> (if you have to say it, that’s how you know it’s good) Pet peeve, but no, it's the exact opposite. Good satire is immediately obvious; nobody had to ask whet

> (if you have to say it, that’s how you know it’s good) Pet peeve, but no, it's the exact opposite. Good satire is immediately obvious; nobody had to ask whether Jonathan Swift was actually serious about solving poverty in Ireland by having the poor sell their children for meat to the rich. Subtle satire is bad satire by definition; if you have to be told that it's satire, that means it has completely failed to do its job, and is no better than intellectual masturbation.