for management of mineral resources beneath the high seas that are outside the 0urisdiction of any individual country $he Hnited States has not been able to participate in negotiations around this policy because e are not among the 9>3 nations that have rati&ed the H5 .onvention on the 7a of the Sea, hich Sea, hich governs such activity¶ With or ithout the Hnited States on board, the potential for economic development in the most remote places on the planet is vast and about to leap to the ne-t level @arlier this year #apan announced that it has discovered a massive supply of rare earth both ithin its e-clusive a economic Jone and in international aters $his follos reports in :499 that .hina .hina sent at least one e-ploratory mission to the seabed beneath international aters in the Eaci&c *c ean $here is a real opportunity for our nation to lead in this area, but e must invest and 0oin the rest of the orld in creating the governance structure for these activities the end of last last eek1s hearing, Sen hearing, Sen %ark !egich 6D/(L8, ho chairs the Subcommittee on *ceans, ¶ $oard the (tmosphere, Fisheries, and .oast +uard, hypothetically asked here e ould be today if e had spent half as much money e-ploring the oceans as e have spent e-ploring s pace +iven the current &nancial climate in .ongress, e on1t &nd the anser to his ;uestion on .apitol ill¶ !ut there may be another ay¶ .ameron is currently in preproduction on the second and third C(vatar &lms e says the former ill ill be set on an ocean planet 5o planet 5o one e-cept he and his fello producers at :4th .entury Fo- really kno ho much the &rst installment of the movie series cost, but estimates peg it at appro-imately =:34 =:34 million2or million2or 94 times the total funding for 5*((1s *cean @-ploration program Since the original C(vatar grossed more than =: billion at the bo- o?ce orldide, if 5(S( isn1t illing to hand over a bit of its riches to help their oceanic co/e-plorers, maybe .ameron a nd his studio partners can chip a percent or to o" the gross from C(vatar : to help &ll the gap¶ .ome to think of it, if the key to e-ploring the oceans hinges either on ollyood giving up pro&ts or .ongress i ncreasing spending, maybe e are more likely to mine asteroids after all
Sponge@ob popularity weakens Shrek’s political capital =he +nion ’A http://www.theonion.com http://www.theonion.com/articles/Byearol/articles/Byearolloses-respect-#or-shrek-a#ter-seeing-him$AB8/ .ale 3arnell , A, sai %onday that he no longer hols Shrek in high regar$ ever since the green ogre starte appearing in =C as #or @urger King Kis Deals. EShrek Fust wants to sell things an make money$E 3arnell 3arnell sai. E)e oesn"t care i# kis like me are having #un.E 3arnell ae that Shrek is EFust like that stupi money-grubber Sponge@ob S6uare3ants.E
!# we on’t praise Shrek we e#y Go Roberts ’ http://www.thehighcal http://www.thehighcalling.org/re ling.org/reHection/ Hection/whywhyshoul-we-obey-goI.C3eJJnL-So ?hy shoul we obey Go0 $here are many ansers to this ;uestion2many that are right, many that are rong (mong the most commonly held, but i ncorrect, ansers ould be the folloingB We should obey +od in order to earn salvation. ?e shoul obey Go because otherwise he"ll make our lives miserable. ?e shoul obey Go because that guarantees a painless li#e.' )ight reasons for obeying +od are many, includingB We should obey +od because it's the right thing to do We should obey +od because obedience leads to a ful&lling life We should obey +od because #esus taught us to do so *ne could easily come up ith doJens more ansers by a careful study of Scripture¶ 7eviticus :: provides a reason for obeying +od that e might easily overlook $ he hole chapter spells out a variety of las pertaining to the o"ering and eating of sacri&ces Merse <9 summariJesB NYou NYou must faithfully keep all my commands by putting them into practice, for I am the 7*)DN *bedience is a response to +od's very nature as embodied in his holy name Merse << adds, NIt as I ho rescued you from the land of @gypt, that I might be your +od I am the 7*)DN¶ (t &rst this m ight seem like an odd ay to sum up a chapter on obedience !ut, in fact, the last verse of 7eviticus :: provides a poerful rationale for obedience $he Israelites are to obey the 7ord in response to his gracious salvation $heir obedience isn't meant to earn +od's favor, but rather to respond to this favor already given +od's on name, the 7*)D, embodies his grace and mercy 6see @-od
have rescued me from sin and death and because your grace &lls my life each day day Amen
ogre now.
!t’s all
8M Shrek 8M +verview: +ur Shrek K is satirical$ painting a picture o# the harm#ul nature o# the current ebate space. ?e e#en the #act that the actual ebate space is harm#ul$ thus you must vote #or the alt:
*lt: Cote neg as a criticism o# the aN’s role playing: we aren’t actually policymakerspolicymakers- they aren’t real worl an estroy eucation by creating role con#usionOthere’s no bene%t to policy i# we can’t put it into eNect Kappeler Kappele r$ 9
6Susanne, $he Will Will to Miolence, Miolence, p 94/998
QWe are the ar' does not mean that the responsibility for a ar is shared collectively and di"usely by an entire society / hich ould be e;uivalent to e-onerating arlords and politicians and pro&teers or, as Hlrich !eck says, upholding the notion of Qcollective irresponsibility', irresponsibility', here people are no longer held responsible for their actions, and here the conception of universal responsibility responsibility becomes the e;uivalent of a universal ac;uittal' *n the contrary, the ob0ect is precisely to analyse the speci&c and di"erential di"erential responsibility of everyone in their diverse situations Decisions to unleash a ar are indeed taken at particular levels of poer by those in a position to make them and to command such collective action We need to hold them clearly responsible for their decisions and
our habit of focusing on the stage here the ma0or dramas of poer take place tends to obscure our sight in relation to our on o n sphere of competence compe tence , our on poer and our ou r on responsibility / leading to the ell/knon illusion of our apparent Qpoerlessness1 phenomenon, our so/called political disillusionment Single citiJens / and its accompanying phenomenon, even more so those of other nations / have come to feel secure in their obvious non/ responsibility for such large/scale political events as, say, the ars in .roatia and !osnia/ercegovina !osnia/ercegovina or actions ithout lessening theirs by any collective Qassumption' of responsibility Yet
Somalia / since the decisions for such events are alays made elsehere Yet our insight that indeed e are not responsible responsible for the decisions of a Serbian general or a .roatian president tends to mislead us into thinking that therefore e have no responsibility responsibility at all, not even for forming our on 0udgement, and thus into underrating the
it seems to absolve us from having to try to see any relation beteen our on actions and those events, or to
responsibility responsibility e do have ithin our on sphere of action In particular,
recogniJe the connections connections beteen those political decisions and our on personal decisions It not only shos that e participate in hat !eck calls QorganiJed irresponsibility', irresponsibility', upholding the apparent lack of connection beteen bureaucratically, bureaucratically, institutionally, nationally and also individually individually or ganiJed separate competences It also proves the phenomenal and un;uestioned alliance of our personal thinking ith the thinking of the ma0or poermongersB For e tend to think that e cannot Qdo' anything, say, about a ar, because e deem ourselves ourselves to be in the rong
Which is hy many of those not yet entirely disillusioned ith politics tend to engage in a form of mental deputy politics, in the style of QWhat ould I do if I ere the general, the prime minister, the president, the foreign minister or the minister of defenceP' Since e seem to regard their mega spheres of action as the only orthhile and truly e"ective ones, and since our political analyses tend to dell there &rst of all $ any ;uestion of hat I ould do if I ere indeed myself tends to peter out in the comparative insigni&cance of having hat is perceived as Qvirtually no possibilities'B hat I could do seems petty and futile For my on action I situationR because e are not here the ma0or decisions are made
obviously desire the range of action of a general, a prime minister, or a +eneral Secretary of the H5 / &nding e-pression e-pression in ever more prevalent formulations like QI ant to stop this ar', QI ant military intervention', QI ant to stop this backlash', or QI ant a moral revolutionN 'We 'We are this ar', hoever, even if e do not command the
troops or participate in so/called peace talks, namely as Drakulic says, in our Qnon/comprehension1B Qnon/comprehension1B our illed refusal to feel responsible for our on thinking and for orking out our on understanding, preferring preferring innocently to drift along the ideological current of prefabricated arguments arguments or less than innocently taking advantage of the advantages these o"er o"er (nd e Qare' the ar in our Qunconscious Qunconscious cruelty toards you', our tolerance of the Qfact that you have a yello form for refugees and I don't' / our readiness, in other ords, to build identities, identities, one for
We share in the responsibility for this ar and its violence in the ay e let them gro inside us, that is, in the ay e shape Qour feelings, our relationships, relationships, our values' according to the structures and the values of ar and violence ourselves and one for refugees, one of our on and one for the Qothers'
+ur Ciolent representations matter$ an are the root cause o# war an violence. Kappeler 95 (Susanne, 1995, lecturer lec turer in English at the University of East Anglia and an Associate Professor at the School of Huanities and Social Sciences, Al A!ha"ayn University ,#$% and no" "or!s as a freelance "riter and teacher in England and &erany' Kappeler also taught )he literary representation of "oen in the *aculty of English at +aridge "hile a research fello" at -esus +ollege, +aridge #.% and "as a part/ tie tutor for the 0pen University +ourse, A History of 2iolence,3 pg 4/9
Ciolence 2 hat e usually recogniJe as such 2 It is no misbehaviour misbehaviou r of a minority amid good behaviour by the ma0ority, nor the deeds of inhuman monsters amid humane humans $ in a society in which there is no e6uality$ in which people ivie others accoring to race$ class$ se5 an many other #actors in orer to rule$ e5ploit$ use$ obFecti#y$ obFecti#y$ enslave$ sell$ torture an kill them$ in which millions o# animals are torture$ genetically manipulate$ enslave an slaughtere aily #or "harmless" "harmless " consumption consum ption by humans human s. It is no error error of 0udgement, no moral lapse and no transgression against the customs of a culture hich is thoroughly steeped in the values of pro&t and desire, of self/realiJation, e-pansion and progress Miolence as e usually perceive perceive it is 'simply' a speci&c 2and to us still visible 2 form of violence, the consistent and logical application of the principles of our culture and everyday life ?ar oes not suenly break out in a peace#ul societyP se5ual violence is not the isturbance o# otherwise e6ual gener relations. Racist attacks o not shoot like lightning out o# a non-racist sky$ an the se5ual e5ploitation o# chilren is no solitary problem in a worl otherwise Fust to chilren. =he violence o# our most commonsense everyay thinking$ an especially our personal will to violence$ constitute the conceptual preparation$ the ieological armament an the intellectual mobilization which make the "outbreak" o# war$ war$ o# se5ual violence$ o# racist attacks$ o# murer an estruction possible at all .QWe are the ar', rites Slavenka Drakulic at the end of her e-istential analysis of the ;uestion, 'hat is arP'B I do not kno hat ar is, I ant to tell my friendT, but I see it everyhere everyhere It is in the blood/soaked street in Sara0evo, after :4 people have been killed hile they ;ueued for bread !ut it is also in your non/comprehension, non/comprehension, in my unconscious cruelty toards you, in the fact that you have a yello form for refugeesT and I don't, in the ay in hich it gros inside ourselves and changes our feelings, relationships, values 2 in shortB us We are the ar (nd I am afraid that e cannot hold anyone else responsible We make this ar possible, e permit it to happens "?e are the war" O an we also "are" the se5ual violence$ the racist violence$ the e5ploitation an t he will to violence in all its mani#estations in a society in so-calle "peacetime"$ #or we make them possible an we permit them to happen
=heir worl o# ebate is ba- it causes isintereste argumentation an rein#orces oppression. Spanos A
6William Spanos, :44O, Distinguished Distinguished Erofessor of @nglish and comparative literature at !inghamton Hniversity and kind of an asshole, CSpanos on debate, httpBUUthe
Dear #oe %Iller, Yes, Yes, the statement about the (merican debate circuit you refer to as made by me, though some years ago I strongly believed then Vand still do, even though a certain uneasiness about Cob0ectivity Cob0ectivity has crept into
debate in both the high schools and colleges in this country is assumed to take place nohere, even though the issues that are debated are profoundly historical, hich means that positions are alays represented from the perspective of poer, and a matter of life and death I &nd it grotes;ue that in the debate orld, it doesn1t matter hich position you take on an issue 2 say, the Hnited States1 unilateral ars of preemption 2 as long as you Cscore points $he orld e live in is a orld entirely dominated by an Ce-ceptionalist (merica hich has perennially claimed that it has been chosen by +od or istory to ful&ll hisUits Cerrand in the ilderness $hat claim is poerful because (merican economic and military poer lies behind it (nd any alternative position in such a orld is virtually poerless +iven this ine-orable historical reality, to assume, as the protocols of debate do, that all positions are e;ual is to e"ace the imbalances of poer that are the fundamental condition of history and to annul the %oral authority inhering in the position of the oppressed the Cphilosophy of debate 2 that
$his is hy I have said that the appropriation of my interested interested ork ork on education and empire to this this transcendental debate orld constitute a travesty of my intentions %y scholarship is not Cdisinterested It is militant and intended to ameliorate as much as possible the pain and su"ering of those ho have been oppressed by the Cdemocratic institutions that have poer precisely by ay of shoing that their language if Ctruth, far from being Cdisinterested Cdisinterested or Cob0ective as it is alays claimed, is informed by the ill to poer over all manner of Cothers
I told my interlocutor that he and those in the debate orld ho felt like him should call into ;uestion the traditional Cob0ective debate protocols protocols and the instrumentalist language they privilege in favor of a concept of debate and of language in hich life and death mattered I am very much aare that the arrogant neocons ho no saturate the government of the !ush administration 2 0udges, pentagon planners, state department o?cials, etc learned their Cdisinterested argumentative skills in the high school and college debate societies and that, accordingly, they have become masters at disarming the t he 0ust causes c auses of the oppressed oppress ed $his kind leadership ill reproduce itself 6along ith the
$his is also hy hy
invisible oppression oppression it perpetrates8 as long as the training ground and the debate protocols from hich it emerges remains in tact
( revolution in the debate orld must occur It must force that unorldly orld don into the historical arena here positions make a di"erence $o $o
invoke the late @dard Said, only such a revolution ill be capable of Cdeterring democracy 6in 5oam .homsky1s ironic phrase8, of instigating the secular critical consciousness that is, in my mind, the sine ;ua non for avoiding the immanent global disaster toards hich the blind arrogance of !ush (dministration and his neocon policy makers is leading
=heir complaint is with the #orm rather than the content o# the *Otranslating *Otranslating this complaint into a rule plays into sovereign hans which turns ecisionmaking an guts eucation Steele 2(ssociate Erofessor of Eolitical Science at the Hniversity of
Lansas 6!rent, Defacing EoerB $he
(esthetics (esthetics of Insecurity in +lobal Eolitics pg 94K/9998 $he rules of language and speaking can themselves ser ve to conceal truth in orld politics I begin here ith the ork of 5icholas *nuf 69K>K8, hich has inspired constructivists to engage ho Clanguage is a rule/governed rule/governed activity 6Wilmer :44
)ules help construct patterns and
structures of language e-changes, and Cithout these rules, language becomes meaningless 6+ould :44
)ules lead to rule2 hat *nuf 69K>K8 titles the Crule/rules coupling $hus, linguistic rules demarcate demarcate relations of poer and serve to perpetuate the asymmetry of social relations $he structure of language games is valued because it provides order and continuity !ut because those rules are obeyed so fre;uently and e"ortlessly, they are h ard to recogniJe as forms of authority ¶ Where does the need for such continuity arise P (s mentioned in previous chapters, +iddensian sociology suggests that the drive for ontological security, for the securing of self/identity through through time, can only be satis&ed by the screening out of chaotic everyday events through routines , hich are a Ccentral element of the autonomy of the persistence of asymmetric social relations, knon otherise as the condition of rule 69K>KB ::8
¶
developing individual 6+iddens 9KK9B O48 Without routines, individuals face chaos, and hat +iddens calls the Cprotective cocoon cocoon of basic trust evaporates 6ibid8 Yet, Yet, as I have discussed in my other ork 6:443, :44>a8 and as
rigi routines can constrain agents in their ability to learn new in#ormation $his is hat the rhythmic strata of aesthetic poer satis&es In the conte-t it creates for parrhesia, these routines , connected to an agent1s sense of Self, shield that agent from the truthO C$he shalloness of our routiniJed daily e-istence , Weber once stated, Cconsists indeed in the fact that the persons ho are caught up in it do not become aare, and above all do not ish to become aare, of this partly psychologically, psychologically, part pragmatically conditioned motley of irreconcilably irreconcilably antagonistic values 69KAOB 9>8 $he need for such rhythmic continuity spans all social organiJations, including scholarly communities 6thus e refer to such communities as Cdisciplines8 ¶ $he function of these rules creates a similar problematic faced by the parrhesiastes ho is attempting to Cshock these structured rules and habits of the targeted agent !ecause the parrhesiastes may &nd
#ennifer %itJen %itJen notes 6:44B <O8, <O8,
the linguistic rules or at least Cstyles or language used by the targeted poer to be part of the problem 6the notion
must perform a balancing act beteen to goals First , the parrhesiastes parrhesiastes must challenge the conventions that serve to simplify and even conceal the truth the parrhesiastes is speaking Second, the parrhesiastes must observe some of these speaking rules, part of hich may themselves be responsible for or derivate toard the style of the Self that needs to be challenged by the parrhesiastes Favoring Favoring the &rst, the parrhesiastes is prone to being ignored as irrational , as someone Con the fringe or even unintelligible or, in the ords of arry +ould already noted, Cmeaningless Cmeaningless Favoring the second moves the parrhesiastes aay from the truth attempting to be told or at least obscures the truth ith the language of nicety (s developed by @picurean philosopher philosopher Ehilodemus, parrhesia e-isted ithin this spectrumB at times, it bordered on Charsh frankness that as Cnot mi-ed mi-ed ith praiseR at other times, the frankness as more subdued 6+lad 9KKB O98 3 (s the e-amples of .ynic and that one must be Ctactful, for instance8, she or he
academic/intellectual academic/intellectual parrhesia provided later in this chapter illustrate, di"erent manifestations of truth/telling as a form of counterpoer counterpoer occupy di"erent di"erent spaces along this spectrum2 balancing beteen abiding by these conventions of decorum and styleR the need to provide forceful, decloaked decloaked truthR or, in the case of .ynic parrhesia,
$he parrhesiastes ill ill most likely likely face charges of the &rst order 6ignoring convention8 regardless of the manner in hich parrhesia is delivered If, indeed, Cthe truth hurts and if the target of such truth cannot deny the facts being delivered, delivered, the most convenient option for the victim is to blame Cthe ay in hich the parrhesiastes said something , knoing full ell that it as the substance of hat that auntingly contradicting the conventions altogether altogether
¶
person said that as, for the victim, inappropriate or, more to the point, inconvenien
Satire is a key #orm o# public peagogy Q it’s a prere6uisite to meaning#ul ebate Dclennen$ 8 V EhD, Duke Hniversity %(, Duke Hniversity (!, arvard Hniversity, cum laude Dr Dr %c.lennen directs Eenn State's .enter for +lobal Studies as ell as its 7atin (merican Studies program and has ties to the departments of .omparative 7iterature, Spanish, and Women's Studies She has published seven books and has three in process er latest single/authored volume is .olbert's (mericaB Satire and Democracy 6:49:8, hich studies the role of Stephen .olbert in shaping political discourse after KU99 6Sophia (, C(merica (ccording to .olbertB Satire as Eublic Eedagogy post KU99, #uly < rd, httpBUUsocietyforcriticale-changeo httpBUUsocietyforcritica le-changeorgUconferencesU%7(X:4:499UE rgUconferencesU%7(X:4:499UEublic ublic X:4IntellectualsU(mericaX:4(ccordingX:4toX: X:4IntellectualsU(mericaX:4( ccordingX:4toX:4.olberthtm8UUIS 4.olberthtm8UUIS !y in;uiring into the ays that .olbert has functioned as a public intellectual, this paper suggests that satire is a comedic and pedagogic form uni;uely suited to provoke provoke critical reection Its ability to underscore the absurdity, ignorance, and pre0udice of commonly accepted behaviors by means of comedic critical reection o"ers an especially potent form of public criti;ue, one that as much needed in the post KU99 environment $his paper argues that, in contrast to the anti/ intellectualism, the sensationalism, and the punditry that tend to govern most mass media today, .olbert1s program o"ers his audience the opportunity to understand the conte-t through hich most nes is reported and to be critical of it In so doing .olbert1s sho further o"ers vieers an opportunity to reect on the limited and narro ays that political issues tend to be framed in public debate .olbert1s satire, then, is a form of hat enry +irou- de&nes as Cpublic pedagogy since it demonstrates the use of media as a political and educational force )ecogniJing that the political opinions of most HS citiJens are shaped by an uncritical acceptance of the issues as provided by the mainstream media, .olbert uses the same venue to criti;ue that process !y impersonating a right/ing pundit, .olbert di"ers in signi&cant ays from other critical comedians since his form of humor embodies that hich it criti;ues $his paper suggests that this form of parody has both the potential to be more incisive in its criti;ue and also more dangerous, since its dependence on a cult of personality could merely mirror the same passive vieing practices common to programs like $he *1)eilly Factor $his paper also contributes to the ongoing conversation about ho satire and humor post KU99 have been able to e"ectively encourage critical perspectives on ma0or social issues, thereby providing an important source of public pedagogy pedagogy Focusing on one of the leading &gures of Csatire $M, my paper claims that .olbert1s program incorporates a series of features that foster critical thinking and that encourage audiences to resist the status ;uo !y analyJing the conte-t ithin hich the program emerged and the speci&c features of the program, this book o"ers readers insight into the poerful ays that .olbert1s comedy challenges the cult of ignorance that has threatened meaningful public debate and social dialogue since KU99
Satire ?orks !# people on’t unerstan the irony at %rst$ it’ll make an even bigger impression on them once they get it Q we can always e5plain the Foke later Day, 8 6 Ph'7' and Assistant Professor of English and +ultural Studies at 8ryant University (Aer, Are )hey *or :eal; Activis and ??"""'cios'org?"""?e@c?E-+PU8<+?=14?$?=14BC'htl??
utcheon arns of the potential danger inherent in the use of irony in that it can easily back&re She e-plains, Cthose hom you oppose might attribute no irony and simply take you at your ordR or they might make irony happen and thus accuse you of being self/negating, if not self/contradicting $hose ith hom you agree 6and ho kno your position8 might also attribute no irony and mistake you for advocating hat you are in fact criticiJing 698 $he Yes %en, it seems, found themselves precisely falling prey to these traps, but have hit upon a method of using the pitfalls to their advantage, alloing audiences to read them seriously and then e-posing them for being complicit ith the o"ensive ideas put forard In hindsight, the irony is much more obvious, meaning either that those present at the live event appear morally unscrupulous or th at the media is spurred to engage in reection about hy they ere taken in Eerhaps more importantly, the revealed hoa-es speak to a groing number of fans ho take delight in itnessing organiJations and corporations they are already critical of be publicly pranked, again providing a?rmation for e-isting discursive communities
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*=: ee 3olitical ee the 3olitical Satire oesn’t cee the political Q it’s actually key to motivate action =hai$ A V editor for $he .rimson 6(nthony, CEolitical CEolitical SatireB !eyond the umor, $he .rimson, httpBUUthecrimsoncomUarticleU:49O httpBUUthecrimsoncomUarticleU:49OU:UUharvard/politica U:UUharvard/political/ l/ satireU8UUIS Despite these advantages, some have argued that political satire encourages cynicism, trivialiJes politics, and promotes a narro point of vie 6stemming from the predominantly liberal leanings of most political satirists and comedians8 It is true that, hen taken in isolation, political satire poses many drabacks, and that the constant criti;ue of political &gures and media outlets can lead to skepticism oever, vieers of satire are more likely to atch and read traditional nes sources as ell, according to an article in the .olumbia #ournalism )evie )evie In fact, satirists often refer to other nes sources to provide background for their criti;ues, as Steart has done numerous times ith .55 and Fo- 5es, serving the dual purpose of communicating nes and criticiJing the current methods of political media $he same article also references research that suggests increased vieership of political humor does not distance the audience from politics but instead Cincreases knoledge of current events, leads to further information/ seeking on related topics, and increases vieer interest in and attention paid to politics and nes $his more informed and interested audience naturally has more opportunities to share educated opinions ith others and provoke provoke discussion (rguments that satire actually increases narro/mindedness because it panders to liberals also have their as While there are fe )epublican and conservative vieers, data sho that less than half of the vieers of C$he Daily Sho and C$he .olbert )eport are liberalsR in fact, <> percent of vieers of C$he .olbert )eport, as ell as O9 percent of those atching C$he Daily Sho, consider themselves independents $hese shos have roughly the same percentage of Democrat vieers as the 5e York $imes and HS( $oday and a loer percentage than .55, all of hich claim to be non/partisan nes sources %oreover, humorists connect ith their audience more e"ectively than nes anchors do While politics in nes is often portrayed as a &eld separate from daily life, Steart and .olbert easily relate their coverage to the average vieer vieer In contrast to Sunday talk shos such as 5!.1s C%eet the Eress and (!.1s C$his Week, hich host roundtables of pundits discussing the political issues of the day in non/personal terms, satirists need to be personal for their comedy to be understood and entertaining Finally, instead of alloing e-perts to e-press their opinions as fact as some 0ournalists do, humorists often challenge the vies of e-perts to the audience1s bene&t For e-ample, in *ctober :49<, Steart hosted Lathleen Sebelius, the HS Secretary of ealth and uman Services, and criticiJed *bamacare *bamacare for delaying compliance ith the bill for big businesses but not individuals e criti;ued the fact that these businesses can lobby for their interests hile individuals cannot (lthough some coverage of this issue made nes sources, Steart presented it at length ith an authentic source
and in a comedic and memorable fashion e caught vieers1 attention and demonstrated that e-perts are not alays correct $aken together ith traditional nes sources, political humor at least molds a more informed public and at best increases political involvement and e-citement $he humor provides the toolsR vieers must decide hether to use them
Satire is key to political action Q empirics Lreeman$ V H.7( H.7 ( Erofessor of Eolitical Science, specialiJing in (merican and !ritish politics, and as Dean of H.7( @-tension Since his retirement he has taught a seminar on political satire in H.7(1s undergraduate onors .ollegium is political satire presentations for university and community audiences e-tend an avocation begun in a common setting for political satire in !ritain V the university musical revie revie 7en1s publications includeB $he *"ensive (rtB Eolitical Eolitical Satire and its .ensorship (round the World From From !eerbohm to !orat 6:44K8R Eoer and Eolicy in (merica, Ath edition 6:44486CWhy Eolitical Eolitical Satire %atters, httpBUUstrictlysatirecomUmysitesUWhySa httpBUUstrictlysatirecomUmysitesUWhySatire%attersasp-8UUIS tire%attersasp-8UUIS (nd yet, if satire alone is unlikely to change the course of history, it often accompanies and reinforces political action (nd though its impact can never be measured precisely, it seems likely that, together ith other forces of dissent, political satire can make a iNerence $he cartoons and lascivious 0okes leveled at the royal family helped to create the atmosphere of derision and fury that culminated in the French )evolution $he satirists1 rage against th e Mietnam ar played its part in the shift of public sentiment that at last forced its end .olbert and Steart make politics amusing and interesting to youthful audiences ho otherise tend to be politically uninvolved %oreover, if some authoritarian regimes have contemptuously tolerated a limited amount of satire, most have not (nd here e come to the most important argument for hy political satire matters V its role as a bulark against political oppression Eolitical satire, after all, is by de&nition aggressive, hostile, o"ensive Eolitical leaders generally don1t like being o"ended, and especially they don1t en0oy being made to look ridiculous
