Tag Archives: Fake news

Satire lets us laugh at our politics

Satire. It is one of the most powerful tools in politics. After all, governing is serious business; laws are implicitly and explicitly backed by the threat of force. When humor is brought to the intellectual battlefield, it diminishes the stature of the satirist’s opponent. For millennia, it has been part of western social discourse. Literary scholars […]

Patriots and politics

Is there any overlap between sports and politics? The former is a form of entertainment, while the latter deals with matters of public interest. However, they both generate strong feelings among those involved with them, whether directly or indirectly. The past week has seen 2017’s favorite new neologism — “fake news” — infect sports coverage. […]

All journalism is biased. Let’s acknowledge that and move on.

“It’s the meeeeeeee-dia’s fault.” Back in the 1990s, Chris Rock had a famous-albeit-controversial bit. It dealt with negative stereotypes in the black community, and those who sought to lay the sole blame for them at the feet of the media. He lambasted that view, claiming he wasn’t worried about Ted Koppel when he was at […]