An Announcement – Discussion

On November 4, 2011 I posted my satire entitled "An Announcement." Clicking on the name will take you to where this was originally posted.

I received a number of comments that I would like to share with you.

Pam Tisza of Branchburg, NJ reacted as follows: 

I am confused. In one of your last expositions you criticized Paul Krugman for not supporting Obama, and now you castigate him in a much worse way. Further, if you plan to run for President, why on the Republican ticket, when you sound as if Obama needs to be opposed. Lots more contractions, but I must remind you that most of our ancestors came here as illegal immigrants---not much control for a couple of centuries, so sneaking in is an old habit here. And it persisted into the 20th century. The boats came into New Bedford and Fall River ---and the crew walked to some nice town and got a job. No questions asked. It's just a bigger problem these days. And a different ethnic mix.

To which I responded:

You are apparently not familiar with the long tradition of satire, whether we are talking about Jonathan Swift's Gullivers travels or Voltaire's Candide, later made into a musicale by Leonard Bernstein. The problem with satire is that it is not always obvious that the writing is tongue in cheek and meant to poke fun at a person, a group, or a point of view, by exaggerating that viewpoint to the point of absurdity. Obviously, I am not up to the skills of the great satirists of all ages and my attempts may fall flat. I hope on rereading you will see that I am making fun of the extreme and downright silly positions of the Republican field.

I don't often attempt this. The last time I attempted satire was in 2004 when I wrote an essay entitled: "Unisex Toilets.” That too was tongue in cheek, but a lot of people missed my attempt at irony or satire.

To which Pam Tisza replied: 

It was the very derogatory comments on Obama that really confused me. Without that I think I would have gotten it, but I am overly sensitive on immigrants. We offer them so much they cannot get in their own countries--greater safety, education--most of them will say, I came for the kids--and work, even when it is hard and degrading I am watching Alabama with great interest. The farmers are already hurting. 

I concluded:

Perfectly understandable!

I totally share your sentiments. As you may remember I am a refugee and an immigrant.

Janet Cooke of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania gave her reaction with:

I've opened the latest issue of your Commentary On Politics.

It's just great! Makes lots of sense and I can already feel the wellspring of support for your candidacy forming! I'm in. Listen, there's not much else we mortals can do, is there? So we might as well have fun! Let's get rolling! 

Janet Wood of Toronto, Canada chimed with this tongue in cheek response:

I loved it!! Although I am still holding out hope for Obama, I might have to vote for you! 

One person who asked to be kept anonymous said supplied the best humor with:

The FBI has informed me that neither you nor your wife were born in this country - therefore I cannot condone turning the White House and the country over to two foreigners who may be atomic spies. On the other hand for a substantial sum to be negotiated, I may overlook this technical defect.

It's bad enough that we have a president, who was born in Kenya or Indonesia, to elect a president who came here from Austria, then part of Nazi Germany, and a first lady (my wife was born in England) whose ancestors opposed our revolution is carrying things too far.

Another anonymous contributor said:

Not having been born in the US of A, you are not eligible to be President; however, I suppose you are eligible to run. Would a contribution to your campaign be tax deductible? 

Since this comment was posted to my blog anonymously I could not respond.

Finally another anonymous contributor declared:

My first reaction was that you are certainly qualified to be President, but I am equally qualified, so I should also throw my hat in the ring. On further consideration, however, I realized that as my only program would be to shoot the Republican candidates, you are probably better qualified than me...besides, you need a woman on the ticket. Therefore, I would be happy to join you as your candidate for Vice President. 

If I receive additional comments in the next few days, I shall share them with you.