Take Satire for What It Is

TNH didn't publish my rant that I wrote earlier this week, but i intend on sharing it with the masses regardless of what the publishing community thinks of my obviously right opinion. I guess i'm just too real for them . . . And now I present to you, my esteemed audience, the piece I wrote in full, enhanced with hyperlinks and a neat little photo of the building in question.


In the Oct. 18 edition of TNH Commentary, there is a response to the satire column done by Tom Olson entitled, “Definitely Not Satire,” in which he used a real persons name with fictional quotes. If the column were an actual report than this would most certainly be in conflict with established journalistic ethics (even though some professional journalists do not seem to think so). But this was a fictional, satirical column meant for entertainment purposes, at the expense of the people who designed and built Kingsbury Hall [at UNH].

Kingsbuy Hall - looks kinda gay if you ask me.......

And although written to appear as if it were in fact legitimate, the title of the column, “Definitely Not Satire” should give the reader a hint that it’s 100% fake. I find it hard to believe that, with sarcasm more prevalent as ever in our modern English, more so in the Northeast than anywhere else I’ve been, that a reader would not pick up on this. Having said that, knowing this is a fake article, one should not be too upset if they end up being the “butt” of the joke. This brand of humor is wildly popular, as television shows like The Daily Show and South Park do this every night. This isn’t so much a case of a breach of journalistic integrity for TNH, but a clear display of the over-sensitiveness of our society as a whole. No longer are our feelings allowed to be hurt, that’s not politically correct. If you upset anyone even the slightest bit you are subject to punishment, whether it’s a stern lecture and revocation of your written pieces from a publication, or large-scale litigation from the offended party. It is completely ridiculous, and I for one, am tired of coddling everyone who might feel upset by something. OK, so a satirical columnist in a college newspaper used your name with a fake quote for a fake story. After you are done crying yourself to sleep at night over this, do us a favor and keep your complaints to yourself, because we don’t care. Or better yet, take it in stride, laugh it off, ignore it, or at least acknowledge the fact that you know its fake. And at the very least, whatever happened to that old childhood motto our parents taught us, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me?”