Satire is the use of humor, irony, or ridicule to expose and criticize foolishness, corruption, or vice. It is not just comedy. It has a target. Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal suggested eating Irish babies to solve poverty. The shock was the point. Voltaire’s Candide mocked optimism. George Orwell’s Animal Farm skewered totalitarianism.

Satire can be gentle or savage. Horatian satire, named after the Roman poet Horace, is light and amused. Juvenalian satire, named after Juvenal, is bitter and indignant. In modern media, The Onion, The Daily Show, and South Park all use satire. It can be dangerous. Satirists have been imprisoned and killed. It can also backfire. Some viewers may miss the irony and take the satire literally. When that happens, the joke is on the audience. Good satire makes you laugh and then makes you think.

Types

• Horatian: gentle, amused
• Juvenalian: bitter, indignant
• Menippean: chaotic, intellectual
• Parody: imitates style to mock it