It really amazes me how many people's sarcasm detectors are permanently turned off and how it seems the terms satire and satirical are foreign to so many. Just over the past week, I've bumped into the following situations:
1) On four separate occasions, I received messages from individuals asking me about the validity or point of articles published by The Onion, yes THAT Onion. On all four occasions, I calmly said, "Psst, it's The Onion, you know, satire, so it's not actually true." There are times I just want to respond, "Yes, the 80-year-old man in the picture really did give birth to octuplets."
2) On even more occasions, when making satirical comments on my Twitter feed, I received replies from individuals whom obviously felt I was being serious. Since this happens so frequently amongst my 28,000+ followers, I've just learned to shrug my shoulders and mumble to myself, "Eh, whatevs." Sadly, I've reached a point where if I receive any replies showcasing a person understood the joke, I feel prompted to go into my rendition of "the happy dance."
3) When engaging in a political discussion regarding the three Republican candidates atop most polls: Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina, I posted a satirical comment about the three of them, exaggerating on quotes they've made in the past. In response to this, a person said to me, "Craig, seriously? Those are your quotes? You're lucky you're not in the press or you'd get sued!" Fortunately, an acquaintance of his immediately responded with, "Hey, buddy, it's called satire; get a clue!" Judging by his ability to decipher fact from fiction, if he were playing the game Clue, it's my hunch he'd guess the killer was Professor Mustard in the bathroom with the paper towel.
At the end of the day, I suppose I'm content that my humor doesn't rely on silly slapstick or knock-knock jokes, but I'll admit it's frustrating at times to write or utter jokes, receive serious looks in response, and get asked, "Wait, are you serious?" I almost wish they'd unintentionally run the famous Airplane quote by me and say, "Surely, you can't be serious," to which I could respond with, "I am serious and don't call me Shirley." No, they probably wouldn't get that reference either, but so long as it makes me chuckle inside, that shall suffice.
1) On four separate occasions, I received messages from individuals asking me about the validity or point of articles published by The Onion, yes THAT Onion. On all four occasions, I calmly said, "Psst, it's The Onion, you know, satire, so it's not actually true." There are times I just want to respond, "Yes, the 80-year-old man in the picture really did give birth to octuplets."
2) On even more occasions, when making satirical comments on my Twitter feed, I received replies from individuals whom obviously felt I was being serious. Since this happens so frequently amongst my 28,000+ followers, I've just learned to shrug my shoulders and mumble to myself, "Eh, whatevs." Sadly, I've reached a point where if I receive any replies showcasing a person understood the joke, I feel prompted to go into my rendition of "the happy dance."
3) When engaging in a political discussion regarding the three Republican candidates atop most polls: Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina, I posted a satirical comment about the three of them, exaggerating on quotes they've made in the past. In response to this, a person said to me, "Craig, seriously? Those are your quotes? You're lucky you're not in the press or you'd get sued!" Fortunately, an acquaintance of his immediately responded with, "Hey, buddy, it's called satire; get a clue!" Judging by his ability to decipher fact from fiction, if he were playing the game Clue, it's my hunch he'd guess the killer was Professor Mustard in the bathroom with the paper towel.
At the end of the day, I suppose I'm content that my humor doesn't rely on silly slapstick or knock-knock jokes, but I'll admit it's frustrating at times to write or utter jokes, receive serious looks in response, and get asked, "Wait, are you serious?" I almost wish they'd unintentionally run the famous Airplane quote by me and say, "Surely, you can't be serious," to which I could respond with, "I am serious and don't call me Shirley." No, they probably wouldn't get that reference either, but so long as it makes me chuckle inside, that shall suffice.
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