Did you get this far thinking everything we just reported was real?
With all the fun and laughs that it provokes, our lampoon issue is always a pleasant treat. Articles and news about ridiculous, exaggerated topics with their matching zany headlines are eye-catching, easily reeling in masses of readers. However, while consuming satirical content is inarguably amusing, it is not simply a form of entertainment. Beyond the humorous delivery of information lies a deeper lens into reality.
Oftentimes, the unpleasant yet serious topics of our world are difficult to tackle as people naturally try to avoid content that evokes pain or disturbance. Thus, spoof allows us to discuss it in a lighthearted manner—in a way that would be easy and entertaining to read. May this be in the form of jokes or exaggerated information, it brings us entertainment along with education.
Satire is never easy to read, and it was never meant to be. One may flip through these pages and feel a sense of familiarity toward these topics, as if one is part of an inside joke too. In order to get satire or even understand the joke, one must have already held a general understanding of the joke and, more importantly, awareness of the world around them.
In our releases, we have never shied away from discussing issues on a nationwide, University-wide, and even personal scale. It’s easy to draw peoples’ attention to commentaries that poke fun at what the next government plans are, or what the University’s next big move in terms of education could be. By being unserious, satire carefully masks a hidden message of consciousness toward a larger, more serious issue. Take for example the issue of transportation. One could go on and exaggerate how the struggles of Manila traffic is enough time to take a trip to Hawaii, but in truth, the problem is still a problem.
By building up extra noise around a certain issue, satire chips away at all the nuances surrounding an issue until there’s nothing but its core.
Indeed, we can enjoy satirical content and be entertained by its over-the-top scenarios and depictions, but there are still those who find it off-putting.
Satire doesn’t just come out of thin air, though—they are exaggerated commentaries of the realities we face in society today. We never would have expected onions to be seen as a new form of currency or a dictator’s son to be hoisted back into power. But we digress, the shock of reality stings just as hard as imagination. It is understandable why there are those who might be uncomfortable with them. Even so, this wouldn’t stop satire from happening as it has always meant to disturb the comfortable. Perhaps you can say that a piece of satirical content has done its job when it sparked conversations and when it bothered those being talked about.
It is not entirely wrong to support and participate in satire because it mainly appeals to the concerns of the people through means of entertainment. Still, it doesn’t make fun of people’s situations, especially if satire is made from the people themselves. At its core, satire is meant to be unequivocal and unapologetic. Satire shouldn’t be seen just as some form of joke, but rather more as a means of expression and dissent.
As we consume different forms and styles of content everyday, we see how satire breaks away from the seriousness even if it’s just for a while. Satire may not always be an easy read as these are, again, exaggerations of what is happening around us. Spoof keeps us entertained and aware—satire exists not just for us to laugh and enjoy but also as a form of expression and commentary on pressing issues.
