Satire Isn’t Supposed to Be Stupid

So my mom called me the other day to make sure I’d seen this article in the Phoenix New Times titled “Jew Roundup.”

Yup, you read that right.

The subhead of “They’re Pouring Over the Canadian Border to Flood Graduate Schools and Bank Parking Lots. Legislation from State Senator Russell Pearce Aims to Make Them Rue the Day They Ever Entered Arizona” confused me even further.

Is this for real? Why is it accompanied by a horrible illustration straight out of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”? What kind of anti-Semitic, TeaDoucheBag hijacked the usually liberal (if subpar) journalistic bent of one of the country’s largest alternative newsweeklies? Does J.D. Hayworth really think he’s going to win John McCain’s seat by talking sh*t about Jews?

After I read it through three times and asked a couple of people far more intelligent than I for their opinions, I realized that this was intended to be a piece of satire. OHHH. M’kay. Wow. Still not funny. At all.

Written by wackadoodle Village Voice executive editor Michael Lacey, the article is supposed to lampoon Arizona Republicans’ draconian attitude towards immigration – as in, replace “Mexicans” with “Jews” and the inanity and racism becomes clear. Except that I think it’s backfired for him.

Lacey is no stranger to inappropriate uses of stereotypes to make a point — he recently invoked the N-word to demonstrate how silly he feels to be a middle-aged white guy.

Read this example of bad taste and bad journalism here, but maybe put away all sharp objects first. Your thoughts, please.

2 thoughts on “Satire Isn’t Supposed to Be Stupid

  1. This is an example of how the basiclly liberal mind succumbs to the deficiencies of it’s own intellect. Too many years of quasi-journalistic success has led Lacey to fall into the same black hole that houses Limbaugh and Beck. When ego and/or greed turn commentary into inflammatory theater truth suffers and our society is brought down notch by notch.

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