4 ms·

> I’m trying to think of the punch that’s landed the hardest and actually caused damage, and I’m coming up short. SNL's Palin parodies? Not sure whether that a

by asark 7y ago

> I’m trying to think of the punch that’s landed the hardest and actually caused damage, and I’m coming up short. SNL's Palin parodies? Not sure whether that actually mattered or the Republicans just, for unrelated reasons, failed to GOTV. I'm pretty sure most self-identified Republicans still think she's great and weren't turned away from the polls over her, but maybe it swayed some moderate/no-party-affiliation folks? Beyond that, humor's kinda a sustaining force for the left, in the same way... whatever you'd call Talk Radio style entertainment-news is for the right (AM radio, various web shows and podcasts, Fox News). Its efficacy may be more in group cohesion than converting "others". [EDIT] incidentally, SNL probably played a large part in painting the (fairly negative) pop-culture image of Hillary that was such an important part of the 2016 election, overshadowing the whole race. Think mid- to late-Clinton-presidency SNL. So there's that.

taurath 7y ago
Those are good examples - I'm trying to think about the current era though. Interesting that you bring up Hillary being mocked actually - perhaps it was a turning point in suddenly the Dems were more mockable, or at least mockery stuck to them. With the republicans now, I think they've positioned themselves to be immune from mockery - they saw how effective Jon Stewart was during the Bush years, and the solution now seems to be to fill the air with as much as possible so that it all turns to static. I remember when Trump got elected, the biggest question everyone had as a comedian was "how do you mock this person, he's already too ridiculous"? Ditto Boris Johnson happening now. Some are trying to start countering this from trying to draw a line by defining values (that they clearly don't seem to share) - the Pete Buttigieg strategy, the Joe Biden strategy. It just seems like a fascinating turn of events that suddenly mockery as a political tool can be nullified. Nothing SNL has ever done on Trump has ever seemed to dent him. Sean Spicer though - that definitely got through. And now he's gone, replaced by Sarah Sanders who manages to soak up all sorts of sympathy despite lying all the time. I guess the other poster is right - the progressives really have become the social establishment, and that comes with a lot of really interesting concequences.
- asark 7y ago
  I remember when it was the AM radio folks mocking Trump. And, you know, everyone else. Ah, the 90s, when regarding Trump as the textbook definition of a philandering flim-flam artist, worthy of little to no respect whatsoever and certainly no trust, crossed party lines. What a ride this has been.

by asark 7y ago

taurath 7y ago

Those are good examples - I'm trying to think about the current era though. Interesting that you bring up Hillary being mocked actually - perhaps it was a turning point in suddenly the Dems were more mockable, or at least mockery stuck to them. With the republicans now, I think they've positioned themselves to be immune from mockery - they saw how effective Jon Stewart was during the Bush years, and the solution now seems to be to fill the air with as much as possible so that it all turns to static. I remember when Trump got elected, the biggest question everyone had as a comedian was "how do you mock this person, he's already too ridiculous"? Ditto Boris Johnson happening now. Some are trying to start countering this from trying to draw a line by defining values (that they clearly don't seem to share) - the Pete Buttigieg strategy, the Joe Biden strategy. It just seems like a fascinating turn of events that suddenly mockery as a political tool can be nullified. Nothing SNL has ever done on Trump has ever seemed to dent him. Sean Spicer though - that definitely got through. And now he's gone, replaced by Sarah Sanders who manages to soak up all sorts of sympathy despite lying all the time. I guess the other poster is right - the progressives really have become the social establishment, and that comes with a lot of really interesting concequences.

asark 7y ago
I remember when it was the AM radio folks mocking Trump. And, you know, everyone else. Ah, the 90s, when regarding Trump as the textbook definition of a philandering flim-flam artist, worthy of little to no respect whatsoever and certainly no trust, crossed party lines. What a ride this has been.