Laugh like it’s your civic duty: Satire as a tool of fighting fascism
Charlie Chaplin and Jack Oakie, in the film The Great Dictator (1940)
Parodists can take apart an authoritarian’s cult of personality, point out the rhetorical tricks that politicians use to mislead their constituents, and even undercut a government institution’s real-world attempts at propaganda. Farah, 736 F.3d at 536
Trump hates being laughed at. He’s said as much. And while the erosion of our democracy is no laughing matter, satire and humor have often played an important role in undermining authoritarian regimes.
Charlie Chaplin’s satirical portrayal of Hitler in The Great Dictator represented Hollywood’s first stand against the Nazi regime. The editor of Political Humor under Stalin describes the jokes between its covers as “folkloric counter-narrative to the ‘official’ history of the USSR,” and notes that “humor as a practice” was a “risky pastime.” It takes courage to laugh at power.
Trump’s second term has felt very heavy to a lot of us, and with good reason—it’s literally life or death, in some cases. But a few of the finest examples of courage to be found among us right now are meeting the moment with humor. Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, and Trey Parker and Matt Stone all gave the middle finger—or Trey Parker’s index finger, as it happens—to Trump, CBS, and CBS’s parent company Paramount following a slew of shady dealings that concluded with Trump’s FCC approving the merger of Paramount and Skydance. Skydance is at least nominally headed by David Ellison, son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison.
In early July, CBS settled a lawsuit with Trump for $15 million plus legal fees. If Trump’s FCC is to be believed, Skydance made written promises to end DEI programs at Paramount, showcase “a diversity of viewpoints from across the political and ideological spectrum,” and “adopt measures that can root out the bias that has undermined trust in the national news media.” Which is why it’s so darn funny that CBS just happened to announce the cancellation of Colbert’s Late Show a week before the merger was approved. Senators, like comedians and the public, are not convinced that these things were unrelated. Making matters worse, Trump-appointed FCC Chair Brendan Carr got on CNBC the day after the merger and boasted, "President Trump is fundamentally reshaping the media landscape. The media industry across this country needs a course correction."
“[Men] are afraid women will laugh at them, undercut their world view.”
– Margaret Atwood quoting a friend
Volumes have been written about human laughter. Most inevitably end up addressing the question of the audience. We laugh with others to show that we’re part of the group. We laugh at someone to show that they’re not. We talk about punching up and punching down, inappropriate laughter, polite laughter. The remarkable thing about last week’s segments from Colbert, Stewart, and Parker and Stone is that while their shows are financially beholden to an oligarchic corporate media entity, their humor is brazenly directed at it. These entertainers know their audience. Through their comedy, not just recently, but over the years, they have consistently defined authoritarians and their enablers as squarely out-group. They’ve shown integrity as satirists and journalists. Because, yes, satire can be journalism and it is certainly protected free speech.
The courts have repeatedly sided with satirists and parodists, stating for example that "parody and satire are deserving of substantial freedom--both as entertainment and as a form of social and literary criticism." The cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is a curtailment of social criticism at a time when it’s more needed than ever. But Colbert’s draw is strong enough that he won’t likely struggle to find other platforms to air his grievances, and may even be empowered to speak more freely in his next endeavor. With any luck, this attempt at currying favor with a petty dictator will backfire spectacularly for said dictator and Colbert’s next act will, ahem, catch him with his pants down.
The real issue here is that corporate media conglomerates will continue to limit viewers’ access to criticism of the regime and to treat our press like pawns. They may paint it as “survival,” but the overwhelming success of South Park’s season 27 premiere and the high ratings of Trump’s current targets should cast serious doubt on that notion. Across political parties, Americans’ appetite for biting, unvarnished content is high; else, this country would not have re-elected the Orange Buffoon in the first place.
"Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon."
The sacrifice of Colbert's Late Show on an altar to Trump's ego should awaken us to the fight ahead. Brendan Carr has every intention of weaponizing the FCC for political means. Trump enjoys bullying the media so much that the topic has a dedicated Wikipedia page. It is incumbent upon us right now to have the courage to laugh at power. We will join in the raucous decimation of Trump’s cult of personality. We will undercut their worldview and their “official” narrative not just with subversive humor, but by making a mockery of their plans.
Our scorn may come in the form of viral protest signs but it may also come in the form of organized boycotts whose punchline will be delivered on earnings calls. We must know our audience–punch up at the crony capitalists and the jackbooted thugs who wield the state’s monopoly on violence and yet are too scared to show their faces, and invite others to join us in laughing at them, all the way to the polls. They may use Sharpies to rewrite history, but we’ll use our wit to rewrite the future.