Satire, by definition, is against power. Against all powers. 

Satire against religion is the ultimate exercise of freedom.

Satire aims to express a point of view in a witty and funny way. Laughter is not a criterion for judging its goodness. If the truth hurts maybe not everyone is willing to laugh at it. Anyone who says that Satire shouldn’t be harsh or violent just wants to censor it.

Aristophanes turns the comic drama known as Archaia into a play full of rash political commentary and sexual innuendos. From that time, Satire has always dealt with four main themes: politics, sex, religion, death using aggression, judgment, play, and laughter to shock people.

Are there any topics left out?

No. Scabrous and offensive topics are its main food. It’s not a comedy or a comic monologue. Satire is like committing suicide, it expresses a critique of the existing. And it is not less bloody.

Political parody is not satire. Parody is reactionary. 

It does not alter the situation. Also, it might make the person targetted more pleasant and likable to the general public.

But it is not always easy to spot the difference between the two, since the separation between news, entertainment, and comedy, every day becomes lighter.

Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show premiered for the first time on NBC on October 11, 1975.

SNL hangs between mindless entertainment without a political agenda to satirical scenes that created what is called the “Fey Effect.”  

So let me wrap it up for you, now. Bart Herman in his post: “On Ignorant Critics…” says: “People who don’t know me say all sorts of things that just make me scratch my head. WHAT??? Interestingly, given my situation, I get vitriol mainly from two sides, which stand at polar opposites from one another. […]” 

Well, it’s ok if the critics are meant to be a “literal” critique of his political or religious positions, but if they are aimed at him as the Goddess, Godless Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies then it’s another game.

Bart Ehrman is teaching at a prestigious University and has thousands of followers and has a great influence on others. In the same post, he reminds: “A lot of conservative evangelicals […] think I am out (there) to destroy the (Christian) faith.” 

For instance, New Testament scholar, Mike Licona in 2009, before he changed his mind (3), said: “Although Ehrman’s day likewise will fade, his attacks on traditional Christianity are more dangerous to evangelical Christianity than anything presented by the Jesus Seminar, The Da Vinci Code and other sensational hypotheses. ” And he goes on: “Ehrman’s program of skepticism is brittle. He presents positions that lack careful qualifying. As a result, many of his sound-bites are gross overstatements. His historical treatment of Jesus is sometimes radical. His treatment of Jesus’ resurrection betrays a practice of history that is biased to the extent that it can prohibit him from knowing the past.” (2)

So Bart Ehrman is a person of Power. He should recover from his over sensitivity on satirical remarks: “You can swear at the misanthropes you despise all you want in other contexts. I certainly do. But I don’t want it on the blog […] Frankly, I VERY RARELY get anything that crosses the line.” (4)

The concrete effect of satire is that liberates humans from the prejudices instilled in them by political, cultural, economic, non-religious, and religious marketing.  

A “healthy society” where everyone in power is respected and loved for who he is, is a Nazi utopia.

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