Editor's note: All opinions, columns and letters reflect the views of the individual writer and not necessarily those of the IDS or its staffers.
Satire need not be funny. Sometimes, it should not be.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” and “1984,” both accepted by academics as satirical works, both dystopian tales, are categorically unfunny. The first is a novel that describes a future right-wing theocracy that oppresses women; the other warns against the world that a centralized economy could create.
That makes satire an unideal genre to publish on April Fool’s Day.
The Daily Tar Heel, the University of North Carolina’s student-run newspaper, ran a satirical April Fool’s edition with fictitious stories many readers, including students and university administrators, found not merely unfunny, but “highly inappropriate and offensive.” Among them was: “Satire: Trump orders ALE in Chapel Hill to be replaced with ICE agents.” ALE is North Carolina’s Alcohol Law Enforcement. The Tar Heel has since deleted this story, though stories that made it into print remain available on its print archive.
“You cannot take a real, active, politically charged issue that is affecting people’s safety and turn it into a campus wide prank,” Mary Esposito, a UNC student said in a video she posted on Instagram, which now has nearly 9,000 likes and 300 comments.
The story, unfunny as it is, sits comfortably inside satire’s traditional limits. The parables of Jesus often use satirical, and frequently sensitive, elements, as “The Handmaid’s Tale” or “1984” do, while staying dry, such as in the story of the “blind leading the blind.”
Politically charged issues should not become pranks. But it is important that opinion writers remain able to satirize them. At issue is not the Tar Heel’s running satire over these topics; it is their doing so in the wrong context, on a day meant for pranks and lighter-hearted jokes.
I worry the Tar Heel confused satire with humor, as have its critics, including Esposito and columnists at The Miami Hurricane, the University of Miami’s student-run newspaper. The Hurricane’s columnists said “jokes should never have to end in unsettling fear and uncomfortable punchlines,” which is correct, but satire is not all jokes.
Before being funny, the aim of satire is to shine light on the tensions in our ideas through exaggeration. Hence, “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “1984” portray worst-case-scenario futures to stress the problems the authors saw in the Moral Majority and command economies.
While satirists often use humor because it is easy to exaggerate to the point of comedy, humor is just one tool in a box that holds many others. A “wide gamut of satiric emotions” exists, Robert Corum, a Kansas State University professor, wrote in a 2002 essay discussing the genre. These include “grimaces and cringing” besides “gleeful laughter.”
Pointing out tension is the reason newspapers include satirical stories, and it is why these stories belong in the realm of opinion. If they sought solely to entertain, as comedy does, they would not appear alongside current events and commentary. There is a reason you find comedy in The Harvard Lampoon, but not in Harvard’s student-run newspaper, The Harvard Crimson. The two are notably separate. Satire, unlike comedy, makes a point, and often a serious one.
Indeed, satire can better acquaint readers with current events than pure news. A study the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania conducted during the 2004 election showed audiences who followed satirical news sources were better informed about the Bush and Kerry campaigns than those who did not, even when controlling for other factors, like following politics in general.
Yet after something goes awry, it’s natural to want to toss it.
On Wednesday, The Tar Heels’ editors issued an apology. They said their opinion desk would not produce any more satire — and potentially no more opinion — for the remainder of the semester. It would be unsurprising if the Tar Heel did not publish a satirical edition next April Fool’s Day.
For a newspaper, readership is key. When audiences become unhappy with journalists’ work, they stop reading and subscribing — and soon, there is no longer a newspaper. In October, The Washington Post lost a quarter-million subscribers after it said it would not endorse any candidates in this fall’s election cycle. More left after its new owner Jeff Bezos excluded “non-libertarian” perspectives from the opinion section.
In an age that constantly threatens college newspapers nationwide, the Tar Heel would risk more than it could hope to gain by running satire next April. When it’s a good thing that sits on the chopping block, however, don’t be so quick to cut it.
I encourage the paper to take the risk — cautiously, ensuring stories are marked as satire, but not fearing to tread into sensitive topics. Satire is a historied genre that boasts many of the world’s greatest works, encompassing “Pride and Prejudice,” “Don Quixote” and “Ulysses.” When done right, satirizing controversial topics has driven public discourse and shaped our ways of thinking for the better.
That's why bringing back satire at the Indiana Daily Student has been an important project. Satire is a medium that makes points about serious subjects in a way people can ponder over more deeply because, being creative, it has the potential to dig more deeply into current events than news or opinion.
The Daily Tar Heel has had the gift of satire. It should take care in using it, not abandon it.
Eric Cannon (he/him) is a sophomore studying philosophy and political science and currently serves as a member of IU Student Government.
